Who is Crown Prince Frederik, the soon-to-be new King of Denmark?
CNN
He’s been known as the Crown Prince of Denmark since the age of three, but on Sunday, he will leave Copenhagen’s Christiansborg Palace as King Frederik X, sovereign of Europe’s oldest monarchy.
He’s been known as the Crown Prince of Denmark since the age of three, but on Sunday, he will leave Copenhagen’s Christiansborg Palace as King Frederik X, sovereign of Europe’s oldest monarchy. Denmark’s royal transition was sparked just weeks ago by the bombshell announcement from Queen Margrethe II on New Year’s Eve, when she revealed her intention to abdicate in early 2024. The news that Frederik’s hugely popular mother, the world’s only reigning queen, would relinquish the throne shocked Danes across the country. Margrethe had become Europe’s longest-serving monarch on the death of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II in 2022. The pair were known to be close, and it was widely assumed that the Danish head of state, like her distant cousin, viewed her role as a job for life. However, it seems the 83-year-old has had a change of heart and will step aside exactly 52 years to the day after she ascended the throne. So, who is Denmark’s soon-to-be king and what kind of monarch will he be? While the Danish monarchy stretches back more than 1,000 years, today its royals have a limited role under the country’s constitution. Danes are immensely proud of their royal family and monarchs play an important ambassadorial role. “He’s extremely popular. The polls show a very convincing support from the Danish people,” Birgitte Borup, culture editor at Danish newspaper Berlingske, told CNN. “Queen Margrethe is serving him the monarchy on a silver platter.”
France condemned the brief detention of two consulate members after it said Israeli police forced their way into a French-owned holy site in Jerusalem, in what is the latest diplomatic spat in a series of events that have sent relations between the two plummeting.
An Israeli airstrike on a multi-story building in northern Gaza killed at least 27 people, relief officials said, as the Israeli military issued new evacuation orders in the area – where it is mounting a major offensive.
If his first term in the White House is any indication, President-elect Donald Trump is likely to keep the Middle East high on his agenda.
Rights groups say journalist Reza Valizadeh has been detained, amid heightened tensions between the United States and Iran.
A female student stripped to her underwear outside her university in Iran in what some student and rights groups say was a protest against the country’s strict Islamic dress code.
Israel is at a “high level of readiness” for a response from Iran, an Israeli military source told CNN, as US officials visited the Middle East for a renewed push to resolve the conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon. Follow live updates.