• Denmark’s King Frederik X ascended the throne on January 15, succeeding his mother, Queen Margrethe II, who formally abdicated after 52 years as monarch.

• Margrethe, 83, is the first Danish monarch to voluntarily relinquish the throne in nearly 900 years. 

• Many thousands of people gathered outside the palace where the royal succession was taking place, the mood jubilant as the Nordic nation experienced in first royal succession in more than a half-century, and one not caused by the death of a monarch.

• Margrethe signed her abdication during a meeting with the Danish Cabinet at the Christiansborg Palace, a vast complex in Copenhagen that houses the Royal Reception Rooms and Royal Stables as well as the Danish Parliament, the Prime Minister’s office and the Supreme Court.

• Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen then proclaimed Frederik King from the balcony of the palace before thousands of people.

• The abdication leaves Denmark with two queens: Margrethe keeps her title while Frederik’s Australian-born wife becomes Queen Mary. 

• Frederik and Mary’s eldest son Christian, 18, has become crown prince and heir to the throne.

• The new King and Queen rode by horse carriage through the crowds back to their residence, Amalienborg, a royal complex built in the 1750s and located in central Copenhagen.

• The last time a Danish monarch voluntarily resigned was in 1146 when King Erik III Lam stepped down to enter a monastery. 

• Margrethe abdicated on the same day she ascended the throne following the death of her father, King Frederik IX.

• Denmark’s monarchy traces its origins to 10th-century Viking King Gorm the Old, making it the oldest in Europe and one of the oldest in the world. 

• Today the royal family’s duties are largely ceremonial.

• The Danish monarch has a limited role in the government of Denmark under the Danish constitution. After a national election, the new coalition of ruling parties presents a government for the monarch’s approval, upon which time the King/Queen officially appoints the new regime. 

• The monarch also formally approves each new law passed by the Danish Parliament, the Folketing, including the ceremonial approval of each new Danish citizen. 

• The Kingdom of Denmark includes the Faroe Islands and Greenland.

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