Margrethe II is Queen of Denmark and commander-in-chief of the Danish Defence. Since the death of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom on 8 September 2022, she is Europe’s longest-serving current head of state, and the only current queen regnant.
Margrethe is the eldest child of Frederick IX of Denmark and Ingrid of Sweden. She became heir presumptive to her father in 1953 when a constitutional amendment allowed women to inherit the throne. Margrethe succeeded her father upon his death on 14 January 1972.
On her accession, she became the first female monarch of Denmark since Margrethe I, ruler of the Scandinavian kingdoms in 1375–1412 during the Kalmar Union. In 1967, she married Henri de Laborde de Monpezat, with whom she had two sons: Crown Prince Frederik and Prince Joachim.
Meet Queen Anne-Marie of Greece, Princess Benedikte of Denmark
Princess Benedikte of Denmark
Princess Benedikte of Denmark, Princess of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg RE, SKmd, D.Ht. is a member of the Danish royal family. She is the second daughter and child of King Frederick IX and Queen Ingrid of Denmark. She is the younger sister of the reigning Queen of Denmark, Margrethe II, and the older sister of Queen Anne-Marie of Greece.
Princess Benedikte often represents her elder sister at official or semi-official events. She and her late husband, Richard, 6th Prince of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg, have three children. Princess Benedikte is currently 11th in the line of succession to the Danish throne.
Queen Anne-Marie of Greece
Anne-Marie is a Greek and Danish royal who was the last Queen of Greece from 1964 to 1973 as the wife of King Constantine II. The Greek monarchy was abolished with the 1974 Greek Republic Referendum.
Born Princess Anne-Marie of Denmark, she is the youngest daughter of King Frederick IX of Denmark and his wife Ingrid of Sweden. In 1964, she married King Constantine and became queen consort of Greece.
During her tenure as Queen of Greece, Anne-Marie spent much of her time working for a charitable foundation known as “Her Majesty’s Fund” and later as the “Anne-Marie Foundation”, which provided assistance to people in rural areas of Greece. In 1967, however, the king and queen were forced into exile and later deposed as Greece transitioned into a Republic.