Margrethe II
Margrethe II (Danish: [mɑˈkʁeˀtə]; Margrethe Alexandrine Þórhildur Ingrid, born 16 April 1940) is a member of the Danish royal family who reigned as Queen of Denmark from 14 January 1972 until her abdication on 14 January 2024. Having reigned for exactly 52 years, she was the second-longest reigning Danish monarch after Christian IV.
For other people with the same name, see Margaret of Denmark (disambiguation).Margrethe II
Margrethe was born into the House of Glücksburg, a cadet branch of the House of Oldenburg, during the reign of her paternal grandfather, King Christian X. She is the eldest child of King Frederik IX and Queen Ingrid. She became heir presumptive to her father in 1953, when a constitutional amendment allowed women to inherit the throne. In 1967, she married Henri de Laborde de Monpezat, with whom she had two sons, Frederik and Joachim. Margrethe succeeded her father upon his death in January 1972.
Margrethe has worked as a scenographer, a costume designer, and an illustrator of works by J. R. R. Tolkien. Support for the monarchy in Denmark, alongside her personal popularity, gradually rose throughout the course of her reign, attaining around eighty percent by the time of her abdication. She was succeeded by her elder son, Frederik X.
Personal interests[edit]
Archaeology[edit]
Margrethe is known for her strong archaeological passion and has participated in several excavations, including in Italy, Egypt, Denmark and South America.[59] She shared this interest with her grandfather, Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden, with whom she spent some time unearthing artefacts near Etruria in 1962.[57]
Church textiles[edit]
Since the 1970s, Margrethe has designed and embroidered several vestments and church textiles for churches in Denmark, Greenland, Germany and England.[60] She has designed a chasuble for Fredensborg Palace Church which was since embroidered by her mother, Queen Ingrid, and appliquéd by her sister, Princess Benedikte. The textile was presented to the church on its 250th anniversary in 1976. In 1989, Margrethe designed the bishop's robe for the Diocese of Viborg. In 2017, she designed the antependium for the All Saints' Church in Wittenberg, Germany. In 2020, she designed the chasuble for the Danish Church of St Katharine in Camden, London.[61]
In addition to the church textiles, Margrethe has various other things, including an altarpiece for Skei Mountain Church in Norway, a Christmas spoon, the annual Danish Christmas seals in 1970, 2003 and 2015, and Greenland's Christmas seal in 1983.[62]
Découpage[edit]
Since the mid-1970s, Margrethe has been using the découpage technique, which involves combining clippings from periodicals and books for new motifs. This technique is used in auction catalogues, home magazines, and furniture decorations. The découpage often references literary, mythological, or art-historical topics, and is often displayed in royal palaces, particularly Christian VII's Palace at Amalienborg. Sealed with a protective lacquer, the Queen's découpage works generally have references to literary, mythological or art-historical topics.[63]
Margrethe's découpage works have also been used in various books and films, including Prince Henrik's poetry collections Cantabile (2000) and Frihjul (2010).[63]
Embroidery[edit]
As a child, Margrethe preferred drawing rather than needlework, but since 1960, numerous embroideries have been presented as gifts or used in the Queen's own rooms. The embroideries are made from patterns that Margrethe herself creates on graph paper, which includes twining shapes and the recipient's monogram. The Queen has designed several embroideries for the Danish Handcraft Guild, including patterns for calendars, cushion covers and dinner mats. Margrethe has also designed evening bags and spectacle cases for friends and family members, including Christmas calendars for all of the grandchildren, cushion covers and furniture covers for the palaces, and fireplace screens for Fredensborg Palace.[64]
The Queen's private embroideries were exhibited at Koldinghus Castle in 2021.[64]
Films[edit]
The Queen has worked as a screenwriter alongside Per Brink Abrahamsen on the two Hans Christian Andersen adaptations The Snow Queen from 2000 and The Wild Swans from 2009. Additionally, she narrated the former and made an uncredited acting cameo as a "member of the mob" in the latter.
Using decoupage as her primary craft, she has also been a set designer for:
