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Margrethe II of Denmark

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It is not a life sentence, but a life of service.

Margrethe II (born 16 April 1940) is a member of the Danish royal family who reigned as Queen of Denmark from 1972 to 2024. The monarchy of Denmark encompasses the entire 'Danish Realm', made up of Denmark, Greenland and the Faroe Islands.

Quotes

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Becoming heir to the throne

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  • Gradually he [King Frederik] showed me everybody was going to help me in this...it was not a terrifying thing, but a great challenge.
    • Television documentary 'Queen Margrethe of Denmark', BBC & Jørgen Bonfils, 01:20, 28 April 1974

Becoming queen

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  • I was supported from every side by my family and by the ministers, but so much also by the people.
  • That cold January day - and so many people... I'd never imagined it would happen nowadays.
    • Television documentary 'Queen Margrethe of Denmark', BBC & Jørgen Bonfils, 08:45, 28 April 1974
  • We were so busy that we didn't have time to think about how terrible it was or - in fact it felt strangely natural.

Reign

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  • God's help, the love of the people, the strength of Denmark.
    • Margrethe II's royal motto, chosen upon her accession to the throne.
  • You are handed your job as the old king or queen dies... It is not a life sentence, but a life of service.
    • On being a monarch, in an interview with the BBC during her Ruby Jubilee [1] (13 January 2012)
  • Being Queen is a profession, a job, a position, an office that one cannot put aside when you come home from work. It is there all the time - and it is there all your life.
    • Quoted in Bistrup, Anne, 'Margrethe', JP/Politikens Forlaghus (2005)
  • I would like to stress that the obligation [of being Queen] has always been driven by joy. The joy is rooted in the warmth that has met me and my family everywhere through every year, in celebration and joy as in sorrow, in the so-called "big days", as well as in everyday life.
    • Ruby Jubilee speech, [2] (15 January 2012)

Possibility of abdication

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  • I have always felt that it is a task that you are given, and that you have it as long as you live. That is my fundamental view. It is an integral part of the job that you have it for life.
  • For me, it [being Queen] is a responsibility that does not include abdication. It is a task one has been given and taken upon oneself, and one does not relinquish it because it would perhaps be convenient personally to be rid of some of it.
    • Quoted in Bistrup, Anne, 'Margrethe', JP/Politikens Forlaghus (2005)
  • I will remain on the throne until I fall off!
    • Interview re-quoted in The Daily Telegraph, 'Danish Queen Celebrates Milestone' [3] (13 January 2012)

Abdication

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  • In February this year I underwent extensive back surgery. Everything went well, thanks to the competent health personnel, who took care of me. Inevitably, the operation gave cause to thoughts about the future – whether now would be an appropriate time to pass on the responsibility to the next generation.
  • I have decided that now is the right time. On 14 January 2024 – 52 years after I succeeded my beloved father – I will step down as Queen of Denmark. I will hand over the throne to my son Crown Prince Frederik.

Life philosophy

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  • I do not think one should chase the fashions of the day, concerning neither sweaters nor opinions.
    • From 'Om man så må sige – 350 Dronning Margrethe-citater', quoted in English here
  • One should never be so formal that one loses life, but one should never be so informal that one becomes without form of any kind.
    • Television documentary 'Queen Margrethe of Denmark', BBC & Jørgen Bonfils, 30:27, 28 April 1974
  • The fact that I am a woman has never really played into what I have done or not done. I have just been lucky that things have played out so that I could do things.

Society

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  • But are we seeing indications these years that we have become more selfish, that we have become inclined to first and foremost make demands, and make sure that we all get what we ourselves think we are entitled to? Are we becoming distrustful of each other, and beginning to ascribe less than pure motives to each other? If that is the case, we are not only in an economic crisis. Then it is our attitudes that are slipping. It is a crisis that is insidious because it creeps upon us and poisons our relationships with each other. It means that we are jeopardising something that may be irretrievable.
  • In the course of the last few generations, society has developed in such a way that we can live more and more safely, both financially and socially. We have got used to being able to pick and choose quite freely in big and small matters. Our circumstances are so good now that we have almost forgotten that our decisions also have consequences and that we cannot opt into or out of all life’s conditions.
  • In spite of the many initiatives our society offers to help and support, recovery can be such a monumental task that some give up. They withdraw into themselves. Not least during Christmas and New Year is it hard to feel left out. Tonight my thoughts are with them.
  • We do not have that much to moan about when one thinks of what people did not moan about before.
    • From 'Om man så må sige – 350 Dronning Margrethe-citater', quoted in English here

As an artist

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  • Painting is not what my life is about, but it is very important to me, and I am very lucky to be able to give some time to it. The time that I devote to painting is not a lot of time, but I do it 100 percent while I am working, and then there's nothing else that counts.
  • I think, for me, nature has always been my main point of reference. I think as a child I was fascinated by landscapes and nature wherever I went. I was able to travel all over Denmark, which is not that large, everywhere in this country where I've been I always loved the landscape.
  • For me it is always the colour, first and foremost.
    • Conversation with Christian Geter, [4] (19 January 2012)

Protocol

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  • I think that people imagine protocol and etiquette as some kind of great dragon that hovers behind the pageantries of the palace to pounce on you and eat you up if you aren't behaving as you should. But in fact etiquette is saying how to do when you meet people, saying good night to your parents before going to bed, opening a door to a woman, getting up if an older person wants to sit down on the bus and it's all full, that is etiquette, or protocol, if you wish. At the everyday level, all the time, all of us. It's a way of knowing what you've got to do so that you have your mind free to do other things and think of other things.
    • Television documentary 'Queen Margrethe of Denmark', BBC & Jørgen Bonfils, 31:30, 28 April 1974

Personal

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  • One would not die from my cooking, but I am not sure one would survive my driving.
  • One may well use one's head even though one is in love. Someone has said that one cannot prevent lightening from striking – but one may prevent the whole town from burning down.
  • When people say that I may not speak, they forget that I may well think. I may think what I want, like everyone else. I shall just refrain from saying everything I think. That might be something many people should do once in a while.
    • From 'Om man så må sige – 350 Dronning Margrethe-citater', quoted in English here
  • We can be very relaxed in our relationship with the Danish people...I feel extraordinarily privileged.
    • BBC, 'Denmark's Queen Margrethe Marks Forty Years', [5] (13 January 2012)

Miscellaneous

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  • There is nothing so clever as people you agree with.
    • Quoted by Helle Thorning-Schmidt on the occasion of Margrethe II's Ruby Jubilee. Speech (15 January 2012)

Unsourced

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  • I hope I will be able to paint as long as I live.
  • One shouldn't write one's own epitaph. I hope people will remember me as one who did her best - and who wasn't an anachronism.

Quotes about Margrethe II

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  • With dignity, with proximity and wisely have you been an anchor for the Danes.
  • You are not just 'Denmark's Queen'. You are the Danes' Queen.
    • Speech given by Helle Thorning-Schmidt on the occasion of Margrethe II's Ruby Jubilee (15 January 2012)
  • Dear mother – it is always parents who say they are proud of their children. I know your father, my grandfather, King Frederik IX, would have repeated: "I'm proud of you, my girl". But I stand here today as your eldest son, proud of his mother, and all she has achieved so far. Dear mother, you appear as the mother both of your sons remember from their youth: a beautiful queen, a stalwart girl.
    • Speech given by Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark on the occasion of Margrethe II's 70th birthday (16 April 2010)
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