His Royal Highness Prince Henrik of Denmark, the husband of Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, has been diagnosed with dementia, the Danish Royal Court announced.
A series of examinations have been conducted during the late summer, and a team of specialists from the Rigshospitalet has now concluded that Prince Henrik suffers from dementia. The diagnosis implies a decline in Prince Henrik’s cognitive functional level and the extent of the cognitive failure is greater than expected considering Prince Henrik’s age. This can be accompanied by changes in behaviour, reaction patterns, judgement and emotional life and the interaction with the outside world.
As a consequence, Prince Henrik will further downgrade his future activities, such as where patronages and honorary membership are considered. The Queen and the Royal Family have asked that Prince Henrik should have the peace and quiet as required by the situation.
Prince Henrik of Denmark has been married to the then Princess Margrethe since 1967, and the couple has two sons, Crown Prince Frederik (born 1968) and Prince Joachim (born 1969) and eight grandchildren. Margrethe II succeeded as Queen of Denmark upon the death of her father in 1972. Prince Henrik has often complained about not being King, as the wives of Kings are usually Queens. In 2005, he was given the title “Prince Consort”, which he gave up in 2016 as part of his retirement. Henrik said in an interview, “It angers me that I am discriminated against. Denmark, which is seemingly known as an avid defender of gender equality, apparently, is ready to be considered useless husbands their wives.”
The change in title was at first not officially announced, but he was listed on his biography page of the Danish Royal Family’s official website as simply ‘Prins Henrik’ and also on the guest list for the Mexican state visit gala. It was later confirmed by Lene Balleby, to TV2.
“Prince Henrik in his desire – in continuation of his retirement – changed his title to the less formal Prince Henrik. HRH seems that the title is better suited to his current situation as a pensioner,” she told the media outlet.
This does explain his recent behavior, still terrible news and hope he gets the support he needs
I’m sorry for Prince Hendriks news. I hope he and Queen Marguerite enjoy their life with their children and grandchildren!!!
This is sad news . Make the most of every day with your wonderful family.
I am glad the Court made the news official.
We expected such bad news because his behaviour was strange in recent months, And Queen Margrethe II. has not reacted. She knew he was sick, I guess.
If the news is to be believed – it answers alot of questions and will perhaps now explain why the Prince seemed to be making damaging and embarrassing comments about the Royal family, his life as a Prince and his wife the Queen.
Under the circumstances, I hope Prince Henrik will indeed have the peace & quiet a man of his age and possibly his affliction should have and enjoy without the constant threat of the intrusive media trying to elicit some kind of headline-making comment, the time for this to stop is now.
Wishing Prince Henrik & his family all the best during this and future difficult challenges which lay ahead.
Strength to both of them as they face this most devastating of illnesses.
His talk during the last few years seems to show his dementia. I feel very sorry for him and his family. God Bless them.