Princess Elisabeth of Demark, first cousin of Queen Margrethe, recently gave an interview to Billed Bladet about her life.
“It’s not easy to grow old,” said Princess Elisabeth. “For me, the worse is not that the health fails. The worst thing is missed by my dear and the many friends who are not here anymore.”
Princess Elisabeth never married, but she lived with filmmaker Claus Hermansen from 1977 to 1997, until his death.
She told Billed Bladet about missing her younger brother, Count Christian of Rosenborg, and his wife Anne Dorte, who passed away in 2013 and 2014, respectively.
“We had a good time together, so it’s a big loss. Sometimes I feel like sitting on a sidewalk when I’m sitting here on my sofa. So it can be difficult to maintain your mood.”
She moved to the Damebygningen at Sorgenfri Castle two years ago, and said that “it was a bit like coming home when I moved in here.”
Princess Elisabeth grew up in Sorgenfri Castle and now lives in the Damebygningen, using the ground floor, where she watches a lot of television.
“I see everything possible on TV,” she told Billed Bladet. “Nature programs, entertainment and series. That means I never read a book. I’m rarely in the rooms because I’m hard on stairs.”
She said that she spends a lot of time with her nieces, Camilla and Josephine of Rosenborg, daughters of Count Christian, who help her with the shopping and other jobs around the house.
“The girls are very sweet,” she said. Their children occupy a lot of their time, she told Billed Bladet, so she renewed her driver’s license so that she can visit the family.
Princess Elisabeth’s father was Hereditary Prince Knud, the younger brother of Frederick IX. Until the Danish Act of Succession was changed in 1953 – to recognise Frederick IX’s three daughters, Margrethe, Benedikte and Anne-Marie in the line of succession – he was the heir presumptive to the throne.
Princess Elisabeth retained her succession rights to the throne because she never married, and she is twelfth in line to the throne. Her younger brothers, Count Ingolf of Rosenborg and Count Christian of Rosenberg, lost their succession rights when they married commoners, in 1968 and 1971, respectively.
