As Queen Margrethe is only a few days away from her abdication on 14 January, she is in the public spotlight. She is often referred to as Daisy by both those who know and the media but why?
The Queen is named for her grandmother, Crown Princess Margareta of Sweden. Margareta’s name was quite close to the word for a very common flower in the Scandinavian countries, the marguerite.
The marguerite is known in English as the Leucanthemum but it is more commonly referred to as a daisy. Given that the Crown Princess was born as Princess Margaret of Connaught, it makes sense that her nickname would also play on the English floral name.
Margareta was beloved in her family but sadly died in 1920 from sepsis. King Frederik IX and Queen Ingrid of Denmark (the daughter of Margareta) then used the Danish version of the name Margareta for their eldest daughter born in 1940. She was christened Margrethe.
The Danish Royal Family almost immediately began calling the young princess Daisy, and it quickly spread.
As many of the European royal families are interrelated, the name was used more and more frequently. In a video for her 80th birthday, members of the Norwegian, Swedish, Spanish, Luxembourgish, and Dutch royal families recorded a video to thank “Aunt Daisy” for her service.
The Queen of Denmark will often sign letters as Daisy, even to those outside of her family.
