The Danish Royal Court announced today that Prince Joachim, Princess Marie and their children Prince Henrik and Princess Athena would move to Paris, France this summer. They will stay in Paris (Princess Marie’s hometown) until Summer 2020.
The move comes after Prince Joachim was invited by the French Defence Minister to take part in the highest-ranking French military management training in Paris. The invitation was made during the French State Visit to Denmark in August 2018, and Prince Joachim is the first Danish officer to participate in the training.
About the training, the Court says: “The training takes place six days a week, takes place at École Militaire in Paris and consists of two parts, which are held at the Center des Hautes Études Militaires (CHEM) and the Institut des Hautes Études de la Defense Nationale (IHEDN) respectively. The majority of the studies are conducted at CHEM and consist of high-level interim studies. The program is for 30 selected officers with colonel or commander rank, and the main topics are military strategic management and international relations. Participants come mainly from France, but some come from countries that are among France’s strategic partners.”
Prince Joachim has a day job in the Armed Forces reserve as he is the chief of the special experts in total force concept for the reserve and this training will supplement his work in the coming year.
The Court said that the move does not entail any changes in Prince Joachim and Princess Marie’s relationships with their patronages and collaborators, and since Prince Joachim’s training ends in Summer 2020, it is assumed they will move back to Denmark then.
The couple and their children currently live in Emiliekildevej, Gentofte following their move from Schackenborg back in 2014. Both Prince Joachim’s personal secretary Soren Bo Bojesen and Princess Marie’s lady-in-waiting Britt Siesbye resigned back in October 2018, but the Court didn’t say if this was related to the coming move to France.