In a new interview with Danish broadsheet, Weekendavisen, Queen Margrethe revealed everything from her thoughts on Russian President Vladimir Putin to the decision to strip titles from her grandchildren.
The Danish Queen—who will undergo back surgery later this month—sat for a wide-ranging interview with the newspaper’s editor-in-chief, Martin Krasnik, at Amalienborg.
The subject garnering the most coverage is her frankness in discussing the times she met Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2011 and 2014 and how she recalled, “I remember thinking he was not pleasant. I have never seen such cold eyes in my life.”
She revealed that she reads the newspaper every day to keep up-to-date on what’s happening in Ukraine, and said, “Putin thought he could divide all of Europe, but he made us all stand together. It meant something that we could all be a population that said: ‘No, this can’t be right’. That is very strong.”
She also praised Ukrainian President Zelenskyy, who she said “goes as one with his people,” and called the late Queen Elizabeth II her royal role model.
She revealed she has never watched The Crown because she knows the British Royal Family so well and can’t stand to think that the dramatic series is creating conversations about real people.
Closer to home, Queen Margrethe talked about her own family, including her heir, Crown Prince Frederik. Of death, she said, “I don’t look away from death, I don’t avoid it, but I don’t think much about it. And then there is the thing about death that it is under no circumstances in one’s own hands.”
She says she’s confident in her eldest son’s capability to assume the throne and the responsibilities of being monarch when it’s his time to ascend. She also believes that the Danish Royal Family, led by Crown Prince Frederik, and in the future, Prince Christian, will succeed as they grow closer to the Danish population and become more comfortable in their roles.
“When I let go of the reins, he’s there. I am a link in a very long chain that continues, and I believe that he will probably find out,” said Queen Margrethe, who has long insisted that she will never abdicate her throne.
Of her decision to strip the titles from her grandchildren through her second son Prince Joachim, Queen Margrethe was adamant that it had to be done, and that it had to be her. Although she was upfront about not wanting to get into the decision, she told Krasnik, “I could say something, but you shouldn’t say everything. For me, it has been important that it should not be Frederik’s lot to make such a decision. It was better that it was me.”
The Danish Royal Court announced on 8 February that Queen Margrethe will undergo back surgery for a problem that has plagued her for years. She will be hospitalised for a period after surgery at Rigshospitalet in Copenhagen, with Crown Prince Frederik and other members of the Royal Family taking over her duties while she recuperates.
