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Denmark

Queen Margrethe’s very royal godparents

When she was born, she was not supposed to become Queen. Yet, one month after her birth, on 14 May, she was christened with a parade of godparents to rival any future monarch. 

Queen Margrethe of Denmark was born on 16 April 1940, just one week after the Nazi invasion of Denmark on 9 April, and, at the time, females could not inherit the throne; her father’s brother was supposed to become monarch. 

Prince Knud was named one of the Princess’s godparents. Born in 1900, Knud was the younger child of King Frederik X and Queen Alexandrine. He was brother to King Frederik IX and was Hereditary Prince. However, in 1953, the legislature voted to change the rules, revoking male preference for the succession line, which allowed King Frederik IX’s three daughters to precede their uncle in the order of succession.

Reportedly, the change did not go down well with the Prince, who is rumoured to have said that the electorate was “a shower of b***ards” to vote for the change. He was married to his first cousin, Princess Caroline-Mathilde, and the couple had three children: Princess Elisabeth, Count Ingolf and Count Christian.

Prince Knud was far from the only family member who acted as a godparent for the baby Princess. Her paternal grandfather, King Christian X, was also called upon to perform the duty.

The country had been under German occupation for roughly five weeks, and the King was guiding his nation through the Second World War of his reign. However, unlike many other monarchs in Europe, King Christian decided to remain in Denmark, despite the danger, and not only did he not flee the country, but he was also constantly out and about in Copenhagen, supervising the situation and being seen as a symbol of hope and resistance for the country.

Following the surprise attack at 4 am that immediately saw Denmark losing many members of its armed forces, without any concrete possibilities to overpower the German troops, and with the Germans already going after the civilian population, the King and his government made the decision to capitulate just two hours later, negotiating the keeping of independence on internal matters. The German occupation, under the conditions dictated by the King, lasted until May of 1945. 

The Princess also counted one of her grandfather’s cousins among her godparents. Prince Axel was born on 18 August 1888, the second child of Prince Valdemar of Denmark and Princess Marie of Orléans. He was a keen sportsman and was the first person to become an Honorary Member of the International Olympic Committee. He also had a stellar military career, achieving the rank of admiral in the Danish Royal Navy. 

Princess Margrethe could also boast a tight relationship with the Swedish royals, thanks to Queen Ingrid being born a Princess of Sweden. In 1940, the Swedish throne was occupied by King Gustaf V, who also served as a godparent to Margrethe.

The King remained a popular figure, despite his pro-German views, expressed especially during World War I. In World War II, he agreed to offer Nazi Germany logistical support because refusing would have implied an invasion that he knew Sweden could not counteract.

Nevertheless, he spoke eloquently against the persecution of Jews, especially in the context of the Hungarian side of the Holocaust in 1944. He also accepted the reforms to the constitution brought forward by the Liberal-Socialist government, even though they essentially stripped the monarchy of all powers. And finally, he was the beginner of the tradition still observed today of monarchs not having a coronation and therefore not wearing the King’s Crown. 

Gustaf V’s heir, later King Gustaf VI Adolf, was also one of Princess Margrethe’s godparents. He was the one that signed the reform that removed the last nominal powers of the monarchy shortly before his death in 1973. He was a passionate archaeologist, especially interested in ancient Italian cultures. He is connected to two currently living monarchs and one consort (King Carl XVI Gustaf, Queen Margrethe and Queen Anne-Marie of Greece) and, through his second marriage, he became an uncle to the late Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. 

The baby Princess had two more godfathers: Prince Gustaf Adolf of Sweden and Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught. 

Prince Gustaf Adolf was the father of current King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden. He married Princess Sybilla of Saxe-Coburg Gotha in 1932, and they had five children: four daughters (Princess Margaretha, Princess Brigitta, Princess Desirée and Princess Christina) and the long-awaited son, current King Carl Gustaf. Prince Gustaf Adolf was killed in a plane crash in Denmark when his son was only nine months old while returning from a hunting trip and a visit to Princess Juliana and Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands. 

Arthur, Duke of Connaught, was the seventh child and third son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. He acted as Governor General of Canada in the five years between 1911 and 1916, while also serving his entire life in the British army. He was related to the Scandinavian royals through Prince Gustaf Adolf’s second marriage; the Swedish Prince married his daughter Margaret. 

All of these names meant that the young Princess was surrounded by people that she could ask for help when it became clear that she would, one day, become Queen of Denmark.