King Frederik and Queen Mary's bittersweet day amid family break
King Frederik and Queen Mary faced a bittersweet day on Thursday amid their private family break.
The date – 13 February 2025 – marked seven years since Frederik's father, Prince Henrik, passed away.
The French-born prince consort died "peacefully in his sleep" from a lung infection in 2018, having been diagnosed with dementia the year before.
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The then Crown Prince Frederik cut short his official visit to the Winter Olympics in South Korea and rushed back to Denmark to be by his father's side just days before Henrik's passing.
The funeral took place in the Palace Chapel where the prince was cremated, with half of his ashes scattered across Danish seas and half placed in a private section of the gardens at Fredensborg Palace.
Henrik was married to Queen Margrethe for over 50 years, but he was a controversial character.
He repeatedly aired his frustration over not being given the title of King when Margrethe became Queen in 1972.
Henrik sparked headlines in 2002 over a row on his royal status, as he fled to his chateau in Caix, France after his Frederik was appointed host in Margrethe's absence at a New Year's reception.
He told a Danish publication at the time that he felt "pushed aside, degraded and humiliated".
Margrethe visited her husband at the chateau during his three-week retreat, with the couple returning to Denmark shortly afterwards.
The prince also caused upset in 2017 when he announced that he did not want to be buried next to his wife, breaking a 459-year-old tradition of burying royal spouses together at Roskilde Cathedral.
He cited his longtime complaint of only being named Prince Consort, and not King Consort as the reason behind his decision, with Margrethe accepting of it.
King Frederik wrote about his complicated relationship with his late father in his book, The King's Word, released in January 2024.
He described Henrik as "very patriarchal" and "tried to pass that pattern on to his two sons".
Frederik wrote: "I have learned a lot from having a wife who, from time to time, reminds me that of course I am not always right, and that my words are not automatically believed, just because I am a man in the house."
King Frederik and Queen Mary are believed to be on a private holiday abroad with their three youngest children, Princess Isabella, 17, and 14-year-old twins, Prince Vincent and Princess Josephine.
Their eldest son, Crown Prince Christian, 19, is acting as regent from Friday 7 February to Sunday 16 February, indicating that his father is out of the country.
