Denmark’s Prince Joaquim has two sons from his first marriage and one son and one daughter from his second marriage. All four children were “born royal,” with prince and princess titles, titles which will be removed by the end of the year. The two oldest boys are in the 20s – Prince Nikolai is 23 and Prince Felix is 20. Nikolai is, I believe, out of school, although he did enter a business school in 2019. I don’t know if he completed it. He dropped out of his two-year military program though, saying it didn’t suit him, and he’s been modeling since 2018 as well. Nikolai and Felix have lived their whole lives as princes, but they’ve also pursued careers, or merely gotten jobs away from the Danish royal family. Still, their grandmother’s decision to strip them of their royal titles has hit them like a ton of bricks. After Nikolai’s mother and father spoke to the media about the title-stripping, Nikolai himself spoke out:
Prince Nikolai of Denmark is speaking out on his grandmother Queen Margrethe’s decision to strip him and his three siblings of their current royal titles.
The royal palace announced on Wednesday that the children of Prince Joachim, Queen Margrethe’s second son, will no longer have their prince/princess or “His/Her Highness” titles starting on Jan. 1, 2023. Nikolai, 23, Felix, 20, Henrik, 13, and Athena, 10, will instead be known by His Excellency Count of Monpezat or Her Excellency Countess of Monpezat. They will maintain their places in the order of succession, currently seventh through to the tenth in the line to the throne.
Nikolai spoke with Danish outlet Ekstra Bladet outside his Copenhagen home following the announcement, saying he was “very sad” and “confused.”
“My whole family and I are, of course, very sad,” he said. “We are, as my parents have also stated, in shock at this decision and at how quickly it has actually gone.” He added, “I am very confused as to why it has to happen like this.”
Nikolai, who is a model and has walked the runway for brands like Dior, said he was only informed of the decision a few days before the news went public.
“I haven’t counted the days, but it can’t be longer than a little over a week ago,” he said.
“…In shock at this decision and at how quickly it has actually gone… I am very confused as to why it has to happen like this…” Yeah, again, it was the way everything went down, not just the sheer fact that grandma said they can’t be princes anymore. The speed with which the announcement was made, the lack of notice, the choice to do this seemingly out of nowhere. By “out of nowhere,” I mean that this did not feel like a huge, pressing concern. Maybe I don’t pay enough attention to Danish media, but was there some big movement to cut down the number of princes? When did Queen Margrethe make *this* decision, and were other options on the table? As in, Joachim’s kids get to keep their royal titles but there’s some other way to designate them non-working royals?
Meanwhile, the Mail reports that Nikolai’s younger brother Felix, 20, will still live in one of the royal residences at Amalienborg Castle, as he’s still a student at Copenhagen Business School. I wonder if he’ll have to find his own place once he’s out of school? And is Nikolai already living amongst the peasants?
Photos courtesy of Backgrid.
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- London, UNITED KINGDOM – Public at the Memorial Service of Thanksgiving for the life of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh at Westminster Abbey in London, UK. Pictured: Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands BACKGRID USA 29 MARCH 2022 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Copenhagen, DENMARK – Prince Joachim and Princess Marie with Prince Nikolai and Prince Felix of Denmark attending the Gala performance for the Queen her 50th Jubilee of Government on Gamle Scene in the Royal Theatre’s Old Stage in Copenhagen. Pictured: Prince Joachim, Princess Marie, Prince Nikolai, Prince Felix of Denmark BACKGRID USA 10 SEPTEMBER 2022 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Copenhagen, DENMARK – Prince Joachim and Princess Marie with Prince Nikolai and Prince Felix of Denmark attending the Gala performance for the Queen her 50th Jubilee of Government on Gamle Scene in the Royal Theatre’s Old Stage in Copenhagen. Pictured: Prince Joachim, Princess Marie, Prince Nikolai, Prince Felix of Denmark BACKGRID USA 10 SEPTEMBER 2022 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Copenhagen, DENMARK – Prince Joachim and Princess Marie with Prince Nikolai and Prince Felix of Denmark attending the Gala performance for the Queen her 50th Jubilee of Government on Gamle Scene in the Royal Theatre’s Old Stage in Copenhagen. Pictured: Prince Joachim, Princess Marie, Prince Nikolai, Prince Felix of Denmark BACKGRID USA 10 SEPTEMBER 2022 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Copenhagen, DENMARK – Prince Joachim and Princess Marie with Prince Nikolai and Prince Felix of Denmark attending the Gala performance for the Queen her 50th Jubilee of Government on Gamle Scene in the Royal Theatre’s Old Stage in Copenhagen. Pictured: Prince Joachim, Princess Marie, Prince Nikolai, Prince Felix of Denmark BACKGRID USA 10 SEPTEMBER 2022 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Copenhagen, DENMARK – Prince Joachim and Princess Marie with Prince Nikolai and Prince Felix of Denmark attending the Gala performance for the Queen her 50th Jubilee of Government on Gamle Scene in the Royal Theatre’s Old Stage in Copenhagen. Pictured: Prince Joachim, Princess Marie, Prince Nikolai, Prince Felix of Denmark BACKGRID USA 10 SEPTEMBER 2022 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
I don’t mind the phasing out the titles, even though this should have been worked out over a decade ago when the CP twins were born, I think it’s odd that Felix still lives at the palace but Daisy didn’t have a face to face meeting with any of them. Nikolai and Felix live in Denmark and a tea with granny would have avoided most of this drama. The result could have been the same; no princely titles.
Maybe I’m extra salty this morning because I’m sick with Covid, but cry me a river – rich entitled folks who’ve spent their whole lives living off taxpayers crying crocodile tears because they feel entitled to keep living off taxpayers? get rid of the whole lot of them! #abolishthemonarchy
Is there any way of knowing how much money each taxpayer (in this case Denmark) has to pay a year to support the royal monarchic family? If it’s only a few dollars a year per citizen then I say it’s okay. A royal family is like a fancy ornament to the their country. They no longer have absolute power like they did centuries past. So if they don’t cost much to keep what the hell let them be.
It’s not about what it costs per person, it what it costs the nation and its people – and royal families enforce classism, racism and sexism while taking money away from more worthwhile social services.
That’s the excuse the Brits like to give to make it sound like it’s not a big deal. But it’s literally MILLIONS that could be put towards actually more useful programs that would actually help the general public. And people keep forgetting about the billions of dollars of property, arts and jewels that could also be put to better use for the UK public if they weren’t being hoarded by the family.
@OriginalLaLa You’re right. Look at what they did to Meghan Markle and what they did to princess Diana. But what about the charity work they all do to benefit worthwhile social services? Doesn’t that somehow redeems them?
@lolo
No, it doesn’t redeem them because the work they do is often nothing more than a photo op, often years and years apart. There was an investigation done a few years ago to see how being a royal patronage affected and organization helped business, and it was found to to have no benefit whatsoever. And quite often these organizations go out of business.
It’s all smoke and mirrors to appear that they are doing something when they really aren’t.
For the most part, the charity work is a smokescreen to convince people that they are living a life of “service.” There is very rarely a tangible benefit to the charity or organization as a result of a royal visit or patronage. So no, it doesn’t “redeem” them for living in castles and wearing stolen jewels while the world burns.
I think the charities could get volunteers and celebs for publicity at a better rate than upkeeping the royals.
I’m sorry you have covid and hope you feel better soon. I agree that these people complaining about losing a title of privilege is laughable. It’s a really bad look for this nice looking young man.
I have been thinking this about these stories. If this is so much of your identity, what you need is to stop walking Dior runways for a bit and get some therapy.
It sounds like he’s talking about how it went down as *I think* he was fully aware that the title would go away when he hit 25. The queen comes across as cold and sneaky. That likely sucks if you think of that woman as grandma and you think your aunt and uncle are positioning themselves by cutting titles in a very public, crappy way. I don’t feel a whole lot of sympathy but I do think he has the right to be confused and hurt by HOW it went down.
He goes from being a Prince to His Excellency Count of Monpezat. Yeah I’m not really crying for him either. Personally I’d be embarrassed to use either title, wouldn’t you just want to be treated normally?
I’m not sick with covid and I too have no time for this. Would announcing it sooner have helped? Probably not. Would letting them wait have helped? Probably not.
They’ll still have titles and he can still put one on his passport.
+1
I have been repeating this from the start.
Why should I emphatise with rich folks losing 1/100 of their priveledge ? Why is this supposed to be a trauma ?
Didn’t Denmark have an all male line descendent are “prince of Denmark and Greece” rule? Did they do away with that?
Yes Nikolai is living with his girlfriend: his old apartment is for sale: https://www.estate.dk/ejerlejlighed/1363/vendersgade/270210/ec473?utm_source=boliga
I think he got his BA this summer and is doing his MA now.
Dude. They need to drop the Greece title, regardless of the other titles.
Does QM have really bad advisors or something? It seems like this could have been so much less drama-filled had she had a sit-down tea or whatever with her younger son, her ex DIL and her current DIL, or just the son, or just the grandsons, etc. I feel like this is probably as messy as something like this can get, and it just seems avoidable?
It also seems unnecessary, they’re not receiving public money directly, they’re not going to be working royals, and someone on here has said that when they got married they would lose their titles anyway. so why not just sit tight and let the inevitable happen?
Is there something we’re missing, something pressing happening in Denmark that made this move so necessary at this point?
She must have really bad advisors. This should have been sorted years ago. I think there must be something going on under the surface (and not Mary which is the conspiracy favs at the moment). I wonder if she is ill and tying up loose ends she should have but didn’t?
Joachim has always been kind of shady. I wouldn’t be surprised if there was some tax payer drama around him, a la Andrew or the Spanish King, and she wants to just cut off his arm of the family.
Yeah, this all has rolled out as such a public unforced error. The timeline alone has caused a lot of this.
Do what the Swedish royals did and let the kids keep the names/titles but take away the actual power/money behind it.
@Becks1 +1 I clearly don’t understand the nuances of royal titles, but if the titles are merely ceremonial at this point, why create this mess and confusion?
And +1, @molly — let everyone keep their nonsense made-up titles and just remove the power/money (if there is any) behind it.
There are plenty of “titled royals” who are just normals floating around the world, working real jobs and using their regular names.
Again, the timing of it all. Why the rush? It all seems to coincide with Queen Elizabeth’s funeral and meeting with Charles.
This. I highly suspect this has to do with Charles whispering s little something in Queen Margrethe’s ear.
There were articles that Norway may follow Denmark’s suit. And more stories of Bea and Eugenie getting stripped of titles too.
The whole thing is weird. I get what people mean when they say they don’t feel sorry for the poor privileged rich folks losing meaningless titles, but it’s pretty clear that the affected individuals feel Queen Margrethe doesn’t love them. That’s horrible, imo.
I don’t get how chuck could influence them in that way unless there’s a huge bribe and how do you hide that?
@The Old Chick- yeah, Margrethe isn’t publicly torching her relationship with her son and grandkids because of a chit chat with the Charles at a funeral. (Charles should really never be your PR/media strategy role model about ANYTHING.)
She (or more likely, her advisors) may be using the increased attention on European monarchies as cover for the announcement, but this is the most global attention the Danes have ever gotten, and most of it’s not great for her.
The idea that Charles suggested this to her at the Queen’s funeral is really a stretch.
I understand that they were basically stripped of a part of their identity, but I don’t have it in me to feel sorry for them. It’s just a title. Not like any of those 4 were ever going to “rule” anyway. Guess I’m just petty.
They are still in the line of succession and unless you know the future that is a pretty broad statement especially since we are coming out of a deadly pandemic and natural disasters are becoming almost daily occurrences globally. Queen Elizabeth was never supposed to rule either.
Well if cash bags chuckles gets his way he’ll have two grand kids in the line of succession without titles (unless he drops them from that). But I think Anne’s kids are there somewhere? It would be a LONG way down but I think?
If it ever comes to a point where and of those 4 are set to take over as king or queen, take it as a sign to do away with the Monarchy entirely. Better?
When Peter Phillips was born, sans title, he was 5th in line to the throne. Behind Charles, Andrew, Edward and Anne. That’s Harry’s position currently.
I feel bad that their own grandmother didn’t talk to them first. It’s not like they need the title. it’s more the way it was done that feels like a betrayal so i can see why they are upset. The Danish royal family sounds messy and i am sure has some interesting stories behind this.
Hmm British Royal family racism seems to be spreading through other Monarchies also.. very strange how all the Royals who are biracial are being punished. Birthrights should be birthrights rule changes should be grandfathered in. What cold heartless people.
Nikolai and Felix are 1/8 Chinese. They heavily identify as Danish. I don’t think their great-grandfather’s Chinese ancestry is an important factor all of a sudden.
Those boys are not biracial. Not even close. They lived their entire lives as white people.
Their mother is half Chinese that is stated in her bio. Atda
Their mother has a English and Chinese father and a Austrian mother. Alexandra spoke fluent German which is why she learned Danish so quickly. Do Nikolai and Felix identify as people of color or just Danish princes?
That’s not how racists see things.
@Cessily & @Jess their grandfather is biracial. Their mother is 1/4 Chinese. They are 12.5% Asian. That’s far removed from biracial and if you aren’t told that, you couldn’t tell looking at them.
Joachim’s two younger children, who are 100% white, were also stripped of their titles. Queen Margrethe welcomed Alexandra into their family. When Joachim dumped Alexandra for Marie, QM made it very clear that she was Team Alexandra. Alexandra retained all of her titles until she remarried, continued to be welcomed to family events, and I believe still retained royal support for her charitable and public activities.
I understand that a lot of folks want to conflate this with the situation that is going on in the British Royal Family. But really, this is not the same situation. And to pronounce someone as racist when you only know a few of the facts is not fair.
Wow the commets here are very insensitive and problematic …
Strangers don’t get to define how multi racial people identify or experience things.
Also it’s clear that most of you don’t follow the danish royals and are just talking out of your ass.
Alex grew up in Hong Kong, her kids have spent summers in china since they were kids and she has spoken about how important it is for them to know their Chinese heritage. Nikolai said he always loved hearing stories about his grandfather ( Alex dad).
It’s interesting gossip, but I dont feel sorry for them. They’ll still dine well and sleep well. There are bigger issues in the world than the impacts of loosing titles for 4 royal kids.
Felix and Nikolai are adults so the Queen could have called them in for a meeting to discuss her decision before announcing it. If these moves convinces the public that having royalty is useless, I’m all for Margethe stripping her family of their titles. She should have stripped Mary and Federick’s younger children as well.
Royal families seem to be full of nasty people. Imagine spending your entire life knowing your gransparents/parents/ etc don’t consider you as special or as important as a sibling simply because they were born first. This drama just shows another side as to why all royal families are such deplorable institutions.
Cry me a river! If this is what is holding your identity together seek therapy! Maybe I’m feeling extra crabby this morning since like many people my bills keep increasing but my paycheck hasn’t and I haven’t had a full meal due to lack of food in a few days but I don’t feel bad for any of these people. They can’t even see beyond their own privileged existence. Cry me a river poor spoiled rich prince!
I have little sympathy, and I do not buy this is sudden. My Danish friend said Joachim has been disliked for a while and the rumors have been around for a while that Queen M. was upset with him. His second wife, Marie, also apparently did some sort of tacky tabloid photoshoot which didn’t go over well…if she had done a Vanity Fair/Variety/Tatler thing it might have been better. And the Raffles ad. this kid was in was super cringe.
And no, I don’t think this is racism. The Prince’s other two white kids also had their title stripped, and the eldest two are like 1/6-1/8 Chinese and look fully white. Plus the Queen apparently loved Alexandra and disliked the second wife a lot. I think the Queen just got fed up with Joachim and something he did was the final straw…and I don’t think this has anything to do with Chuck.
@DIV I agree with you on everything but just a language note, discussing people’s ethnicity in percentages and how “white-passing” they are is deeply dehumanising. I certainly haven’t seen anything that they or their mother identify closely with their Chinese heritage but discussing/dismissing it with that terminology can be upsetting to people with similar backgrounds (of any ethnicity) who are closely connected with their cultural heritage.
I’ll keep that in mind, but I’m Black and generally in my experience completely white passing people have it very differently from other POC. That doesn’t mean they are disconnected from their heritage, but it’s hard for me to see this as a racial issue considering the Queen loved their mother (a WOC) far more than their stepmother and the fact that the other two princes are white.
Sure thing, like I said, I totally agree with your take about the Danish royals, it was just a massive reflex against those terms from my work with First Nations populations. When I think about how far removed their real-life issues are from these poor little (former) prince and princesses it actually makes me sick to think about!
“White-passing” means a lot less when your country is fully aware that you are also Chinese. I don’t care to know enough about this situation to know whether racism played a part, but the world is full of anti-Chinese sentiment and it’s too simple to say that these kids don’t face any bias at all just because of their looks. I’m sure their privelege is deep, but it wouldn’t be surprising to also know that they have suffered some racism in their country.
I can also seeing becoming a model as being a reason for your grandmother wanting to strip your title. Not a good reason, but a believable one.
All of this falls apart when you consider the gross Greek “royals.” Queen M’s support lends a lot of legitimacy to their claims and they go around modeling, selling, etc.
Yes, QM’s great niece HRH Princess Olympia of Greece and Denmark was also in that ugh Raffles ad and no repercussions for that family with her modeling career.
@div
White passing is very dehumanising and your comment is kind of ironic seeing they were born into a family were preserving the bloodline has been paramount for centuries..
And as someone else said you can’t really pass if everyone knows who your mum is.
I mean would you say the same about Meghan and Harry’s children? Because they don’t look black but like the danish princess they are brought into environment very linage and bloodline is directly connected to how people value you and there’s a lot a of snobbery and racism.
i was pretty upset too when my dad told me i wasnt really a princess. my heart goes out to them, hang in there, you’ll get through this
This made me laugh. My dad used to call my sister Christina Queena, and as a child she was upset to learn that she really wasn’t a Queen. We still tease her about it.
I set my iphone to call me “queen” and it makes me happy everytime I say “hey siri” and I hear “yes, queen?” LOL. don’t tell me that’s being a real queen!
I think whenever “titles” are removed, drama would always ensue either with Royals directly or with “insiders” speculating. I don’t think there is a right way to do this. Also the reason CP Mary’s twins don’t have to worry about it for now is b/c she’s the CP married to the CP of DK. Is it unfair? Absolutely! But when was monarchy ever fair? This is a privileged institution to promote and ensure classism and white supremacy who gave babies titles when they’ve literally done nothing but be born into an enormously privileged family. There’s a reason these stories aren’t trending outside of Royal twitter.
Give it another week or 2 and if Joachim and his family keep talking, the wind will turn against them and justifiably so. These are already privileged kids who got a title they didn’t earn (pure birthright bs) and then got it abruptly removed years later. These kids will be fine in the long term. Their “family” may be a mess but monarchy has a long history of always being messy for a reason. Its still around b/c its ruthless esp with their own family . If they ever truly placed family first, the monarchies would’ve died centuries ago.
I… kinda get it? When you’ve been part of that world since birth and you’ve been raised with the whole you have titles because of your “blood” and they are a part of you then having them taken can feel like a part of their identity is being taken away. So I understand them feeling upset.
However they’re still going to be rich and privileged. They’ll move on and get over it.
Royals are awful and being sad to the press about losing your title is not a winning PR strategy.
Whining babies, crying about no longer being able to grift from taxpayers simply because they are “exalted royalty” and were lucky enough to be born in that family? Is there any other reason that so apparently shows WHY they need to have those titles stripped away??
None of us are royalty so hard for us to empathize with any of these people. But if I had to guess, if I grew up with some kind of title whether it be Princess, Duchess, Lady, or Countess and I learned later as an adult I’d lose my title just because my queen grandmother felt like doing away with them, I’d be pretty upset too. It’s similar to the feeling of shock I would assume one would get if you found out your parents weren’t your real parents or you found out some surprising thing about your ancestry. To have part of your identity robbed from you is going to be traumatic, even if you are rich and privileged. We are all human and we all feel similar emotions regardless of class status.
Nikolai is very handsome though, he could totally do modeling or be an actor for awhile. I hope he gets the support he needs and unlike his father does a better job of carving out a purpose for himself outside of the royal family.
Are the titles harming you? I don’t understand the need for normal people to strip if their is no taxpayer money involved and there isn’t. Stop saying they’re crying about not living off taxpayer money when they’re not. If it’s not fun to have a title then why complain. I think they don’t want these good-looking kids to take away from their children. Archie and Lillibet would be getting a lot more attention if they were there and they begin to bring the children out a lot more after the attention Archie got. This is the line of succession. Most people were interested in Pr. Harry and Meghan’s children because they were their kids. They didn’t like it. Not giving them titles they thought would lessen the curiosity and demote them.
The other three children that the crown prince and princess have will not be getting any money right after 18. Their children wouldn’t have titles at birth and wouldn’t receive taxpayer money. That’s what I would do. Make it retroactive for the rest, because they’re younger siblings. They have four children not two. That could be a lot of grandkids. I would make them counts/countesses.
I think people are focusing on the loss of titles as the harm when to me this seems (as another commenter said) a public declaration from your grandmother/mother that she doesn’t love you.
That is unforgivable and they are correct to be upset.
In the USA, there is a 5-year limit on how long you can get welfare benefits, because you are expected to use those years finding gainful employment. That means actual, poor people who are struggling just to survive, will lose their lifelines.
My point is, cry me a river Danish former-royals.
Well the next family reunion will certainly be interesting. They aren’t letting this go easily and why should they?
Zowie! That’s a lot of medals for someone so young. 😉 Looks like the Danes outdo the British in fake military.
“although he did enter a business school in 2019. I don’t know if he completed it.”
He graduated with a BA this summer. He’s doing an MBA now.
“but was there some big movement to cut down the number of princes?”
There was no movement, no talk about this on a grassroot or political level. She is just following other royal houses. They all think that slimming down the monarchy is the only way to save it.
The Queen made a statement last night and apologised to Joachim and his family.
Which is unprecedented apparently.
Probably happened because the media criticised her handling of this, one of the biggest outlets writing that the biggest threat to the monarchy isn’t some extra princes but the monarchy itself (with this messiness.)