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This may have been her last New Year's Eve address. At Amalienborg Palace in Copenhagen, Denmark's Queen Margrethe II announced that she intends to abdicate next year. She leaves the throne to her son, Crown Prince Frederik.
Photo: Keld Navntoft / AFP
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Every year, Queen Margrethe II goes on a winter holiday to Norway, including skiing. Here she can be seen in February 1975 with her sons Prince Frederik and Prince Joachim.
Photo: Keystone/ Getty Images
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Since her youth – even in public and at appointments – the monarch has smoked. When SPIEGEL met her for an interview in 2016 and asked if she was thinking of quitting, she replied: "If there's one thing I don't have in mind, it's this." But since her back surgery at the end of February 2023, Margrethe II is said to have kept her hands off cigarettes.
Photo: Francis Dean / picture-alliance / dpa
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In August 2004, the Queen of Denmark and her husband, Prince Henrik, spent their summer vacation in the south of France – seen here with one of their dachshunds. The couple had been married since 1967. He was considered the queen's greatest supporter. Prince Henrik died in 2018.
Photo: ipa Villard/ dpa
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For the Netflix film »Ehrengard: The Story of a Seduction«, which is based on a book by the Danish author Blixen, Margrethe II was involved in the set design and costumes. Together with the director Bille August, she looked at photos for it.
Photo: Jacob Joergensen / dpa
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The celebrations had to be postponed twice: On November 12, 2022, Queen Margrethe II celebrated her 50th anniversary on the throne. It was also the regent's first appearance after a family dispute: at the end of September, the queen had announced that four of her eight grandchildren would lose their titles. The reason given by the royal palace was that this should allow Prince Joachim's four children to live a more normal life.
Photo: Martin Sylvest / dpa
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Queen Margrethe II has a creative streak: she is known for her illustrations, designs and stage decorations. In October 2023, she will open the exhibition »The Portrait of Seduction« at Rungstedlund, also known as the Karen Blixen Museum, in Rungsted, north of Copenhagen. Stage sets that she had co-developed for the film »Ehrengrad« were also exhibited here.
Photo: Thomas Traasdahl / EPA
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In November 2021, Queen Margrethe II travelled to Germany with her son Crown Prince Frederik for a four-day state visit. German Chancellor Angela Merkel received the Queen of Denmark for a meeting at the Chancellery in Berlin.
Photo: TOBIAS SCHWARZ / AFP
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The royals from Spain visit Denmark: Queen Margrethe II welcomes King Felipe and Queen Letizia of Spain before a state banquet in their honour at Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen.
Since the death of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, of whom she was a third cousin, Margrethe II has been considered the longest-serving regent in the world.
Photo: Mads Claus Rasmussen / EPA
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