A year and a half ago, in September 2022, Queen Margrethe announced she would remove prince and princess titles from four of her grandchildren—the children of her second son, Prince Joachim—as of January 1, 2023. Soon after the decision was made public, Prince Joachim and his family expressed their displeasure, and the Danish royal family began very publicly feuding. However, in the 18 months since, Queen Margrethe abdicated, Joachim's older brother became King Frederik X, and, Prince Joachim and his wife, Princess Marie, moved to Washington, D.C. (Prince Joachim started a new job as a defense attaché at the Danish Embassy.)
In a new interview with the Washington Post, Prince Joachim and Princess Marie opened up about their move, and Princess Marie revealed her feelings on the title controversy. "We weren't happy about the way it happened," Marie said. "But it's a family thing. It's complicated." She added, "It's also their name. It's their identity since they were born. So it’s more than just what people see as a title." (Joachim and Marie have two children, Count Henrik, 14, and Countess Athena, 12, and Joachim has two children from his previous marriage, Count Nikolai, 24, and Count Felix, 21.) Prince Joachim was more blunt when asked about the titles: "We've moved on," he told the Post.
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Soon after the decision was announced, Queen Margrethe apologized, but didn't regret her decision. "Holding a royal title involves a number of commitments and duties that, in the future, will lie with fewer members of the royal family. This adjustment, which I view as a necessary future-proofing of the monarchy, I want to take in my own time," she said, adding, "I have made my decision as Queen, mother and grandmother, but, as a mother and grandmother, I have underestimated the extent to which much my younger son and his family feel affected. That makes a big impression, and for that I am sorry."
