Official Accession Portraits of King Frederik X Release by the Danish Royal House

The Danish Royal House shared the official family portraits of Their Majesties King Frederik X and Queen Mary together with their four children.

The photos were taken on the accession day of the king at the throne room of Christiansborg Palace where he was enthroned, and were taken by court photographer, Dennis Stenild.

Crown Prince Christian with his parents, the King and Queen

Queen Mary wore a white midi dress from Danish fashion designer, Soeren Le Schmidt and a pair of nude shoes from Prada. Her eldest daughter, Princess Isabella, wore a red coat dress from Carolina Herrera and borrowed her Valentino black shoes. While her youngest daughter, Princess Josephine, borrowed her navy coat dress.

portrait of the new Danish royal family

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His Majesty King Frederik X, the 6th monarch from the House of Glucksburg in Denmark, ascended to the Danish throne on January 14, 2024, upon the abdication of his mother, Queen Margrethe II. 

official accession portrait of King Frederik X

The photos were captioned: "The Throne Hall at Christiansborg Castle forms the frame for the first official portraits of Their Majesties The King and Queen.

"The portrait series was taken by photographer Dennis Stenild a few moments after the King's proclamation, which took place from the balcony of Tronsalen on the 14th of January 2024.

King Frederik and his family appear on the palace balcony

Princess Josephine borrows her mother's dress

The Queen's surprised abdication 

The abdication of Queen Margrethe II is still a hot topic among royal enthusiasts and analysts. Some royal experts say, there was something deeper than health reasons why the Queen decided to abdicate. 

According to HELLO!'s A Right Royal Podcast, journalist Wim Dehandschutter explained the emotional reasons behind the former Queen's decision to abdicate. 

"Margrethe became a widow after the death of Prince Henrik (February 2018), her husband. Furthermore, there was a lot of fuss about her decision to strip four of her grandchildren of their royal titles of prince and princess. She was criticized by her own family, it became world news and at that moment she was portrayed as heartless. And I think for her she couldn't understand it because she thought she was doing this for the sake of her grandchildren to relieve them of their royal duties and expectations."

Queen Margrethe's demeanor during the abdication day was described by some as "sad", emphasizing that the atmosphere was different from the previous abdications of other European monarchs.

Queen Margrethe leaves the room as her son signed documents of his accession

After signing the abdication instruments, the Queen rose up and gestured to her son, Frederik, to take her place. Then she took her bag, and her walking stick, and left the room.

She also did not appear with the new royal family on the balcony. The previous abdication saw the monarchs who stepped down from the throne join their successor's family on the balcony - Grand Duke Jean of Luxembourg (2000), Queen Beatrix of The Netherlands (2013), King Albert II of Belgium (2013), and King Juan Carlos I of Spain (2014).