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TheDanish Act of Succession,[1] adopted on 5 June 1953, restricts the throne to those descended fromChristian X and his wife,Alexandrine of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, through approved marriages. By a change in the law in 2009, succession is governed byabsolute primogeniture.[2]
Dynasts lose their right to the throne if they marry without the permission of the monarch, to be given in the Council of State. Individuals born to unmarried dynasts or to former dynasts who married without royal permission, and their descendants, are excluded from the throne. Further, when approving a marriage, the monarch can impose conditions that must be met in order for any resulting offspring to have succession rights. If there is no eligible person(s) to inherit the throne, the Danish Parliament (theFolketing) has the right to elect a new monarch and determine a line of succession.
People in the line of succession are listed with a number signifying their place in the line.
King Frederik IX (1899–1972)Queen Margrethe II (born 1940)King Frederik X (born 1968)[2][3]The consent to Princess Benedikte's marriage toPrince Richard of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg in 1968 was given on the condition that their children (and further descendants) would have to take up permanent residence in Denmark during the age of mandatory education if they were to retain their succession rights. Since the condition was not met, Princess Benedikte's children are not deemed to have succession rights and are not included in the official line of succession.[2] It is unclear whether their own descendants will have succession rights if residing in Denmark during the age of mandatory education. One Danish constitutional scholar, the late ProfessorHenrik Zahle, claimed that the children of Princess Benedikte do have succession rights, but without providing any arguments for the claim.[14]
From theLondon Protocol in 1852 till 1953, various male-line descendants of King Christian IX had succession rights in Denmark except KingGeorge I of Greece (former Prince William of Denmark) and his successors, whose rights to the Danish throne were blocked by Article VI of the 1863 treaty between Denmark, France, the United Kingdom and Russia recognising George I asking of the Hellenes. Article VI stated: In no case shall the Crown of Greece and the Crown of Denmark be united on the same head).
The new Act of Succession terminated succession rights but left the excluded individuals in possession of their titles. This created a class of people with royal titles but no rights to the throne. As a distinction, those entitled to inherit the throne are called "Prins til Danmark" (Prince to Denmark, although this distinction is not made in English) while those without succession rights are referred to as "Prins af Danmark" (Prince of Denmark).
From 1853 until 1953, the Crown passed according toagnatic primogeniture. The monarch in 1953,King Frederik IX, had three daughters but no sons. Before the 1953 Act, the heir presumptive to the throne wasHereditary Prince Knud, the King's younger brother. The Hereditary Prince was far less popular than the King was. Further, his mother-in-law,Princess Helena, was accused of supporting theNazi movement during theSecond World War. These factors, combined with a belief that theSalic law was outdated, resulted in the movement to change the succession law so that Frederick's eldest daughter, the thenPrincess Margrethe, could inherit the throne. Thus, the Salic law was changed tomale-preference primogeniture in 1953, meaning that females could inherit, but only if they had no brothers.
Prince Knud had three children. His sons married without the monarch's permission and lost both their royal titles and succession rights. Only Knud's daughter, the unmarriedPrincess Elisabeth, retained her rights to the throne. Since her death, the line of succession has consisted only of descendants ofKing Frederik IX.
Queen Margrethe II's youngest sister,Anne-Marie, married KingConstantine II of Greece in 1964. As she was marrying a foreign ruler, although he was himself a prince of Denmark, consent to the marriage was given on the condition that Anne-Marie renounced her and her descendants' rights to the Danish throne.[14][citation needed]
In 2008, the Danish parliament voted in favour of institutingabsolute primogeniture, which would make the Danish monarch's first-born child heir apparent regardless of gender, similar to Sweden and Norway. The bill was voted through two successive parliaments, and submitted toa referendum. The change in succession law did not affect the immediate line of succession as all of Margrethe II's descendants would hold the same positions under both laws.[15][16] Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary became parents to twins born on 8 January 2011. Upon their birth, the twins assumed the fourth and fifth place in the line of succession, according to the absolute primogeniture principle adopted, thereby not givingPrince Vincent precedence over his older sisterPrincess Isabella.[17]
In 2022, Queen Margrethe II stripped the children of her sonPrince Joachim of their princely titles, though they remain in the line of succession (seeCount of Monpezat#2023 style changes for details).
| Grandee | Reason | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Prince Vilhelm | electedKing of the Hellenes in 1863 as King George I. | 30 March 1863 |
| Prince Carl | electedKing of Norway in 1905 as King Haakon VII. | 18 November 1905 |
 Prince Constantine | ascended to the King of the Hellenes in 1913 as King Constantine I. | 18 March 1913 |
| Prince Aage | renounced in 1914 due to his marriage to Mathilde Calvi. | 1 February 1914[18] |
| Prince Alexander | ascended to the King of the Hellenes in 1917 as King Alexander I. | 11 June 1917 |
| Prince George | ascended to the King of the Hellenes in 1922 as King George II. | 27 September 1922 |
| Prince Erik | renounced in 1924 due to his marriage to Lois Frances Booth. | 11 February 1924[18] |
| Prince Viggo | renounced in 1924 due to his marriage toEleanor Margaret Green. | 10 June 1924[18] |
| Prince Paul | ascended to the King of the Hellenes in 1947 as King Paul I. | 1 April 1947 |
| Prince Philip | renounced in 1947 due to his marriage toPrincess Elizabeth. | 28 February 1947 |
| Prince Oluf | renounced in 1948 due to his marriage to Annie Helene Dorrit Puggard-Müller. | 4 February 1948[18] |
| Prince Flemming | renounced in 1949 due to his marriage to Ruth Nielsen. | 24 May 1949[18] |
| Grandee | Reason | Date |
|---|---|---|
 Prince Olav | excluded by thenew law. | 27 March 1953 |
| Prince Harald | ||
| Prince Gorm | ||
| Prince Axel | ||
| Prince Georg | ||
| Prince Constantine | ||
| Prince George | ||
| Prince Peter[19] | ||
| Prince Michael | ||
| Princess Anne-Marie | renounced in 1964 due to her marriage to KingConstantine II of Greece | 18 September 1964[18] |
| Prince Ingolf | renounced in 1968 due to his unauthorised marriage to Inge Terney. | 13 January 1968[18] |
| Prince Christian | renounced in 1971 due to his unauthorised marriage toAnne Dorte Maltoft-Nielsen. | 27 February 1971[18] |
The throne is inherited in King Christian 10. and Queen Alexandrine's posterity.
The Crown Prince is the son of Queen Margrethe II andHRH Prince Henrik of Denmark. He is in line to succeed to the throne and is the regent when the Queen is out of the country.
HRH Prince Christian is included in the order of succession to the Throne after HRH the Crown Prince.
Princess Isabella is included in the order of succession to the Throne after Prince Christian.
HRH Prince Vincent is included in the order of succession to the Throne after HRH Princess Isabella.
HRH Princess Josephine is included in the order of succession to the Throne after HRH Prince Vincent.
His Royal Highness Prince Joachim is the son of Queen Margrethe II and Prince Henrik of Denmark. He is included in the order of succession to the Throne and may act as Regent when the Queen and Crown Prince Frederik are abroad.
Prince Nikolai is included in the order of succession to the Throne.
Prince Felix is included in the order of succession to the Throne.
Prince Henrik is included in the order of succession to the Throne.
Princess Athena is included in the order of succession to the Throne.