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Count of Monpezat (Danish:Greve af Monpezat), orCountess of Monpezat (Danish:Grevinde af Monpezat) when the holder is female, is a hereditary title ofDanish nobility. It was granted on 30 April 2008 byQueen Margrethe II to her two sons,Crown Prince Frederik andPrince Joachim, and their legitimatepatrilineal (male-line) descendants. The title is derived from the French title of "comte deLaborde de Monpezat", which was used by Frederik and Joachim's father,Prince Henrik. His family started using this title as atitle of pretense inrepublican France in the late 19th century.
The title can only be passed down the male line, but unmarried daughters of a count hold the courtesy titlekomtesse (derived from the French word for countess). The wife of a count holds the courtesy titlegrevinde (the Danish word for countess). Akomtesse (a count's daughter) cannot pass on the title to her husband or children.
Members of theLaborde de Monpezat family have styled themselves as "comte de Laborde de Monpezat" (English: Count of Laborde of Monpezat) since sometime late in the nineteenth century. The right to the use of that comital title is disputed; TheEncyclopédie de la fausse noblesse et de la noblesse d'apparence (English:Encyclopedia of False and Apparent Nobility) states that Prince Henrik's ancestor, Jean Laborde, received royalletters patent of ennoblement in 1655, conditional on his reception as anoble in theEstates of the province ofBéarn, where his lands were located.[1] However, this condition was never fulfilled, as the Estates refused Laborde's petitions in 1703 and again in 1707.[1] The family's surname was "Monpezat" by the time of theFrench Revolution, without title, until 14 July 1860, when it was changed byimperial decree to "de Laborde-Monpezat", and legally changed again on 19 May 1861 to "de Laborde de Monpezat".[2]
Although the comital title has been used by the family as if it were a courtesy title, traditionally theroyal court and French society accepted such titles when used by genuinely noble families.[3] Before his marriage with queenMargrethe II of Denmark,Prince Henrik also used this French comital title.
In 2008, the title of "Count of Monpezat" (Greve af Monpezat) was conferred by the Queen on her and Prince Henrik's two sons, this as a genuine Danishtitle of nobility and being hereditary to all legitimate descendants in themale line.[4] According to historianJon Bloch Skipper, the title granted in 2008 was unrelated to the original French noble title, but was a reference to Prince Henrik and his French lineage.[5]
On 28 September 2022, theRoyal Household announced that from 1 January 2023, the children ofPrince Joachim will no longer be titled Prince or Princess of Denmark, though their place in theline of succession will be unaffected. This would leave Count or Countess of Monpezat as their most senior titles. The children will also lose thestyle ofHighness, and they will instead be styled asExcellency. Queen Margrethe II said that this would enable her grandchildren to "shape their own lives to a much greater extent without being limited by the special considerations and duties that a formal affiliation with the Royal House of Denmark as an institution involves."[6]
The family tree is based on the currentline of succession to the Danish throne.
Queen Margrethe II (b.1940) ∞Prince Henrik (1934–2018)King Frederik X (b.1968)∞Queen Mary (b.1972)
(1)Crown Prince Christian (b. 2005)
(2)Princess Isabella (b. 2007)(3)Prince Vincent (b. 2011)(4)Princess Josephine (b. 2011)(5)Prince Joachim (b. 1969)
(6)Count Nikolai (b. 1999)(7)Count Felix (b. 2002)(8)Count Henrik (b. 2009)(9)Countess Athena (b. 2012)