‘There is a serious war behind palace walls in the Danish monarchy and it’s got to the stage where the whole royal family is at crisis point,’ a well-placed source says.
‘At the centre of the feud is Queen Margrethe’s plan to abdicate, which has now been put on hold thanks to a secret plot by Princess Marie – the wife of Prince Frederik’s younger brother, Prince Joachim.’
If Queen Margrethe, 78, does abdicate, Crown Prince Frederik, 49, will be next in line, leaving Mary, 46, to become queen – which reportedly is making Princess Marie see red.
‘Marie knows full well that when Queen Margrethe steps down, then Princess Mary will become queen – and that makes her blood boil. It’s no secret behind palace walls that Marie is jealous of Mary and does whatever she can to make her life hell, but she’s really upped the ante since talk of Queen Margrethe abdicating stepped up,’ says the source.
Since the death of Mary’s father-in-law Prince Henrik in February, she has been taking on a greater workload and public profile, leading Marie to step in and campaign for Margrethe to stay put – leaving Mary ‘livid’.
‘After Henrik died, palace officials expected Margrethe to step down within weeks and hand the throne to Mary and Fred. But since then, Marie has spent day and night in Margrethe’s ear, telling her that the monarchy will suffer with Mary on the throne and is campaigning for the Queen to stay put as long as she can.
‘Mary is furious that Marie is tarnishing her good name. She works so hard for the Danish monarchy, her commitment to royal duty is unrivalled – and yet Marie is against her.
‘But Marie is enjoying it. She hates that Mary is the “perfect princess” and doesn’t want her to be queen,’ adds the source. Perhaps Marie’s reasons lie behind Mary ‘ruling the roost’ at the palace, as royalists say if she becomes queen, she will have more power than just a title.
‘Princess Mary will become queen, but I think it is fair to say she will also become king,’ royal commentator Trine Villemann, told News Corp recently.
‘There is absolutely no doubt that Mary rules the roost.
‘She is allowing Frederik quite a lot of space... and in doing so she has managed to accumulate quite a lot of power.’ And Queen Margrethe herself has been having second thoughts about abdicating, as she fears that her son Frederik is really ‘too lazy’ and will let Princess Mary take over.
‘As well as having Marie in her ear 24/7, Queen Margrethe is having her own doubts about abdicating,’ says the source.
‘Senior palace officials know that even though Frederik will be named king when she steps down, it will be Mary who rules.’
Her worries may well have sustenance especially as Frederik failed to make her 78th birthday party recently as he was busy enjoying a skiing holiday in Greenland with friends. And Frederik’s group had to call for help when they were hunted by an ice bear that entered the property they were staying at.
The concern felt by Queen Margrethe must’ve added to the appearance of their relationship seeming frosty of late.
Ideally, Margrethe would handover to Frederik when he turns 50 in May, but the Queen doesn’t trust him calling the shots until he steps up.
‘Fred is too lazy and doesn’t work anywhere near as hard as Mary does – she’s more popular than Fred and will become monarch, no matter what.
‘Margrethe is aware of this, and it makes her nervous. She wants Fred to step up more, and she’s not going to abdicate until he does,’ adds the source.
‘She was planning to step down when Frederik turns 50, but she doesn’t feel like she can while there is all this in-fighting and when she still has doubts over Frederik.’
Author of The Royals In Australia, Juliet Rieden also believes there’s no chance the Queen will abdicate.
‘I talked to a lot of people in Denmark about this and the consensus is that Queen Margrethe is very unlikely to abdicate,’ she told Daily Mail.
‘The only reason that she would abdicate is if she became infirm and incapable of being a Queen.’
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