التصنيف: جديد

After the surprise abdication of his mother Queen Margrethe II, Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark will ascend to the throne on 14 January.

A married father-of-four and passionate environmentalist, the 55-year-old crown prince speaks four languages and has recently stepped up his royal duties.

But the man fond of rock concerts who was once dubbed the “party prince” didn’t always appear to be prepared to take over the reins of Europe’s oldest ruling monarchy.

Here, Sky News looks at the future king of Denmark – and how his reign might look.

‘Party prince’

Queen Margrethe’s eldest son, Crown Prince Frederik was always destined for the throne.

But as a young man in the 1990s, he developed a reputation for being a “party prince”.

He was said to have matured during his time at the University of Aarhus, where he graduated in political science.

As part of his course, he spent some time studying at Harvard University in the US between 1992 and 1993.

His military education began in 1986 in the Queen’s Life Guard regiment.

In 2010, he was appointed as a commander in the navy and colonel in the army and the air force.

Crown Prince Frederik remains active in his country’s defence forces.

Preparing to be king

Marie Rønde, royal correspondent for Danish broadcaster TV2, said Crown Prince Frederik was not always “prepared” for his future role as monarch.

She told Sky News: “He’s talked about it himself that when he turned 18, he was not at all prepared for what came to him at that point.

“He’s used a lot of time getting prepared – like getting used to the fact that this is the task of his life and he’s worked a lot on that.

“I don’t know if you would call him a party prince today, I think he’s changed a lot, but that’s what he was at that time.”

In recent years, the prince – who also speaks English, French and German – has taken on more responsibilities, particularly during Queen Margrethe’s recent ill health.

Ms Rønde said: “A year ago she had back surgery (and) he took over a lot of her work.

“He said that he was like his mother’s ‘wingman’.

“He’s had a long military education and he’s fond of rock music, (he) goes to concerts and festivals, and he’s very into sports events. So in that way, he’s very different from his mother.”

His family

Prince Frederik is the eldest child of Queen Margrethe and Prince Henrik of Denmark, who died in 2018.

His younger brother, Prince Joachim of Denmark, is one year his junior.

In 2022, Queen Margrethe stripped Joachim’s four children of their royal titles, saying it was “necessary future-proofing of the monarchy”.

The move did not affect Crown Prince Frederik’s children, who all retain their titles, nor did it impact the line of succession.

Frederik first met his wife, Mary, crown princess of Denmark, at a bar during the Sydney Olympics in 2000.

The Australian-born princess worked in advertising before meeting the prince.

They were married in 2004 and the couple have four children – 18-year-old Prince Christian, 16-year-old Princess Isabella, and 12-year-old twins Prince Vincent and Princess Josephine.

Ms Rønde believes the crown princess will be a “very strong queen”.

She said: “It’s been clear all these years that his wife, Crown Princess Mary, has always been very supportive of him and she’s been by his side – like you see with Queen Camilla, the role that she has with King Charles.”

When it comes to his eldest son, Prince Christian, it is unclear how his role will change when he becomes crown prince.

Rønde added: “I’m really excited about the role of his son, Prince Christian, because the Royal household said he will not have an official role until he turns 21, because they want him to focus on his education and just to be young.”

Read more:
Queen of Denmark apologises for stripping grandchildren of royal titles
Queen Margrethe’s reign in pictures

What kind of king will he be?

Although the monarch is head of state, the Danish constitution strictly rules out their involvement in party politics.

But ever since climate conference COP15 took place in Copenhagen in 2009, the crown prince has been engaged with global climate and environmental challenges.

Ms Rønde believes the crown prince will be a “king of the people” when he officially becomes Frederik X.

“He meets a lot of Danes when he’s out and about and he’s very good at talking to them,” she said.

“[Queen Margrethe] is also a queen of the people, people really like her, but I think he will be too.”

غزة – وكالات:

قالت وزارة الصحة الفلسطينية إن قوات الاحتلال ارتكبت 12 مجزرة خلال الساعات الماضية، راح ضحيتها نحو 165 قتيلاً و300 جريح. من جانبه، أكد مصدر في حماس أن موقف الحركة لا يزال على حاله؛ ألا وهو رفض أي صفقة تبادل أسرى مع إسرائيل قبل وقف النار. كما أوضح المصدر أن وفدًا من الحركة يتواجد في القاهرة لبحث مقترح وقف إطلاق النار، في إشارة إلى أن المفاوضات مستمرة.

وتشترط حماس منذ أيام عدة، وقفًا شاملاً وتامًّا لإطلاق النار في كامل القطاع المحاصر، مقابل تبادل الأسرى مع إسرائيل. في حين ترفض تل أبيب هذا الشرط، مؤكدة ألا «هدنة نهائية للحرب قبل القضاء على حماس». كما أعلنت وزارة الصحة في غزة، ارتفاع عدد القتلى الفلسطينيين إلى 21 ألفاً و822، فيما زاد عدد المصابين إلى 56 ألفاً و451، أغلبهم من الأطفال والنساء.

Thousands of Israeli soldiers are being moved out of the Gaza Strip, the military has said, marking the first significant drawdown of troops since the war began.

Israel also pulled tanks out of some Gaza City districts, residents said, in what the US said was a shift to different military tactics in northern Gaza.

The US, Israel’s chief ally, has pressured the country in recent weeks to switch to lower-intensity fighting.

Five brigades, totalling several thousand troops, will be taken out of the enclave in the coming weeks for training and rest, the IDF said.

But fierce fighting continued in other areas of Gaza, especially the southern city of Khan Younis and central areas of the territory.

Israeli army spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari did not say whether the decision means Israel is launching a new phase of the war.

“The objectives of the war require prolonged fighting, and we are preparing accordingly,” he said.

News of the drawdown came ahead of a visit by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to the region and after the Biden administration bypassed Congress for the second time this month to approve an emergency weapons sale to Israel.

Israel has vowed to charge ahead until its war aims have been achieved, including dismantling Hamas, which has ruled Gaza for 16 years.

Israel responded to the Hamas attack on 7 October with a blistering air, ground and sea offensive that has killed more than 21,800 people in Gaza, two-thirds of them women and children, according to the Health Ministry in Gaza.

The war has displaced some 85% of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents, sending hordes of people seeking shelter in Israeli-designated safe areas that the military has nevertheless bombed.

There were several other developments in the Israel-Hamas war as New Year’s Day came to a close:

• Hezbollah said four of its fighters were killed in southern Lebanon;
• Also in Lebanon, the Israeli military said it struck Hezbollah targets and that five soldiers were wounded by cross-border fire;
• Hamas fired a large barrage of rockets towards Israel, including its commercial hub Tel Aviv, as the clock struck midnight on New Year’s Eve;
• Israel’s defence minister says some communities that had been evacuated to the north of the Gaza Strip will be able to return soon;
• The US Navy said it will end the deployment of the Gerald R Ford aircraft carrier in the Middle East which started after the 7 October attack.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said his military should “thoroughly annihilate” the US and South Korea if provoked, according to state media.

Mr Kim’s comments on Sunday came after he said moves by the US and its allies against Pyongyang had been unprecedented in 2023, pushing the Korean Peninsula to the brink of nuclear war.

In a meeting with commanding army officers on Sunday, he said the country needed to sharpen “the treasured sword” to safeguard national security – an apparent reference to his country’s nuclear weapons programme.

He cited “the US and other hostile forces’ military confrontation moves”, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

Mr Kim said that “our army should deal a deadly blow to thoroughly annihilate them by mobilising all the toughest means and potentialities without moment’s hesitation” if they opt for military confrontation and provocations against North Korea, KCNA added.

North Korea’s leader is expected to ramp up weapons tests in 2024 ahead of the US presidential election in November, with many experts believing that Mr Kim thinks an expanded nuclear arsenal will allow him to gain US concessions if former president Donald Trump is re-elected.

In a five-day meeting of the ruling party last week, Mr Kim pledged to launch three new spy satellites, build military drones and increase his country’s stock of nuclear weapons in 2024.

At the meeting, Mr Kim called South Korea “a hemiplegic malformation and colonial subordinate state” whose society is “tainted by Yankee culture”.

He said his military must use all available means including nuclear weapons to “suppress the whole territory of South Korea” in the event of a conflict.

In response, South Korea’s Defence Ministry warned that if North Korea attempts to use nuclear weapons, South Korean and US forces will punish it overwhelmingly, resulting in the end of the Kim government.

Experts say small-scale military clashes between North and South Korea could happen this year along their heavily armed border.

They say North Korea is also expected to test launch intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of reaching the mainland US, and other major new weapons.

In his New Year’s Day address on Monday, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said he will strengthen his military’s pre-emptive strike, missile defence and retaliatory capabilities in response to the North Korean nuclear threat.

Read more world news:
Tsunami advisory issued as 7.1 magnitude earthquake hits Japan
Who is ‘party prince’ set to be Denmark’s new king?

He said South Korea was “building genuine, lasting peace through strength, not a submissive peace that is dependent on the goodwill of the adversary”.

Mr Kim has focused on modernising his nuclear and missile arsenals since talks with then US President Trump broke down in 2019 over disagreements about international sanctions on Pyongyang.

North Korea has carried out more than 100 missile tests since 2022, prompting the US and South Korea to expand their joint military drills.