Meet Queen Margrethe of Denmark, the only female monarch after Queen Elizabeth’s death: at 82, the part-time painter and translator has ruled for 50 years – but what’s her latest Netflix gig?
- After the recent death of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth, 96, all eyes are on Denmark’s Queen Margrethe, 82, who’s now the world’s only female monarch
- The talented royal did an illustration for the Danish edition of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings and translated Simone de Beauvoir’s All Men are Mortal
Born in Copenhagen on April 16, 1940, just a week after the Nazis invaded Denmark, according to Britannica, Margrethe was always meant to live a life far from ordinary.
From becoming the longest-reigning monarch in Europe and a royal fashion icon to working as a stage designer for Netflix, let’s get to know this 82-year-old Dane.
She has been sitting on the throne for 50 years
Denmark’s Queen Margrethe marked her golden jubilee on the throne in 2022. The eldest of three sisters, she was not always poised to succeed her father. King Frederick IX, however, allowed women to inherit the throne through a 1953 constitutional amendment.
In 1972, Margrethe ascended the Danish throne at 31 after her dad’s death. On numerous occasions, she has quipped that she will “stay on the throne until I drop”– just like her long-time friend, Queen Elizabeth, per The Guardian.