Margrethe II of Denmark Quotes

I was supported from every side by my family and by the ministers, but so much also by the people.

One should never be so formal that one loses life, but one should never be so informal that one becomes without form of any kind.

Being Queen is a profession, a job, a position, an office that one cannot put aside when you come home from work. It is there all the time - and it is there all your life.

I hope I will be able to paint as long as I live.

I have decided that now is the right time. On 14 January 2024 – 52 years after I succeeded my beloved father – I will step down as Queen of Denmark. I will hand over the throne to my son Crown Prince Frederik.

I have always felt that it is a task that you are given, and that you have it as long as you live. That is my fundamental view. It is an integral part of the job that you have it for life.

Gradually he [King Frederik] showed me everybody was going to help me in this...it was not a terrifying thing, but a great challenge.

In February this year I underwent extensive back surgery. Everything went well, thanks to the competent health personnel, who took care of me. Inevitably, the operation gave cause to thoughts about the future – whether now would be an appropriate time to pass on the responsibility to the next generation.

One shouldn't write one's own epitaph. I hope people will remember me as one who did her best - and who wasn't an anachronism.

That cold January day - and so many people... I'd never imagined it would happen nowadays.

We were so busy that we didn't have time to think about how terrible it was or - in fact it felt strangely natural.

When people say that I may not speak, they forget that I may well think. I may think what I want, like everyone else. I shall just refrain from saying everything I think. That might be something many people should do once in a while.

I would like to stress that the obligation [of being Queen] has always been driven by joy. The joy is rooted in the warmth that has met me and my family everywhere through every year, in celebration and joy as in sorrow, in the so-called "big days", as well as in everyday life.

God's help, the love of the people, the strength of Denmark.

One would not die from my cooking, but I am not sure one would survive my driving.