Margrethe II of Denmark Quotes

The fact that I am a woman has never really played into what I have done or not done. I have just been lucky that things have played out so that I could do things.

I think, for me, nature has always been my main point of reference. I think as a child I was fascinated by landscapes and nature wherever I went. I was able to travel all over Denmark, which is not that large, everywhere in this country where I've been I always loved the landscape.

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

For me, it [being Queen] is a responsibility that does not include abdication. It is a task one has been given and taken upon oneself, and one does not relinquish it because it would perhaps be convenient personally to be rid of some of it.

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

I do not think one should chase the fashions of the day, concerning neither sweaters nor opinions.

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.

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 the course of the last few generations, society has developed in such a way that we can live more and more safely, both financially and socially. We have got used to being able to pick and choose quite freely in big and small matters. Our circumstances are so good now that we have almost forgotten that our decisions also have consequences and that we cannot opt into or out of all life’s conditions.

We do not have that much to moan about when one thinks of what people did not moan about before.

I will remain on the throne until I fall off!

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.

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.

There is nothing so clever as people you agree with.

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