King Frederick X of Denmark has ascended to the throne, succeeding his mother, Queen Margaret II, who formally abdicated after 52 years as monarch.
Margrethe, 83, shocked the nation on New Year's Eve when she announced she planned to become the first Danish monarch in nearly 900 years to voluntarily renounce the throne.
The succession was formalized when she signed the declaration of her abdication during a Council of State meeting in Parliament on Sunday, the royal palace said.
Denmark, one of the oldest monarchies in the world, does not have a coronation.
The meeting was attended by government representatives, Margrethe, Frederik, 55, his wife Mary, 51, born in Australia, who is now queen, and their eldest son, Christian, 18, who is the new heir to the throne.
After the signing, the Prime Minister of Denmark, Mette Frederiksen, proclaimed Frederick king on the balcony of Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen.
“My hope is to become the unifying king of tomorrow,” Frederik said in his first speech as king.
“It is a task I have faced all my life. It is a task that I take on with pride, respect and joy,” she spoke, looking at large crowds of joyful people.
Moments later, he was joined on the balcony by his wife and children, including Princess Isabelle, 16, and twins Princess Josephine and Prince Vincent, both 13.
Great public support
In near-freezing temperatures, tens of thousands of people from across Denmark gathered in the capital to watch the events, in a sign of the enormous popularity the monarchy enjoys in the nation of nearly six million people.
“We have come here today because history is being made before our eyes. We just had to be here,” Soren Kristian Bisgaard, a 30-year-old pilot, told the Reuters news agency.
“I am very fond of the royal family. I myself have been in the Royal Life Guards, standing guard at the royal palace.
“I'm very proud to have done it and also to be here today,” he added.
King Frederick and his wife ascend the throne at a time of enormous public support and enthusiasm for the monarchy.
The most recent poll taken after Margrethe announced she would abdicate indicated that 82 percent of Danes expect Frederik to do well or very well in his new role, while 86 percent said the same about Mary.
queen daisy
Born in 1940, Margrethe has been one of Denmark's most popular public figures.
The 1.82 meter (6 foot) tall, chain-smoking monarch often walked the streets of Copenhagen virtually unaccompanied and won the admiration of Danes for her warm manners and her talents as a linguist and designer.
A passionate skier, as a princess she was part of a Danish female air force unit and participated in judo courses and snow endurance tests. Margrethe remained tough even as she grew up.
In 2011, at age 70, she visited Danish troops in southern Afghanistan dressed in military overalls.
As monarch, he toured the country and regularly visited Greenland and the Faroe Islands, the two semi-independent territories that are part of the Danish Kingdom.
Frederik was born to Queen Margaret and Prince Henrik in Copenhagen, Denmark. He has a brother, the younger brother, Prince Joachim.
Frederik is also part of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Denmark (also known as the Danish National Church), a requirement for the Danish royal family, particularly reigning monarchs.
He will reign as king of Denmark, Greenland and the Faroe Islands. However, formal power will remain in the hands of Denmark's elected parliament and government.
