Danish Queen Margrethe announces surprise abdication after 52 years on the throne | CNN

In a surprise move Denmark’s Queen Margrethe II has announced she will abdicate her role early in 2024, after a reign lasting more than five decades. Margrethe, 83, will hand over the throne to her son, Crown Prince Frederik, she said in her traditional New Year’s Eve speech broadcast on Danish television. She cited a back surgery in February 2023 as giving her thoughts about the future. Queen Margrethe II took over the throne on 14 January 1972 following the death of King Frederik IX. After the death of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II last year Margrethe became the longest-serving monarch in Europe