A NEW YEAR'S SURPRISE QUEEN MARGRETHE II INSIDE HER DECISION TO ABDICATE THE DANISH THRONE AND HOW HER SON WILL CONTINUE HER LEGACY

Before all the festive partying and fireworks on the last day of every year in Denmark, a moment of national reflection comes early in the evening via royal tradition.

- CHRIS DANIELS

Unlike in the U.K., where the monarch delivers a Christmas Day message, the head of the Danish royal house makes a New Year’s Eve address.

Millions of revellers watch it live. And on Dec. 31, 2023, Queen Margrethe II, 83, delivered must-see TV.

She accessorized her regal purple outfit with a diamond brooch and a pair of earrings, both shaped like Denmark’s national flower, the marguerite daisy – a nod to the public’s affectionate nickname for her: Aunt Daisy.

Occasionally glancing down at pages of speaking notes, Margrethe declared, “On the 14th of 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 decided that now is the right time.”

The news went viral around the world. Like her late friend and distant cousin Queen Elizabeth II, Margrethe had given every indication she would reign until her last breath. “In my eyes, it is a task you have handed down to you and that you keep as long as you live,” she said during her 2022 Golden Jubilee, which fell just a few months before Her Majesty’s death in September.