Danish royals - CURSE of the SPARE

ANOTHER SIBLING FEUD THREATENS TO TEAR A ROYAL FAMILY APART

- Kylie Walters

The past 18 months has seen feuding brothers tear the British monarchy apart, with Prince Harry never truly accepting his position behind Prince William. But after Prince Joachim admitted he also struggles with being the Danish throne’s “spare heir”, it seems Denmark’s monarchy is set to be rocked by the same drama.

Joachim, 52, packed up and moved with his French-born wife, Princess Marie, 45, and their children, Prince Henrik, 12, and Princess Athena, 9, to Paris to undertake a military course in 2019. But rather than return to Denmark as expected upon his graduation to help support his brother, Crown Prince Frederik, the prince decided to stay on indefinitely as a defence attaché.

After the move, Joachim admitted to wanting to carve out his own path in life, after he and Marie struggled with coming second to his brother Frederik, 53, and wife Crown Princess Mary, 49.

“The Crown Prince simply has to follow the course. However, nothing is defined for the second-born son and the person’s wife, neither in writing nor in speech,” Joachim told French magazine Point de Vue in a recent raw and revealing interview.