King Frederik X: Monarch gives his first New Year’s speech

Frederik X. (56) has made his first New Year’s speech as Danish king. On New Year’s Eve, at 6 p.m., he addressed his people live from Amalienborg Palace in Copenhagen and thanked them for their support since he took office on January 14, 2024. With his New Year’s address, Frederik is following in big footsteps: the year-end speeches of his mother, Queen Margrethe (84 ), enjoy cult status in Denmark.

The Danes were all the more excited for Frederik’s first appearance. “Can the New Year’s speech be given by someone other than Queen Margrethe?” he directly took up his mother’s call in his speech. She had given the New Year’s address during her 51 years in office and also used the speech last year to announce her abdication.

But there didn’t seem to be any pressure on the monarch because he completed the speech without stumbling and with clear words. Like his mother, he sat down at a table in evening wear and read from leaflets. “My first New Year’s speech. It won’t come back, but I will never forget it,” Frederik then wrote alongside a picture of the royal couple’s scenery.

In the article, as in the speech before, he praised the support that he and his wife Mary (52) have received since he took office. “They say ‘well begun is half done’. That may be an exaggeration, but Mary and I couldn’t have asked for a better start as royal couple,” said the monarch. He is looking forward to the new year, “especially to traveling together. With each other and with all of you.”

Of course, Frederik couldn’t avoid mentioning the tense global political situation. “We live in troubled times,” he explained, particularly mentioning developments in the Middle East and the war in Ukraine. He also spoke about the difficulties faced by young people, the use of volunteers and togetherness in his kingdom. He traditionally ended the speech with “Gud bevare Danmark” – God protect Denmark.