Former Danish Queen Margrethe, 86, Hospitalized for Blood Clot

Denmark’s Queen Margrethe II has been taken to hospital for the third time this year after doctors identified a fresh blood clot in the hip area, along with mild dehydration. The 86-year-old former monarch, who abdicated two years ago, was admitted to Copenhagen’s Rigshospitalet on September 6 and is expected to stay there for several days while she receives treatment and remains under observation. In a statement, the Danish Royal House said Margrethe was in “good spirits and, given the circumstances, is doing well”. The unexpected hospitalisation means she will no longer be able to attend the funeral of Norway’s King Harald V on Wednesday, despite earlier plans for her to be present. Margrethe, who was a heavy smoker for much of her life, continues to command affection in Denmark for the understated way she helped modernise the monarchy, though recent years have brought a series of health setbacks. In May, she was admitted to hospital after medics found a “significant accumulation of blood in the hip area following a fall”. That episode came only two weeks after she underwent an angioplasty — a procedure used to open narrowed or blocked blood vessels — following chest pains.

Margrethe relinquished the Danish throne in January 2024 after undergoing major back surgery, handing the crown to her son, King Frederik X. Even so, the former queen has remained a visible and influential figure in Danish public life. Earlier this year, she drew attention after appearing to reprimand Queen Mary when the current queen crouched to pet a dog during a royal appearance. The moment unfolded during the family’s first public outing after the death of Mary’s father, John Dalgleish Donaldson, the Scottish-Australian academic. Mary, 54, had joined celebrations for Margrethe’s 86th birthday at Fredensborg Palace.

Wearing a tailored navy suit, the mother of four stood with her husband, King Frederik, Queen Margrethe and Margrethe’s sister, Queen Anne-Marie of Greece, as they greeted well-wishers gathered outside the palace. During the appearance, Margrethe’s dachshund, Tilia, wandered into view and settled in front of the royal group. Spotting the dog, Mary bent down to stroke her. But according to a translation reported by Hello, Margrethe appeared unimpressed, shaking her head before saying: “I don’t think this is the right time for that.” Mary immediately stopped. The exchange recalled a much-discussed moment involving the late Queen Elizabeth II, Margrethe’s distant cousin, who was seen correcting Prince William on the Buckingham Palace balcony during Trooping the Colour in 2016. Elizabeth tapped William on the arm and motioned for him to stand as he crouched to attend to a lively Prince George. Lip-readers and close observers suggested the late monarch said: “Stand up William.” William quickly got to his feet, looking somewhat chastened after the public rebuke from his then 90-year-old grandmother. When Margrethe abdicated, she had been Europe’s longest-serving monarch following Queen Elizabeth II’s death in September 2022.

Announcing her decision to step aside, Margrethe linked it to the health challenges that followed her surgery. “The surgery naturally gave rise to thinking about the future – whether the time had come to leave the responsibility to the next generation,” she said in her speech. “I have decided that now is the right time. On January 14, 2024, 52 years after I succeeded my beloved father, I will step down as Queen of Denmark. “I leave the throne to my son, Crown Prince Frederik.” Born in 1940, Margrethe has long enjoyed strong public support in Denmark, admired for a mix of discretion, intellect and artistic flair. In 2022, she made international headlines after removing royal titles from the four children of her younger son, Prince Joachim — a move presented as part of an effort to streamline and modernise the Danish royal family, while also allowing her grandchildren greater freedom to shape lives outside formal royal duties. She was also close to Queen Elizabeth II, her third cousin, with both women descended from Queen Victoria. Their bond was strengthened through decades of state visits between Britain and Denmark, including Margrethe’s visit to Windsor in 2000. At six feet tall and instantly recognisable, Margrethe has remained one of Denmark’s most popular public figures.

Throughout her reign, she was known to walk through Copenhagen with little or no visible escort, a habit that helped reinforce her approachable image. Danes also admired her warmth, her skill with languages — in addition to Danish, she spoke four others — and her creative work as a theatre and film set and costume designer. Margrethe became queen on January 15, 1972, after the death of her father, King Frederik IX. As the eldest of three daughters, she was not originally expected to inherit the throne. That changed when Denmark amended its constitution in 1953 to allow female succession, after a referendum in which more than 85 per cent of voters backed the reform. In 1967, she married French diplomat Henri Marie Jean André de Laborde de Monpezat, later known as Prince Henrik. The couple had two sons, Prince Frederik and Prince Joachim. Henrik, who was six years her senior, died eight years ago at the age of 83.