Danes shrug off cost of ‘fairytale’ royals as they await new king

COPENHAGEN (Reuters) – Officials in Denmark have yet to decide how much money the new monarch will get, but whatever the cost, for some Danes the royal family provides a sense of fairytale tradition and is worth every penny.

Queen Margrethe II stunned the nation on New Year’s Eve when she announced that she would abdicate and leave the throne to her oldest son, who will become King Frederik X on Sunday.

Denmark’s royals spend roughly eight times less than their British peers, a fact that makes the Danish monarchy one of the most popular in Europe, with the support of more than 70% of the country.

“The royal family means everything that is Danish, it’s fairytales and traditions,” Anna Karina Laursen, 59, told Reuters as she stood in front of the royal palace in Copenhagen.

Home to fairytale author H.C. Andersen, Denmark has one of the oldest monarchies in the world.

“I like the history, I like the castles, and it’s important that we preserve it, and the royal family is part of that.”

Some 52% of Danes think that the queen is correctly paid or underpaid and 30% think she’s overpaid, a 2023 survey for Danish newspaper Berlingske showed.

The royal family received 88.9 million Danish crowns ($13.04 million) of public funds in 2022, according to official data. By comparison, Britain’s royal family was allotted 86.3 million pounds ($109 million) the same year.

“I don’t think the sales value of the royal family can be repaid. I believe the royal family gives a lot back in the end,” said Annemette Nordkild, 55, as she waited to see the queen in front of her Copenhagen residence.

While the monarchies in Sweden and Norway maintain similar degrees of popularity to that of Denmark, the opaque nature and wealth of the British royals have sparked controversy and some hostility.

The Danish parliament has yet to decide how much money the new king and queen will get. In a move to keep spending low, Queen Margrethe in 2022 decided to strip the royal titles of the children of her youngest son, Prince Joachim.

Crown Prince Frederik and his Australian-born wife Princess Mary have been seen on the streets of Copenhagen bringing their children to state school by cargo bike, a popular means of transportation in the capital.

But Danes also like a bit of pomp and glamour, as when the queen last week rode through the streets of Copenhagen in a gilded horse-drawn carriage from 1840.

“The golden carriage, it’s not something she does very often, and that’s cool,” said Lone Percy-Smith, 60, a professor in audiology, as she and her husband came to see Margrethe II take her last ride in the carriage as monarch.

Pensioner Erik Magten, 77, said the royal family provided Danes with an experience.

“And we give back a bit through taxes,” he said.

(Reporting by Johannes Birkebaek; Editing by Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen and Nick Macfie)