Denmark. Abdication of Queen Margaret II. What does support for the monarchy look like in Europe?

Queen Denmark On Sunday, in her New Year’s speech, Margaret II announced her abdication on January 14, 2024. Her son, Prince Frederick, will take over the Danish throne. Many Danes reacted very emotionally to the monarch’s decision. – She is the mother of our country (…). She’s been here since I was little. Today the whole of Denmark is crying – said one of them interviewees of the Guardian newspaper. – It was a real shock – said another source from the British newspaper.

The reactions to the Danish queen’s decision do not surprise those who know the results of Danish opinion polls. In December 2023, the television station TV2 published a survey which showed that Margaret II is the most popular member of the Danish royal family. The family itself in 2022 was positively assessed by 85.4 percent. Danes. Interestingly, when Margaret II became head of state half a century earlier, only 42 percent Danish citizens were in favor of maintaining the monarchy – which was recalled on the country’s official website on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Margaret II on the throne.

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What support do other European monarchies enjoy? In Great Britain, for maintaining the monarchy 62 percent are in favor. respondentscoming from elections 26 percent would prefer to have the head of state, and 11 percent has no opinion on this – according to a YouGov survey from 2023. 59 percent respondents then indicated that King Charles III fulfills his duties well, 17% were of the opposite opinion, and 25% it wasn’t certain.

Shortly after the coronation of Charles III, the website of “The Brussels Times” newspaper recalled that in Norway, where King Harald V reigns, 81 percent support the monarchy. citizens. In neighboring Sweden, 58 percent support the monarchy, according to a survey commissioned by the Swedish Republican Association. Swedes.

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In recent years, the Dutch royal family has also been able to count on less support. Research by Ipsos conducted in 2022 shows that King William Alexander less than half of the Dutch trust it. In 2020, two-thirds of the inhabitants of the Netherlands supported the monarchy, two years later – 58%. Similar research conducted in 2017 in Belgium showed that nearly 60 percent Belgians declare that they want to maintain the monarchy.

In Spain, where King Felipe VI is the head of state, More people support the republic than the monarchy. The 40db research center published a survey in 2020, which showed that 40.9 percent of Spanish citizens are in favor of establishing a republic in this country, while nearly 34.9% are in favor of the monarchy, restored as a state system in 1975. Spaniards. As many as 24.2 percent of respondents did not want to answer or had no opinion on their preferred political system.

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