Princess Benedikte of Denmark, Princess of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg (Benedikte Astrid Ingeborg Ingrid, born 29 April 1944) is a member of the Danish royal family. She is the second daughter and child of King Frederik IX and Queen Ingrid of Denmark. She is a younger sister of Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, and therefore an aunt of Margrethe's son, the current King of Denmark, Frederik X. She is also an older sister of Queen Anne-Marie of Greece.

Princess Benedikte often represents the Danish monarch at official or semi-official events. She and her late husband, Richard, 6th Prince of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg, had three children. Princess Benedikte is currently tenth and last in the line of succession to the Danish throne.

Early life

Birth and family

thumb|left|Princess Benedikte's birthplace: [[Frederik VIII's Palace at Amalienborg]]

Benedikte was born on 29 April 1944 at Frederik VIII's Palace, her parents' residence at the Amalienborg palace complex, the principal residence of the Danish royal family in the district of Frederiksstaden in central Copenhagen. She was the second child and daughter of Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Ingrid of Denmark. Her father was the eldest son of King Christian X and Queen Alexandrine of Denmark, and her mother was the only daughter of Crown Prince Gustav Adolf of Sweden and his first wife, Princess Margaret of Connaught.

Her birth took place during Nazi Germany's Occupation of Denmark. The day after the birth of the princess, members of the Danish resistance group Holger Danske performed a salute of 21 bombs in the Ørstedsparken public park in central Copenhagen as a reference to the traditional 21-gun salute performed by the Danish Army and Navy at the occasion of royal births.

She was baptised on 24 May, her parents' 9th wedding anniversary, at the Holmen Church in Copenhagen. Her godparents were King Christian X and Queen Alexandrine of Denmark (her paternal grandparents); Prince Gustav of Denmark (paternal grand-uncle); King Gustaf V of Sweden (maternal great-grandfather), Sigvard Bernadotte (maternal uncle); Princess Caroline-Mathilde of Denmark (paternal aunt by marriage); Princess Ingeborg of Denmark (paternal grand-aunt); Princess Margaretha of Sweden (her father's first cousin); Sir Alexander Ramsay (maternal grand-uncle by marriage) and Queen Elizabeth of the United Kingdom.

Benedikte has one elder sister, Margrethe, former Queen of Denmark, and a younger sister, Anne Marie, who was born in 1946 and married Constantine II of Greece.

Childhood and education

thumb|left|Princess Benedikte as a bridesmaid at the 1962 wedding of [[Princess Birgitta of Sweden and Prince Johann Georg of Hohenzollern]]

Benedikte and her sisters grew up in apartments at Frederik VIII's Palace at Amalienborg in Copenhagen and in Fredensborg Palace in North Zealand. She spent the summer holidays with the royal family at her parents' summer residence at Gråsten Palace in Southern Jutland. On 20 April 1947, King Christian X died and Benedikte's father ascended the throne as King Frederik IX.

At the time of her father's accession to the throne, only males could ascend the throne of Denmark. As her parents had no sons, it was assumed that her uncle Prince Knud would one day assume the throne. The popularity of Frederik IX and his daughters and the more prominent role of women in Danish life paved the way for a new Act of Succession in 1953 which permitted female succession to the throne following the principle of male-preference primogeniture, where a female can ascend to the throne if she has no brothers. Benedikte's elder sister Margrethe therefore became heir presumptive, and Benedikte and Anne-Marie became second and third in the line of succession.

Benedikte was educated at N. Zahle's School, a private school in Copenhagen, followed by stays at an English boarding school, Benenden School in Kent (1957), and a Swiss finishing school, Brillantmont International School in Lausanne (1960-1961). In 1965, she took a class at Margrethe-Skolen, a private fashion and design school in Copenhagen.

Marriage

thumb|right|230px|Princess Benedikte with [[Richard, 6th Prince of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg|Prince Richard before their marriage]]

Benedikte was married on 3 February 1968 at Fredensborg Palace Church to Richard, 6th Prince of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg (1934–2017). They had three children:

::*Prince Gustav Frederik Philip Richard of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg (born 12 January 1969) who married Carina Axelsson in 2022 and with whom he has two children. He succeeded his father as 7th Prince of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg in 2017.

::*Princess Alexandra Rosemarie Ingrid Benedikte of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg (born 20 November 1970) who married Count Jefferson von Pfeil und Klein-Ellguth in 1998 and with whom she has two children. The couple divorced in 2017 and she secondly married Count Michael Ahlefeldt-Laurvig-Bille in 2019.

::*Princess Nathalie Xenia Margrethe Benedikte of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg (born 2 May 1975) who competed for Denmark in dressage at the 2008 and 2012 Olympics. She married Alexander Johannsmann in 2010 and with whom she has two children. The couple divorced in 2022.

Upon her marriage, it was decided that Benedikte's children would need to be raised in Denmark in order to have succession rights. Since the condition was not met, Benedikte's three children are not in line to succeed to the throne. In 1992, she became patron of the Danish Equestrian Federation (DRF). Following revelations about the handling of cases of animal cruelty within the federation as well as allegations of leadership misconduct from members of the board (on which her daughter, Nathalie, was a member) of the federation in 2024, Benedikte withdrew her patronage. The then chairman of the DRF, Dan Boyter, was revealed to have contacted the private secretaries of both Benedikte and her nephew, King Frederik X, in an effort to have Princess Nathalie (who was among 4 members of the board to raise a motion of no confidence and subsequently file a complain with the National Olympic Committee and Sports Confederation of Denmark's Ethics Committee against Boyter) removed from the board.

In 2006, she ran in an election for president of the International Equestrian Federation, but she was heavily defeated, earning only 16 votes and placing last out of the three candidates.

Scouting

Benedikte was introduced to the scouting movement when she was a teenager by her mother who had been an active patron of the Danish Girl Guides since 1936. When she was a child, a special Scout unit was created so that she could join the Guides. In 1963, at the age of 19, Benedikte stepped in for her mother, who had fallen ill, and opened the Guiding World Conference in Nyborg with a speech held in both English and French.

Benedikte has retained a close commitment to Girl Guide and Girl Scout organisations in Denmark as well as internationally. She succeeded her mother as chairman of Pigespejdernes Fællesråd Danmark (Joint Committee of Girl Guides in Denmark). She is patron of De grønne pigespejdere (The Green Girl Guides, Denmark), Det Danske Spejderkorps (The Danish Guide and Scout Association) and the Danish YWCA in London. In addition, she is patron of the Olave Baden Powell Society (OB-PS), a support organisation for the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts. She is an honorary member of the St George's Guilds in Denmark. In 2007, she was awarded with a prize of honour by this Scout association for adults.

Honours and awards

thumb|upright|Benedikte's monogram

As Princess of Denmark, Benedikte is entitled to the style "Her Royal Highness".

Honours

National

Orders and appointments
  • 60px 20 April 1947: Knight of the Order of the Elephant (R.E.)
  • 60px 27 January 1993: Grand Commander of the Order of the Dannebrog (S.Kmd.)
  • : Grand Cross of the Order of the White Rose of Finland
  • : Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Adolphe of Nassau
  • :
  • Member Grand Cross of the Royal Order of the Polar Star
  • : Knight of the Decoration of Honour