thumb|Denmark's anointing throne

The Danish Act of Succession, adopted on 5 June 1953, restricts the throne to those descended from Christian X and his wife, Alexandrine of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, through approved marriages. By a change in the law in 2009, succession is governed by absolute primogeniture.

  • (1) Crown Prince Christian (born 2005)
  • (2) Princess Isabella (born 2007)
  • (3) Prince Vincent (born 2011)
  • (4) Princess Josephine (born 2011)
  • (5) Prince Joachim (born 1969)
  • (6) Count Nikolai of Monpezat (born 1999)
  • (7) Count Felix of Monpezat (born 2002)
  • (8) Count Henrik of Monpezat (born 2009)
  • (9) Countess Athena of Monpezat (born 2012)
  • (10) Princess Benedikte, Princess of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg (born 1944)
  • Gustav, 7th Prince of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg (born 1969) It is unclear whether their own descendants will have succession rights if residing in Denmark during the age of mandatory education. One Danish constitutional scholar, the late Professor Henrik Zahle, claimed that the children of Princess Benedikte do have succession rights, but without providing any arguments for the claim.

History

From the London Protocol in 1852 till 1953, various male-line descendants of King Christian IX had succession rights in Denmark except King George I of Greece (former Prince William of Denmark) and his successors, whose rights to the Danish throne were blocked by Article VI of the 1863 treaty between Denmark, France, the United Kingdom and Russia recognising George I as king of the Hellenes. Article VI stated: In no case shall the Crown of Greece and the Crown of Denmark be united on the same head.

The new Act of Succession terminated succession rights but left the excluded individuals in possession of their titles. This created a class of people with royal titles but no rights to the throne. As a distinction, those entitled to inherit the throne are called "Prins til Danmark" (Prince to Denmark, although this distinction is not made in English) while those without succession rights are referred to as "Prins af Danmark" (Prince of Denmark).

From 1853 until 1953, the Crown passed according to agnatic primogeniture. The monarch in 1953, King Frederik IX, had three daughters but no sons. Before the 1953 Act, the heir presumptive to the throne was Hereditary Prince Knud, the King's younger brother. The Hereditary Prince was far less popular than the King was. Further, his mother-in-law, Princess Helena, was accused of supporting the Nazi movement during the Second World War. These factors, combined with a belief that the Salic law was outdated, resulted in the movement to change the succession law so that Frederick's eldest daughter, the then Princess Margrethe, could inherit the throne. Thus, the Salic law was changed to male-preference primogeniture in 1953, meaning that females could inherit, but only if they had no brothers.

Prince Knud had three children. His sons married without the monarch's permission and lost both their royal titles and succession rights. Only Knud's daughter, the unmarried Princess Elisabeth, retained her rights to the throne. Since her death, the line of succession has consisted only of descendants of King Frederik IX.

Queen Margrethe II's youngest sister, Anne-Marie, married King Constantine II of Greece in 1964. As she was marrying a foreign ruler, although he was himself a prince of Denmark, consent to the marriage was given on the condition that Anne-Marie renounced her and her descendants' rights to the Danish throne. Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary became parents to twins born on 8 January 2011. Upon their birth, the twins assumed the fourth and fifth place in the line of succession, according to the absolute primogeniture principle adopted, thereby not giving Prince Vincent precedence over his older sister Princess Isabella.

In 2022, Queen Margrethe II stripped the children of her son Prince Joachim of their princely titles, though they remain in the line of succession (see Count of Monpezat#2023 style changes for details).

Excluded people

1863–1953

{| class="wikitable"

|-

! Grandee !! Reason !! Date

|-

| Prince Vilhelm

| elected King of the Hellenes in 1863 as King George I.

| 30 March 1863

|-

| Prince Carl

| elected King of Norway in 1905 as King Haakon VII.

| 18 November 1905

|-

| Prince Constantine

| ascended to the King of the Hellenes in 1913 as King Constantine I.

| 18 March 1913

|-scope=row style="background:#DDFDDD"

| Prince Aage

| renounced in 1914 due to his marriage to Mathilde Calvi.

| 1 February 1914

|-

| Prince Alexander

| ascended to the King of the Hellenes in 1917 as King Alexander I.

| 11 June 1917

|-

| Prince George

| ascended to the King of the Hellenes in 1922 as King George II.

| 27 September 1922

|-scope=row style="background:#DDFDDD"

| Prince Erik

| renounced in 1924 due to his marriage to Lois Frances Booth.

| 11 February 1924

|-

| Prince Michael

|-

| Princess Anne-Marie

| renounced in 1964 due to her marriage to King Constantine II of Greece

| 18 September 1964