Move over Harry & Wills… Danish royal feud exploded after rumours prince tried to KISS brother’s wife Princess Mary
TWO princes who were once close, with ‘the spare’ moving to the US after a massive fall out sounds like a familiar tale – but this isn’t William and Harry.
The Danish royal family is in meltdown over a sibling rivalry that appears to be every bit as toxic as the British one.
When Prince Frederik, 55, becomes King Frederik the 10th on Sunday his brother’s wife and children will not be there.
That’s remarkably reminiscent of Prince Harry’s wife Meghan staying away when his father Charles was crowned King last year.
In Britain William and Harry are no longer said to be speaking, with the younger prince even alleging that he’d been physically assaulted by the heir to the throne.
But the cause of the fall-out of the Danish royal siblings is rumoured to be very different.
A Spanish magazine alleged that Frederik’s young brother Joachim was “deeply in love” with the soon-to-be-king’s Australian wife Mary.
And the publication claims that at on one occasion he even tried to kiss his sister-in-law on the lips, before she pulled away.
The embarrassing moment was said to have been witnessed by Joachim’s French wife Marie, who won’t be at this weekend’s ceremony.
The magazine Vanititas Elconfidencial claimed: “With obvious signs of drunkenness, it seems that the youngest son of Queen Margarethe tried to stamp his lips on his sister-in-law’s mouth, that she got out of the way as she could and with an unperturbed smile, while Marie witnessed the embarrassing moment.”
The Danish royals have never commented on the allegations.
What seems to be more obvious, is that Joachim and his wife, have been upstaged by Frederik and Mary, 51.
Frederik’s practical and hard-working ‘commoner’ wife Mary, who is from the Australian island of Tasmania, has often been compared in looks and style to William’s wife Catherine.
They both didn’t have blue blood, yet won over men who were said to be reluctant about their royal roles.
Mary, like Kate, is incredibly popular in Denmark where she has the highest approval ratings and works with countless charities.
Royal author Trine Villemann said: “Frederik is a lovely guy and he’s very popular, but Mary is a much better communicator and public speaker.
People in Denmark are calling her ‘King Mary’.
Trine Villemahn
“She has great skill and enormous talent, and people in Denmark are calling her ‘King Mary’.”
Frederik’s younger brother Joachim, 54, appears to be furious about a scaling back of the Danish royal family – similar to the one muted by King Charles here.
Queen Margrethe II, 83, who abdicated on New Year’s Eve and will hand over the throne to her eldest son Frederik, decided last year to strip Joachim’s four children of their royal titles.
Frederik, like Harry who complained when his son Archie was not automatically made a HRH, was said to be furious.
The Queen did not tell him of her plans personally and left it to a courtier to deliver the devastating news.
Joachim said: “It’s never fun to see your children being harmed. They have been put in a situation they do not understand.”
It’s never fun to see your children being harmed
Prince Joachim
Joachim’s ex-wife Alexandra said that her sons, Nikolai and Felix, had been left feeling “ostracised” from the institution and the decision had come like a “bolt out of the blue”.
‘Frozen out’
There had been rumours that Joachim and his second wife Princess Marie, 47, were already unhappy about not having enough royal engagements to attend while living in Copenhagen, with friends saying they felt “frozen out”.
As a result in 2019 they moved to France, where Marie is from.
But it didn’t seem to be entirely their choice.
Marie, who has two children Count Henrik, 14, and Countess Athena of Monpezat, 11, with Joachim once commented: “It is not always us who decide.
“I think that’s important to know. I loved living in Denmark. Denmark is just such a wonderful country to be in.”
When they returned to Denmark, there were stories about Marie and Mary’s schedules and clothes clashing.
The two families didn’t seem to spend much time with each other, even at Christmas.
Last year, shortly after the titles row, Joachim and Marie moved to the US capital Washington, where he took on the role of Defense Industry Attaché for the Danish Embassy.
Joachim’s children from his first marriage to 59-year-old Alexandra, Counts Nikolai, 24, and Felix, 21, also lose their royal titles.
When it was announced Trine said: “It actually is a very real crisis. It has shattered people’s image of the queen, and of the family.”
Afterwards, Margrethe is said to have smoothed things over with Joachim.
But the fact that he is coming to Denmark on his own to see his brother become King, suggests all is not well.
The reason given was that his kids need to go to school.
When they were young, though, Joachim and his brother were very close.
They, like King Charles, had to deal with parents who were said to be aloof.
Trine, who has written a biography of Queen Margrethe, said the princes were raised by their nanny on the top floor of the palace.
She said: “Margrethe hardly went up there. They weren’t allowed down for dinner until they were four or five.”
Joachim and Frederik were “incredibly close. They were almost like twins.”
Party prince
The difference between the British princes and the Danish ones, though, is their lifestyle.
In Denmark it is Frederik, the heir to the throne, who has the reputation as a party prince rather than the ‘spare’.
Frederik had a number of beautiful girlfriends, including lingerie model Katja Storkholm, popstar Maria Montell and model Malou Aamund.
Trine said: “He never wanted the title of majesty and had a tough time transitioning to adulthood because of a distant father in his childhood and the position into which he was born.”
He has a couple of tattoos from his time in the military and likes fast cars.
But after he met Mary in a bar in Sydney, Australia, during the 2000 Olympic Games he began to settle down and take his royal responsibilities more seriously.
The couple married in 2004 and have four children Prince Christian, 18, Princess Isabella, 16, and twins Vincent and Josephine, 13.
Talk of unroyal behaviour have continued to dog Frederik, though, with him reportedly being asked to leave a Playboy themed nightclub in 2008.
Most recently he was spotted with a 47-year-old Mexican actress called Genoveva Casanova, on a night out in the Spanish capital Madrid in November.
A Spanish tabloid published claims that Frederik was seen leaving her apartment at 8am, but Genoveva has strongly denied any suggestions of an affair.
In Britain it was Harry who earned the fun-loving title, having stripped naked during a pool match.
The other difference between Harry and Joachim is that the Dane has not gone on any talk shows to air his grievances or signed up to make a Netflix.
He is said to be worth over £30 million, having made some very wise investments, so doesn’t need to sell his story.
The handover on Monday will be far more low key than King Charles’ coronation.
But after ascending to the throne in a simple ceremony Frederik will ride in a golden carriage with Denmark’s new Queen.
The day will end with a fireworks display that features more than 5,000 scarlet hearts.
The real fireworks, though, could well be behind the scenes – and brotherly love is likely to be in short supply.