
Frederik André Henrik Christian, Prince of Denmark, Crown Prince, Count of Monpezat, was born on 26 May 1968. The Crown Prince is the son of HM Queen Margrethe II and Prince Henrik of Denmark (d. 2018). The Crown Prince is in line to succeed to the Throne and is the regent when HM The Queen is out of the country.
Family
Christening and confirmation
The Crown Prince was christened in Holmens Kirke (the naval church) in Copenhagen on 24 June 1968 and was confirmed in Fredensborg Palace Chapel on 28 May 1981.
Wedding
On 14 May 2004, The Crown Prince married Miss Mary Elizabeth Donaldson, who in connection with the marriage became HRH Crown Princess Mary Elizabeth of Denmark. The wedding ceremony took place in Copenhagen Cathedral, and the wedding festivities were held at Fredensborg Palace.
Children
HRH Prince Christian Valdemar Henri Jean, born on 15 October 2005, HRH Princess Isabella Henrietta Ingrid Margrethe, born on 21 April 2007, HRH Prince Vincent Frederik Minik Alexander and HRH Princess Josephine Sophia Ivalo Mathilda, twins born on 8 January 2011.
Residence
The Crown Prince Couple resides both in Frederik VIII’s Palace at Amalienborg and in the Chancellery House at Fredensborg Palace.
Education
Education
The Crown Prince attended Krebs' Skole during the years 1974-1981, from 1974-1976 as a private pupil at Amalienborg and at Krebs' Skole from the third grade. In the period 1982-1983, The Crown Prince was a boarder at École des Roches in Normandy, France.
In 1986, The Crown Prince graduated from the upper secondary school of Øregaard Gymnasium, and in 1995, His Royal Highness graduated from the University of Aarhus with a MSc (political science). In connection with these studies, The Crown Prince studied political science at Harvard University, USA from 1992 to 1993.
Business background
The Crown Prince served at the Danish UN Mission in New York in 1994 and was posted to the Royal Danish Embassy in Paris as First Secretary of Embassy from October 1998 to October 1999.
Military background
The Crown Prince has been educated primarily within the defence, where His Royal Highness has completed several basic and active educational courses.
The Crown Prince’s military education began in 1986 in the Queen’s Life Guard Regiment. In 1988, His Royal Highness was appointed as a lieutenant of the reserve. After obtaining that rank, The Crown Prince became a platoon commander in the Royal Danish Hussar Guard Regiment in 1988. In 1989, The Crown Prince was appointed as a first lieutenant of the reserve.
The Crown Prince completed frogman training with the Royal Danish Navy Frogman Corps in 1995. The same year, The Crown Prince was appointed as a first lieutenant of the reserve (navy), and in 1997 His Royal Highness was appointed as a lieutenant commander of the reserve (navy) and as a captain of the reserve (army).
In 2000 - after training at The Flight School - His Royal Highness was appointed as a captain of the reserve (air force).
Between 2001 and 2002, The Crown Prince completed further training step II for leaders at the Royal Danish Defence College, and in 2002, The Crown Prince was appointed as a major (army and air force) as well as a commander (navy). In 2002 and 2003, The Crown Prince served as a staff officer at Defence Command Denmark, and His Royal Highness also became a senior lecturer with the Institute of Strategy at the Royal Danish Defence College in 2003.
In April 2004, The Crown Prince was appointed as a commander, senior grade in the navy, lieutenant colonel in the army and lieutenant colonel in the air force.
In 2010, The Crown Prince was appointed as a commander in the navy and colonel in the army and the air force.
The Crown Prince remains active in the defence.
Participation in expeditions
In 1986, The Crown Prince participated in an expedition to Mongolia with a focus on nomads, and in 2000, The Crown Prince participated in "Expedition Sirius 2000", which was a four-month and 2,795 km dog-sled expedition in the northern part of Greenland.
Language
The Crown Prince’s mother tongue is Danish. In addition, His Royal Highness speaks French, English and German.
Patronages and honorary memberships
The Crown Prince is patron of many national organisations, institutions, and foundations and is an honorary member of various associations and societies.
Focus areas and interests
The Crown Prince attends to patronages and honorary tasks for more than 35 organizations and associations, which span a wide range of areas such as business, culture, sports, sustainability and social purposes. In addition, The Crown Prince has participated in more than 70 business promotional campaigns, state visits and patronage trips with the objective of promoting Danish interest in business, culture and development work.
Since the UN’s climate conference, COP-15, took place in Copenhagen in 2009, The Crown Prince has been engaged in putting focus on the global climate and environmental challenges, including Denmark’s role as a leading nation in green transformation. Thus, the same year, The Crown Prince became patron of the Danish public-private partnership Climate Consortium Denmark, which subsequently changed its name to “State of Green”. In 2020, His Royal Highness established the “HRH Crown Prince Frederik International Business Awards”, which are given to international companies that have made special efforts to promote Danish solutions globally.
In addition to sustainability and innovation, entrepreneurship, science, learning and technology play an important role in The Crown Prince’s engagement in society. His Royal Highness is, among other things, patron of the organization Denmark Bridge, which has the goal of ensuring that Danish companies and entrepreneurs get better access to knowledge, networks and capital in the USA. As patron of the nationwide celebration in 2021 of the 200th anniversary of H.C. Ørsted’s discovery of electromagnetism, The Crown Prince has helped to promote technical and scientific education across all age levels. Furthermore, The Crown Prince was patron of ScienceYear22, which contributed to promoting the curiosity and interest Danes have in the universe of science.
Since his boyhood years, The Crown Prince been an avid sportsman and has long been a strong advocate for having everyone stay physically active throughout life. In connection with his 50th birthday in 2018, His Royal Highness took the initiative for the community running effort Royal Run with the goal of inviting all Danes into a sports fellowship – regardless of running experience. Nearly 80,000 Danes take part each year in Royal Run, which is thus among the biggest running events in Denmark’s history.
From 2009 until 2021, The Crown Prince was an active member of The International Olympic Committee (IOC), in which His Royal Highness had special focus on inspiring young people to live a healthy and active life. Specifically, The Crown Prince was, for example, engaged in the IOC’s Sport for All Commission and in the planning of the Youth Olympic Games in Lausanne, Switzerland, in 2020. The Crown Prince also helped to move the Olympic work in a sustainable direction as a member of the IOC’s Sustainability and Legacy Commission.
For many years, The Crown Prince has engaged in the effort to help vulnerable and disadvantaged people in Denmark as well as elsewhere in the world. Through his work as the patron of the Red Cross and Save The Children, The Crown Prince has both visited refugee camps in the world’s hotspots and supported disadvantaged families in Denmark.
The Crown Prince is the board chairman of Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary’s Foundation, which supports humanitarian, social, cultural, scientific and athletic purposes, among other things. Every year, The Crown Prince awards scholarships from the Crown Prince Frederik Fund, which provides financial support for one year of study at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in the USA, where The Crown Prince studied in 1992-1993.
Royal Run
When The Crown Prince turned 50 in 2018, the birthday was marked with, among other things, the running event Royal Run.
Royal Run is arranged by The Sports Confederation of Denmark, DGI and the Danish Athletic Federation.