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Christian, Crown Prince of Denmark

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For other people called Prince Christian, see Prince Christian (disambiguation).
Prince Christian
The Prince at his grandmother's 70th birthday celebrations, 16 April 2010
Names
Christian Valdemar Henri John
HouseHouse of Monpezat
FatherFrederik, Crown Prince of Denmark
MotherMary, Crown Princess of Denmark

Prince Christian Valdemar Henri John of Denmark, Count of Monpezat (born 15 October 2005), is a member of the Danish Royal Family. He is the elder son of Crown Prince Frederik and his wife, the Australian born Crown Princess Mary. He is a grandson of Queen Margrethe II of Denmark and her husband Prince Henrik. He has a younger sister, Princess Isabella, and an un-named younger brother and sister. He is second in the Danish line of succession, following after his father.

Birth

Prince Christian was born on 15 October 2005 in Rigshospitalet, the Copenhagen University Hospital, in Copenhagen, at 1:57am. He was healthy with an apgar score of 10 (out of 10) after 1 minute. At birth, he weighed 3.5 kg (7.7 lb) and was 51 cm (20 in) long.[1] At noon on the day of his birth 21-gun salutes were fired from the Sixtus Battery at Holmen in Copenhagen and at Kronborg Castle to mark the birth of a royal child. At the same time, public buses and official buildings flew the Danish flag, the Dannebrog. At sunset on the same day beacon bonfires were lit all over Denmark, while Naval Home Guard vessels lit their searchlights and directed them towards the capital. A few bonfires were also lit in celebration in Australia.

Brief hospitalisation

Prince Christian was hospitalised briefly on 21 October 2005 because he suffered from neonatal jaundice, a usually harmless illness and a fairly common one (especially in premature births). The first photographs of the then 3-day-old boy showed a yellow tinge to his face and hands. The prince was examined by doctors and underwent blood tests, then spent time in a light box under special coloured light rays to break down the bilirubin substance which causes jaundice. His parents took him home again the same day and he made a full recovery.

Name and christening

Prince Christian was christened on 21 January 2006 in Christiansborg Palace Chapel by Bishop Erik Norman Svendsen.[2] Christian has eight godparents. They are Haakon, Crown Prince of Norway, Mette-Marit, Crown Princess of Norway, Victoria, Crown Princess of Sweden, Prince Joachim of Denmark, Pavlos, Crown Prince of Greece, Jane Stephens and two friends of the couple, Jeppe Handwerk and Hamish Campbell.[3]

His forenames all have a family significance:

  • Christian is after his great-great-grandfather, Christian X of Denmark, continuing the Danish royal tradition of the heir apparent being named either Christian or Frederik.
  • Valdemar is after Valdemar IV of Denmark. It is also a common royal name. The Prince's uncle Joachim has Waldemar as one of his names. The Prince's cousin Felix, Joachim's second son, has Valdemar as one of his names.[4]
  • Henri is after his paternal grandfather, Prince Henrik, whose given name is Henri.
  • John is after his maternal grandfather, John Donaldson.

He received a number of presents on the occasion of his christening, including a pony called Flikflak from the Folketing, Denmark's national parliament.

Succession and the constitution

As the firstborn child of the heir apparent, Christian is second-in-line to the Danish throne; at the accession of Frederik or his premature death, Christian will become heir apparent. Since the 16th century, first-born sons of Danish monarchs have traditionally been alternately named Frederik and Christian; Queen Margrethe II, while naturally interrupting this sequence, treated herself as a "Christian" for the purposes of alternation, coming between one Frederik (her father) and, presumably, another (her son). Prince Christian will likewise presumably be known as "King Christian XI of Denmark" (following his great-great-grandfather Christian X in that name).

The possibility Mary could be expecting a female child motivated Danish politicians to consider the possibility of adopting absolute cognatic primogeniture. Formerly Denmark's throne followed Salic law; this was altered by the 1953 Act of Succession, which introduced male-preference cognatic primogeniture, which gives daughters a place in the succession, but behind their brothers. This change allowed the present Queen to become heiress-presumptive and eventually inherit the throne. While the Crown Princess was still pregnant with Christian, the Folketing began the lengthy process (which would need in the end the approval of two parliaments and a referendum) to change the Danish constitution to allow absolute cognatic primogeniture. The birth of a boy removed some urgency from this drive.

On 11 September 2006, Per Stig Møller, Denmark's Minister for Foreign Affairs, formally wrote and signed a hand-written document naming Prince Christian as heir to the Danish throne in the line of succession. The prince's full name, his dates of birth and christening, and the names of his godparents were recorded as dictated by the Royal Law of 1799.[5][6]

Christian Valdemar Viking

In 2006 Scandinavian Airlines System was in the process of purchasing new A319 aircraft; and in Christian's honour the first of these, delivered on 8 August 2006, was named Christian Valdemar Viking.

Nursery school

On 27 March 2007 Prince Christian started nursery school at Queen Louise's Children's House, located 35 km north of Copenhagen in Fredensborg where the Crown Prince family lives. Prince Christian walked inside accompanied by his parents and is having sessions there to aid his socialisation, according to comments made by his mother.[7] The nursery school bears the name of Christian's ancestor Louise of Sweden.

Christian is the first member of the Danish Royal Family, and first future Danish king, to attend daycare. At the same age, the Crown Prince had a nanny at the palace.

Royal duties

Christian participated in his first official royal duty when he attended the opening of the new elephant house at the Copenhagen Zoo with his grandfather, Prince Henrik, who is a patron of the zoo, and who laid the foundation stone for the new elephant house in October 2006.

Christian was the one who opened the elephant house by pressing a button on an interactive console. The elephants were a gift from the King and Queen of Thailand to the Queen and Prince Consort of Denmark on their last visit to Thailand.[8][9] The elephant house was designed by Norman Foster and Partners.[10]

On 19 June, 2010, he acted as a page boy in the wedding of his godmother, the Crown Princess of Sweden, to Daniel Westling.[11]

Styles of
Prince Christian of Denmark
Reference styleHis Royal Highness
Spoken styleYour Royal Highness
Alternative styleSir

Titles, styles, honours and arms

Title

  • 15 October 2005 – 29 April 2008: His Royal Highness Prince Christian of Denmark
  • 29 April 2008 – present: His Royal Highness Prince Christian of Denmark, Count of Monpezat[12]

His official title in Danish is Hans Kongelige Højhed Prins Christian til Danmark, Greve af Monpezat

Ancestry

Family of Christian, Crown Prince of Denmark
32. Aristide de Laborde de Monpezat
16. Henri de Laborde de Monpezat
33. Jeanne-Emilie Borde
8. André de Laborde de Monpezat
34. Eugene Hallberg
17. Henriette Hallberg
35. Clara Vernhes
4. Henri de Laborde de Monpezat
36. Jean-Alfred Doursenot
18. Maurice Doursenot
37. Marie-Louise Barriere
9. Renée Doursenot
38. Leonard Gay
19. Marthe Gay
39. Marguerite Laforest
2. Frederik, Crown Prince of Denmark
40. Frederick VIII of Denmark
20. Christian X of Denmark
41. Princess Lovisa of Sweden
10. Frederick IX of Denmark
42. Frederick Francis III, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin
21. Duchess Alexandrine of Mecklenburg-Schwerin
43. Grand Duchess Anastasia Mikhailovna of Russia
5. Margrethe II of Denmark
44. Gustaf V of Sweden
22. Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden
45. Princess Victoria of Baden
11. Princess Ingrid of Sweden
46. Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn
23. Princess Margaret of Connaught
47. Princess Louise Margaret of Prussia
1. Prince Christian of Denmark
48. Peter Donaldson
24. Alexander Donaldson
49. Annie Horn
12. Peter Donaldson
50. John Stevenson
25. Jean Stevenson
51. Roy Ritchie
6. John Dalgleish Donaldson
52. Charles Dalgleish
26. John Dalgleish
53. Jane Hay
13. Mary Dalgleish
54. Andrew Baisley
27. Barbara McDonald Baisley
55. Jessie Sutherland
3. Mary Elizabeth Donaldson
56. Archibald Horne
28. John Thomas Tait Horne
57. Mary Anna Tait
14. Archibald Horne
58. Henry Clark
29. Henrietta Clark
59. Helen Currie
7. Henrietta Clark Horne
60. Thomas Melrose
30. William Melrose
61. Janet Dickson
15. Elizabeth Gibson Melrose
62. Robert Smith
31. Catherine Smith
63. Elizabeth Gibson

References

  1. ^ "TRH The Crown Prince Couple: A Prince is Born".
  2. ^ "TRH The Crown Prince Couple: The Christening ceremony".
  3. ^ "TRH The Crown Prince Couple: Godfathers and godmothers to the little Prince".
  4. ^ [1]
  5. ^ "Prins Christian er nu tronfølger".
  6. ^ "Arvefølgen er sikret".
  7. ^ cphpost.dk
  8. ^ Template:Da icon Prins Christian og farfar så elefanterne
  9. ^ Template:Da icon Prins Henrik: Flere børnebørn, tak
  10. ^ Copenhagen Elephant House, Denmark
  11. ^ Swedish fairy tale as Princess Victoria marries Daniel
  12. ^ Template:Da icon Kongehuset - Aktuelt - Nyheder
Christian, Crown Prince of Denmark
Born: 15 October 2005
Danish royalty
Preceded by Line of succession to the Danish throne
2nd position 		Succeeded by
Line of succession to the British throne Succeeded by
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