A Free Spirit
The Australian Women's Weekly|April 2018

Last month, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark lost the love of her life. But who was the raffish, unconventional, at once charming and grouchy, Prince Henrik? William Langley investigates.

William Langley
A Free Spirit

 

During his 51-year marriage to Denmark’s Queen Margrethe, Prince Henrik, a free-spirited French aristocrat, managed to baffle, amuse, intrigue and infuriate his adopted country. It was only with his death in mid-February, aged 83, that the Danes finally acknowledged their fondness for him. Tens of thousands took to the streets, and the simple funeral he insisted upon brought the country to a standstill. Apparently taken aback by the scale of the mourning, TV pundits took to asking if they perhaps had Henrik all wrong.

Not that he was an easy man to make sense of. Born in south-western France as Henri de Laborde de Monpezat, he spent much of his early life in Vietnam, where his father, André, an autocratic and slightly cranky count, owned rice and tea plantations. The experience left Henrik with a lifelong passion for Indochinese art, culture – and women, whose “company”, as he delicately puts it in his memoirs, he craftily contrived to charge to the family business accounts.

With the end of the colonial era in the mid-1950s, the Monpezats were forced to return to France. Henri harboured plans to become a classical pianist, but his father, rattled by the loss of his lucrative Vietnamese holdings, ruled that the family could afford no more risky ventures, and enrolled his son in a law course at the Sorbonne in Paris. After three years of military service in Algeria, he joined the diplomatic corps, and in 1964 was handed a junior posting to the French embassy in London.

 Newly arrived in town, too, was Margrethe, a 23-year-old postgraduate student at the London School of Economics. They first met at a dinner party in Chelsea, hosted by the raffish gay socialite, Nicholas Eden, son of former British Prime Minister Anthony Eden. Henri appears to have been rather more impressed by Margrethe than she was by him.

هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة April 2018 من The Australian Women's Weekly.

ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.

هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة April 2018 من The Australian Women's Weekly.

ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.

المزيد من القصص من THE AUSTRALIAN WOMEN'S WEEKLY مشاهدة الكل
Hitting a nerve
The Australian Women's Weekly

Hitting a nerve

Regulating the vagus nerve with its links to depression, anxiety, arthritis and diabetes - could aid physical and mental wellbeing.

time-read
5 mins  |
July 2024
Take me to the river
The Australian Women's Weekly

Take me to the river

With a slew of new schedules and excursions to explore, the latest river cruises promise to give you experiences and sights you won’t see on the ocean.

time-read
4 mins  |
July 2024
The last act
The Australian Women's Weekly

The last act

When family patriarch Tom Edwards passes away, his children must come together to build his coffin in four days, otherwise they will lose their inheritance. Can they put their sibling rivalry aside?

time-read
8 mins  |
July 2024
MEET RUSSIA'S BRAVEST WOMEN
The Australian Women's Weekly

MEET RUSSIA'S BRAVEST WOMEN

When Alexei Navalny died in a brutal Arctic prison, Vladimir Putin thought he had triumphed over his most formidable opponent. Until three courageous women - Alexei's mother, wife and daughter - took up his fight for freedom.

time-read
8 mins  |
July 2024
The wines and lines mums
The Australian Women's Weekly

The wines and lines mums

Once only associated with glamorous A-listers, cocaine is now prevalent with the soccer-mum set - as likely to be imbibed at a school fundraiser as a nightclub. The Weekly looks inside this illegal, addictive, rising trend.

time-read
10 mins  |
July 2024
Jenny Liddle-Bob.Lucy McDonald.Sasha Green - Why don't you know their names?
The Australian Women's Weekly

Jenny Liddle-Bob.Lucy McDonald.Sasha Green - Why don't you know their names?

Indigenous women are being murdered at frightening rates, their deaths often left uninvestigated and widely unreported. Here The Weekly meets families who are battling grief and desperate for solutions.

time-read
10+ mins  |
July 2024
Growing happiness
The Australian Women's Weekly

Growing happiness

Through drought flood and heartbreak, Jenny Jennr's sunflowers bloom with hope, sunshine and joy

time-read
8 mins  |
July 2024
"Thank God we make each other laugh"
The Australian Women's Weekly

"Thank God we make each other laugh"

A shared sense of humour has seen Aussie comedy couple Harriet Dyer and Patrick Brammall conquer the world. But what does life look like when the cameras go down:

time-read
7 mins  |
July 2024
Winter baking with apples and pears
The Australian Women's Weekly

Winter baking with apples and pears

Celebrate the season of Australian apples and pears with these sweet bakes that will keep the midwinter blues away.

time-read
10+ mins  |
July 2024
Budget dinner winners
The Australian Women's Weekly

Budget dinner winners

Looking for some thrifty inspiration for weeknight dinners? Try our tasty line-up of low-cost recipes that are bound to please everyone at the table.

time-read
5 mins  |
July 2024