‘Surreal to think about it’: As he turns 21, Queen Mary’s son Crown Prince Christian opens up in rare interview

Crown Prince Christian of Denmark, who celebrated his 21st birthday on October 15, has revealed he’s left the family home he previously lived in with his parents, King Frederik X and Queen Mary.

While the prince still occasionally stays at Frederik VIII’s Palace, at Amalienborg, and Fredensborg Palace north of the capital, he now has his own apartment adjacent to the family’s winter residence in Copenhagen.

Christian made the revelation during his first major interview with Danish newspaper, Politiken, published to mark his milestone this week.

The Royal House of Denmark shared a new portrait of the crown prince for his 21st, showing Christian wearing the gala uniform of the Royal Life Guards for the first time. Pinned to the uniform is the Grand Commander’s Cross with the star of the Order of the Dannebrog, awarded by his father.

Christian’s birthday was celebrated privately and a far cry from when he turned 18. Back then, in 2023, the royal family appeared on the balcony at Amalienborg and held a ball at the palace attended by foreign royalty, friends, family and 200 young people from across Denmark.

Next week, Crown Prince Christian will join King Frederik and Queen Mary at a state banquet inside Christiansborg Palace as Denmark hosts Vietnam’s visiting president and his wife.

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‘Prepared’ but ‘nervous’ about his future as king

Crown Prince Christian is currently serving with the Royal Life Guards and is a second lieutenant and platoon commander at the Guard Barracks in Høvelte. He joined the military in early 2025 and later qualified as a Guards Hussar, finishing his lieutenant training in June.

“I remember on the drive down there [to the barracks] my whole body was shaking, I was super nervous,” he told Politiken.

“I was like, ‘are you sure want this?’ I was actually in a lot of doubt and I was like, ‘what if I don’t like it?’”

While his next step in the military is unclear, Christian said he would be “open” to a posting in Latvia or Greenland, as the Danish Armed Forces respond to growing tensions across Europe.

In August, his sister Princess Isabella became the first female royal to take part in military service after Denmark introduced conscription for women amid security concerns in the region.

“I’m open to all the things that could come, and I’m looking at the different options,” Christian said.

“If a secondment were to come up, and I got the opportunity, I would definitely find it interesting.”

His future might also include further study, much like his father who graduated from Aarhus University, including a year spent at Harvard University in the US, with a degree in political science in 1995.

What Crown Prince Christian is certain of, however, is his destiny as Denmark’s next king. When the time comes, he will be known as Christian XI.

“It’s surreal for me to think about it,” Christian told Politiken.

“I’m about to turn 21, and I know that this is what my future holds, among other things. I’ve known it from a young age and have been prepared for the task by my parents.

“So it’s something I’m obviously both excited about and nervous about.”

Christian becomes heir to the throne

On January 14, 2024, Christian became first-in-line to the throne when his father was proclaimed King Frederik X of Denmark. Weeks earlier, his grandmother Queen Margrethe II announced her abdication during a live address on New Year’s Eve.

Crown Prince Christian sat on his father’s right during the official abdication ceremony at Christiansborg Palace and moments later, joined the new King Frederik X and Queen Mary on the balcony waving to the many thousands who had gathered in the square below, doing the same later at Amalienborg.

However, Christian’s place in the line of succession was formalised before his first birthday. In September 2006, Denmark’s foreign minister entered the prince’s names, date of birth and baptism into the royal family registry. 

Next in the line of succession are Christian’s siblings Princess Isabella, 19, and twins Prince Vincent and Princess Josephine, 15.

In 2008, Danish parliament voted to do away with male primogeniture, allowing first-born females to accede the throne. The succession laws were changed in 2011, after the issue was first raised in 2005 when Mary was pregnant.

A king in training and waiting

Margrethe II reigned for 52 years and Crown Prince Christian was able to closely observe his grandmother at work. Now he is learning the ways of monarchy directly from his father.

Even before his grandmother’s abdication, Christian was given the power to sit in as regent.

In November 2023, Christian made the “solemn declaration” to comply with the constitution at a Council of State meeting at Christiansborg Palace, allowing him to serve as regent and perform the duties of state.

The occasion marked the first time in 100 years that there was a successor to the throne (Frederik) and an heir (Christian) who were able to act as regent, if needed.

Since then, Crown Prince Christian has been regent of Denmark on many occasions, including in late October when his parents made a brief visit to Australia for a memorial service held for Mary’s late father, John, in Hobart.

Christian also regularly sits on the Council of State, the government body chaired by the monarch and made up of cabinet ministers.

The crown prince is a fixture at royal events, both public and private, across Denmark, but he is not a full-time working royal yet.

In June 2023, months before he turned 18, Christian declined the royal allowance he was entitled to once he came of age.

The funding, known as an annuity, will be delayed until the Crown Prince establishes his own household and takes on more official duties, the Royal House said this week. Instead, the prince is focusing on his education and will increase his public profile in time.

A future king is born

Crown Prince Christian was born on October 15, 2005, though it took his parents three months to publicly reveal his name in keeping with royal tradition.

The then-unnamed royal was delivered at 0157 at the Rigshospitalet (Copenhagen University Hospital). His first public appearance came on October 18 when he was seen cradled in Mary’s arms as she and Frederik left the hospital for their home, Fredensborg Palace.

“I am feeling wonderful − it’s been a truly wonderful life experience,” Mary, then crown princess, said.

“Words can’t describe how happy one feels. We are very excited by all the messages and well-wishers. It’s really very touching.”

Hundreds of journalists and photographers had descended on the hospital to cover the historic event including members of the public from across Denmark and Australia.

Frederik spoke of his “tremendous delight” at becoming a father.

“It is impossible to describe that feeling for me and my wife,” he said.

He joked that he had helped the birth by cutting the umbilical cord.

“I was of great help if I can say it myself,” Frederik said.

Mary added: “He was actually a big help − I could not have managed without him.”

The prince’s birth was marked by a 21-gun salute in Copenhagen and 200 beacon bonfires were lit across Denmark in keeping with ancient Viking customs.

To celebrate, Australia sent a gift of four Tasmanian devils to Copenhagen Zoo while a cot made of Tasmanian oak, and handmade by students in Launceston, was also sent.

The baby’s birth came just over a year after Frederik and Mary married in Copenhagen after meeting at the Sydney Olympics in 2000.

The child became the first European royal to be born with Australian blood.

After keeping their son’s name a closely guarded secret for three months, Frederik and Mary revealed it at his baptism on January 21, 2006.

The baby’s full name was announced inside Christiansborg Palace Chapel by Mary who said each of his four names slowly and carefully when asked by Erik Norman Svendsen, the Bishop of Copenhagen who had married the royal couple in 2004.

Speaking to the congregation, which included Mary’s family from Australia, the royal declared her son’s name was Christian Valdemar Henri John.

His two middle names, Henri and John, were taken from his two grandfathers.

Christian had been the frontrunner in keeping with Danish royal tradition that decrees all kings are either named Christian or Frederik. He also holds the noble title Count of Monpezat, from his grandfather Prince Henrik who was born in France.

The prince’s first official engagement came when he was just three, in 2008, when Christian joined his Danish grandfather at Copenhagen Zoo to open its new elephant enclosure. One of Christian’s other major royal firsts came in 2012 when he joined Queen Margrethe II for an event at Amalienborg.

Prince Christian was introduced to Australia in November 2006, when he travelled Down Under for a private holiday with his parents.

Their only official appearance was at Bonorong Wildlife Park, north of Hobart, where the little prince patted a koala and was later dubbed the “kingaroo”.

Media reports at the time said Christian was more interested in the 60-strong contingent of journalists and photographers covering the occasion, a sight he would later become very familiar with.

Crown Prince Christian has since made many more visits to his mother’s birth country over the years, the most recent being in 2022 when the family celebrated Christmas together in Hobart.

Christian, whom Mary once called her “Lillemand” − “little man” in Danish − has spent his life in front of the cameras and now, at 21, the world looks with interest at just what he will do next.