Denmark’s royal handover a far cry from King Charles’s coronation as Queen Margrethe II hands reins to son
The monarchies of Denmark and Britain do things very differently.
Copenhagen’s royal handover seems a far cry from the coronation of the King.
But both monarchies face similar existential questions. Denmark‘s solution though, isn’t something Britain wants to contemplate, for now.
On her 21st birthday the late Queen said: “I declare that my whole life, whether it be long or short, shall be devoted to your service.” These solemnly spoken words were a promise she meant and kept.
When Charles gave his first public address as King, he repeated her rhetoric. “That promise of lifelong service I renew to you all today,” he said.
Margrethe II of Denmark said something similar, until of course her unexpected announcement to pass the throne to her oldest son Crown Prince Frederik.
Her decision was surprising, but not unheard of. During the last decade we’ve seen abdications in Belgium, the Netherlands, and Spain, all of which passed without catastrophe.
Crown Prince Frederik will take over as monarch
The King and Queen on their coronation day
For the House of Windsor, abdication remains a loaded word. It is a haunting reminder of Edward VIII and a moment of constitutional crisis, and irreparable family fallout.
Constitutional expert Dr Craig Prescott told Sky News, the King is facing “no immediate pressure” to take big decisions after an “assured and successful” start to his reign.
But he added: “This could become an option for the King in the years ahead, especially if, like Margrethe, he feels like he starts to slow down as he gets older.”
Dr Prescott believes this kind of abdication could provide “an opportunity to refresh the monarchy”, by allowing younger generations to take on the throne.
“There is a sense that a succession of very elderly monarchs could make a monarchy increasingly remote from the people,” he said.
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The King at 75 shows no sign of slowing down, but he is only eight years younger than Margrethe.
Read more:
Queen Margrethe’s reign in pictures
Final public appearance of Denmark’s Queen
Who is former ‘party prince’ set to be King of Denmark?
Royal historian Sir Anthony Seldon told Sky News: “The abdication of the Danish queen certainly raises the spectre of abdication.”
But he believes the King would “never, ever” step down.
“His mother very deliberately decided not to do it, he himself has waited 60 years for the top job and he’s not going to want to sacrifice that at the moment,” Sir Anthony said.
World
Thai prime minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra sacked for ethics violation after leaked phone call
Thailand’s prime minister has been sacked after a leaked phone call with a senior Cambodian politician caused outrage.
Paetongtarn Shinawatra, who was Thailand’s youngest PM, has been dismissed from office by the country’s Constitutional Court after only a year in power.
The court found Ms Shinawatra, 39, violated ethics in a leaked June telephone call, during which she appeared to kowtow to Cambodia’s former leader Hun Sen as the bordering countries were on the verge of an armed conflict.
She also criticised a Thai army commander – a taboo move in a country where the military is extremely influential.
Fighting erupted weeks later and lasted five days. At least 35 people were killed and more than 260,000 were displaced.
Ms Shinawatra, who was new to politics when she took office in August last year, apologised over the call and said she was trying to avert a war. She was suspended in July.
Ms Shinawatra arriving at Government House in Bangkok ahead of the verdict on Friday. Pic: Reuters
She is now the fifth Thai PM from, or backed by, the billionaire Shinawatra family to be removed by the military or the judiciary in 17 years, amid a battle for power between the country’s warring elites.
The ruling thrusts Thailand into more political uncertainty at a time of public unease over stalled reforms and a stuttering economy.
Speaking after the court’s decision, the exiting PM said “all sides” in Thai politics now “have to work together to build political stability and to ensure that there won’t be another turning point again”.
The focus will now shift to who will replace Ms Shinawatra.
Her influential, billionaire father, Thaksin Shinawatra, who also once served as Thailand’s PM, is expected to be at the heart of a flurry of bargaining to keep the ruling Pheu Thai party in power.
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Read more:
What happened between Thailand and Cambodia
Drug epidemic sweeps Southeast Asia
The leader of the main opposition People’s Party has called for the next prime minister to dissolve parliament once they are installed.
The deputy PM, Phumtham Wechayachai, and the current cabinet will act as government caretakers until a new leader is elected by parliament. There is no time limit on when that must take place.
After all those raised hopes of peace, Ukraine has been hit by the second-worst night of Russian air attacks since the war began.
So much for diplomacy, despite the Alaska summit, then the Washington DC meeting.
The Kremlin says it was aiming at military targets, but yet again, the pictures tell a very different story.
Follow latest: UK summons Putin’s ambassador
Firefighters work at the site of a burning building after a Russian attack in Kyiv, Ukraine. Pic: AP
One civilian building after another was hit, more than a dozen people were killed, and British Council and EU buildings were also damaged.
So what’s going on? Why is Vladimir Putin doing it?
Because he can.
The Russian president thinks he’s winning this war, and it’s hard to escape the conclusion that he’s using diplomacy to play for time while he carries on beating down the Ukrainians’ will to win.
And at the moment, no one is stopping him
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At least 14 killed in Kyiv attack
Ukraine is hitting back, particularly at Russia‘s oil installations, more of them going up in thick black smoke, after being hit by long-range Ukrainian drones.
It is taking a heavy toll on Putin’s ‘Achilles heel’, but on its own, analysts don’t expect it will be enough to persuade him to end this war.
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British Council building hit in Kyiv
The West can wring its hands in condemnation.
But it’s divided between Europe that wants a ceasefire and much more severe sanctions, and Donald Trump, who, it seems, does not – strangely always willing to sympathise with the Russians more than Ukraine.
He’s back to blaming Ukraine for starting the war, saying earlier in the week that Kyiv should not have got into a war it had no chance of winning.
It is a grotesque perversion of history. Ukraine, of course, had no choice but to fight to defend itself when it was invaded in an act of unprovoked aggression.
Every time the US president has condemned Russia for these kinds of attacks, he has never followed through and done nothing to punish them.
Rescue workers carry an injured woman after a Russian strike on Kyiv, Ukraine. Pic: AP
More worryingly for the Ukrainians, the Russians are getting the upper hand in the drones war, taking Iranian technology and souping it up into faster-moving drones that the Ukrainians are having increasing difficulty bringing down.
They expect as many as a thousand drones a night coming their way by the winter, and many, many more innocents to die.
Next week, Putin will join Chinese and North Korean leaders in a summit in Beijing, both supporting his war in Ukraine.
(L-R) Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping and Kim Jong Un. Pics: Reuters
Read more from Dominic Waghorn:
Ukrainians warn they’re in danger of losing drone arms race
We are further away from peace now than we were two weeks ago
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
A war that began as one man’s mad idea has, in three and a half years, metastasised into a titanic struggle between east and west, fought increasingly with machines in a dystopian evolution of war.
If Mr Trump is not prepared to use his power to bring this war to an end, what will another three and a half years of his presidency bring?
It is a chilling question.
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