Princess Isabella of Denmark

Princess Isabella of Denmark, Countess of Monpezat, RE (Isabella Henrietta Ingrid Margrethe; born 21 April 2007) is a member of the Danish royal family. She is the second child and elder daughter of King Frederik X and Queen Mary.

Princess Isabella
Countess of Monpezat
Isabella in 2021
Born (2007-04-21) 21 April 2007 (age 17)
Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark
Names
Isabella Henrietta Ingrid Margrethe
FatherFrederik X
MotherMary Donaldson

She is the fourth grandchild and oldest granddaughter of Queen Margrethe II and Prince Henrik. She was the first girl born into the Danish royal family since the birth of her great aunt, Queen Anne-Marie of Greece, in 1946. Isabella is second in the line of succession to the Danish throne, after her older brother, Crown Prince Christian.

Biography

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Princess Isabella in 2010

Princess Isabella was born on 21 April 2007 at 4:02 pm CET at Rigshospitalet, the Copenhagen University Hospital, in Copenhagen, to Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary.[1] The following day, public buses and official buildings flew the Danish flag, the Dannebrog, and at noon a 21-gun salute was fired from the Sixtus Battery at Holmen Naval Base in the Port of Copenhagen and from Kronborg Castle in North Zealand to mark her birth.[2] Incidentally, Isabella was the first princess whose birth was marked with 21 shots, as the number of shots in the cannon salute had previously been different depending on the sex of the newborn, as 21 shots were fired for a boy and 17 shots for a girl.[2] But before Prince Christian was born in October 2005, the palace decided that 21 shots should be fired, regardless of the child's sex.[3]

Her christening took place on 1 July 2007 at the Royal Chapel of Fredensborg Palace and was performed by the Bishop of Copenhagen Erik Norman Svendsen.[4] She was baptised at the royal baptismal font which has been used for the baptism of royal children in Denmark since 1671, and wore the royal christening gown which was made for her great-great-grandfather, King Christian X, in 1870.[4] At the christening, her name, per Danish royal tradition, was revealed to be Isabella Henrietta Ingrid Margrethe, after the Danish queen consort and ancestress Isabella of Austria, the princess's maternal grandmother, paternal great-grandmother, and paternal grandmother respectively. Her godparents were her father's first cousin, Princess Alexia of Greece and Denmark; Queen Mathilde of Belgium (then Duchess of Brabant), Nadine Johnston, Christian Buchwald, Peter Heering and Marie Louise Skeel.[5] Isabella received the Lutheran rite of confirmation in the same chapel on 30 April 2022, which was presided over by Henrik Wigh-Poulsen, the Danish royal Chaplain-in-Ordinary.[6]

Isabella undertook her first official engagement, the baptism of a ferry – the M/F Prinsesse Isabella operating between Jutland and Samsø – named in her honour, on 6 June 2015.[7] She and her siblings accompanied their parents on official visits to Greenland on 1–8 August 2014 and the Faroe Islands on 23–26 August 2018 where she partook in several official engagements.

Constitutional position and education

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On 20 December 2007, as he had done the previous year for Prince Christian, Per Stig Møller, Denmark's Minister for Foreign Affairs, formally wrote and signed a hand-written document confirming Isabella's position as third in the line of succession to the Danish throne. The princess's full name, dates of birth and christening, and the names of her godparents were recorded as dictated by the Royal Law of 1799.[8] With the passing of the 2009 Danish Act of Succession referendum, Isabella became the first princess in Danish history to not get bypassed by a younger brother when Prince Vincent was born in 2011.

On 13 August 2013, Isabella started school at Tranegårdsskolen in Gentofte, the same public school as her older brother.[9] In January 2020, Isabella and her three siblings initiated a 12-week school stay at Lemania-Verbier International School in Verbier, Switzerland.[10] The stay was eventually cut short and the siblings returned home in March due to the intensification of the COVID-19 situation in Denmark.[11] In March 2022, it was announced that Isabella would continue her education at Herlufsholm School starting in August 2022.[12] However, on 26 June 2022, her parents announced in a statement that Isabella would not start Herlufsholm after all due to revelations of recurring problems of bullying, violence and sexual abuse at the school,[13] and in September 2022, she started 9th form at Ingrid Jespersens Gymnasieskole in Copenhagen instead.[14] In August 2023, Isabella started upper secondary school at Øregård Gymnasium – the same school her father, Frederik, and uncle, Joachim, previously attended.[15]

Titles, styles, and honours

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Royal monogram
  • 21 April 2007 – 29 April 2008: Her Royal Highness Princess Isabella of Denmark
  • 29 April 2008 – present: Her Royal Highness Princess Isabella of Denmark, Countess of Monpezat[16]

Honours

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National honours

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Orders and appointments
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Medals and decorations
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  •   11 June 2009: Prince Henrik's 75th Birthday Medal[18]
  •   16 April 2010: Queen Margrethe II's 70th Birthday Medal[19]
  •   14 January 2012: Queen Margrethe II's Ruby Jubilee Medal[19]
  •   16 April 2015: Queen Margrethe II's 75th Birthday Medal[19]
  •   10 June 2017: Queen Margrethe II and Prince Henrik's Golden Wedding Anniversary Medal[19]
  •   11 June 2018: Prince Henrik's Memorial Medal[20]
  •   16 April 2020: Queen Margrethe II's 80th Birthday Medal[19]
  •   14 January 2022: Queen Margrethe II's Golden Jubilee Medal[21]

Ancestry

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References

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  1. ^ Petersen, Preben (8 January 2011). "Så store var prins Christian og prinsesse Isabella ved fødslen" [That's how big Prince Christian and Princess Isabella were at birth]. Billed Bladet (in Danish).
  2. ^ a b "Kanonsalut og gallasnor for prinsessen" [Gun salute and gala cord for the princess]. DR (in Danish). 22 April 2007.
  3. ^ Fajstrup, Marianne (27 September 2005). "Kanonsalut på 21 skud - uanset babyens køn" [Gun salute with 21 shots - regardless of the baby's gender]. Berlingske (in Danish).
  4. ^ a b Hindø, Lone; Boelskifte, Else (2007). Kongelig Dåb. Fjorten generationer ved Rosenborg-døbefonten [Royal Baptisms. Fourteen generations at the Rosenborg baptismal font] (in Danish). Forlaget Hovedland. pp. 9–11. ISBN 978-87-7070-014-6.
  5. ^ "Godparents to Her Royal Highness the Princess". Kronprinsparret.dk. 1 June 2007. Archived from the original on 3 December 2011. Retrieved 1 June 2007.
  6. ^ "HRH Princess Isabella's confirmation". Danish royal family. Retrieved 28 April 2022.
  7. ^ "H.K.H. Prinsesse Isabella døber Samsøs nye færge kl. 13.45". Retrieved 26 January 2021.
  8. ^ "Isabella klar til at regere". 20 December 2007. Retrieved 25 August 2015.
  9. ^ "H.K.H. Prinsesse Isabella". Retrieved 18 January 2019.
  10. ^ "Kronprinsparrets børn begynder i skole i Schweiz efter nytår" (in Danish). TV 2. 30 December 2019. Retrieved 15 April 2021.
  11. ^ "The Crown Prince Family returns home". Danish royal family. Retrieved 15 April 2021.
  12. ^ "H.K.H. Prinsesse Isabella begynder på Herlufsholm". Danish royal family. Retrieved 21 April 2022.
  13. ^ "Statement from The Crown Prince Couple". Danish royal family. Retrieved 26 June 2022.
  14. ^ "Start of school". Danish royal family. Retrieved 22 September 2022.
  15. ^ "Prinsesse Isabella har valgt samme gymnasium som sin far". DR. June 2023. Retrieved 12 August 2023.
  16. ^ "Her Royal Highness Princess Isabella". Danish Royal Court. Archived from the original on 17 February 2014. Retrieved 22 December 2013. Isabella Henrietta Ingrid Margrethe, Princess of Denmark, Countess of Monpezat...
  17. ^ "The King and Queen's three youngest children become Knights of the Order of the Elephant". kongehuset.dk. 14 January 2024. Retrieved 14 January 2024.
  18. ^ "Lille prins Christian fik medalje" [Little Prince Christian got a medal]. Ekstra Bladet (in Danish). 19 July 2009. Archived from the original on 9 September 2023. Retrieved 15 April 2021.
  19. ^ a b c d e "H.K.H. Prins Christian — Dekorationer" [HRH Prince Christian — Decoration]. Kongehuset.dk (in Danish). Archived from the original on 20 October 2023. Retrieved 20 October 2023.
  20. ^ "Mindemedaille for Prins Henrik" [Prince Henrik's Memorial Medal]. Kongehuset.dk (in Danish). 11 June 2018. Archived from the original on 16 October 2023. Retrieved 15 October 2023. Hendes Majestæt Dronningen har i dag den 11. juni 2018 tildelt en mindemedaille for Prins Henrik til den kongelige familie, hoffets medarbejdere og personer, der har bistået på særlig vis ved Prinsens sygdom, død og bisættelse. [Her Majesty the Queen has today, 11 June 2018, awarded Prince Henrik's Memorial Medal to the royal family, court employees and persons who have assisted in a special way during the Prince's illness, death and funeral.]
  21. ^ "Commemorative medal in connection with the 50th anniversary of HM The Queen's accession to the throne". Kongehuset.dk. 14 January 2022. Archived from the original on 16 October 2023. Retrieved 15 October 2023. ... the Royal Family, the Court's employees and other individuals have received the Commemorative Medal in connection with the 50th anniversary of Her Majesty The Queen's accession to the throne.
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Princess Isabella of Denmark
Born: 21 April 2007
Lines of succession
Preceded by Succession to the Danish throne
2nd position
Succeeded by