Which other monarchies have experienced abdications like Denmark?

Queen Margaret II of Denmark reported that her throne will be taken by her son, Prince Frederik. “On January 14, 2024, 52 years after I succeeded my beloved father, I will step down as Queen of Denmark. “I leave the throne to my son, Crown Prince Frederik.”, he said in the New Year’s Eve message on television. She has not been the only monarch to abdicate her throne; there is even an extensive list of monarchs who have abdicated.

Relinquishment is the act whereby a person resigns and gives up his position before the expiration of the time for which it was held.

Queen Margaret II abdicates her throne in Denmark after 52 years in office

Emperor Akihito (Japan)

Thirty years after ascending to the Chrysanthemum Throne in 1989 by succeeding his father Hirohito, Japan’s 125th Emperor Akihito, struggling with health problems, gave his place to his son Naruhito on April 30, 2019, marking the first imperial abdication since 1817. .

This dismissal was not provided for in the 1947 Constitution and therefore had to be the subject of an exceptional law. Akihito, now 90 years old, has held the title of Honorary Emperor Joko Heika ever since.

King Juan Carlos (Spain)

Engulfed by the scandal of his hunting trips to Africa and in one embezzlement caseSpanish King Juan Carlos, then 76 years old, abdicated the throne on June 18, 2014 in favor of his son, who became Felipe VI.

For a long time He was very popular in his country for his contribution to consolidating the return to democracy and blocking the 1981 coup, Juan Carlos was proclaimed king after the death of dictator Franco in November 1975.

He is now persona non grata in Spain and has been living in exile in the United Arab Emirates since 2020.

A “tradition” in the Benelux countries

Abdications are common in the three European constitutional monarchies of the “Benelux” (Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg).

Beatrix, Queen of the Netherlands since 1980, abdicated the throne on April 30, 2013 at the age of 75 and handed it over to her son Willem-Alexander. Previously, his mother Juliana also abdicated when she turned 71, as did her grandmother Guillermina in 1948, after 58 years on the throne.

In Belgium, Albert II abdicated the throne on July 21, 2013, the National Day, at the age of 79. When he succeeded his brother Baldwin twenty years earlier, he made way for his eldest son Philip. Albert II and Baldwin’s father, Leopold III, also abdicated in 1951 after a long crisis related to his controversial behavior during World War II.

In Luxembourg, Grand Duke Jan, who died in 2019, abdicated in 2000 in favor of his son Enrique. He had been sovereign since 1964 and succeeded his mother Charlotte, who also abdicated the throne.

Benedict XVI, “Supreme Priest”

He German Cardinal Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, Pope since April 19, 2005Under the name Benedict XVI, he announced his resignation in 2013. It was the first time a pope had resigned since Gregory XII in 1415.

As Pope Emeritus, he retired to the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery, where he led a life of silence and prayer until his death on December 31, 2022.

Norodom Sihanouk (Cambodia)

He was king of Cambodia twice (1941-1955 and 1993-2004) and abdicated twice. The first time in his father’s favor. The main figure of his country, revered as a god-king, he was alternately and sometimes simultaneously king, prime minister (nine times), head of state (twice) and president for more than sixty years.

When he resigned for the second time in 2004, he was succeeded by his son, Prince Norodom Sihamoni. The ‘king father’ died in 2012 on the eve of his 90th birthday.

Edward VIII (United Kingdom)

King of the United Kingdom for just a few months, Edward VIII had to abdicate in December 1936 to marry Wallis Simpson, an American divorcee, who averted a serious constitutional crisis. He was succeeded by his younger brother Albert, father of Elizabeth II, who was crowned George VI in May 1937.

After his abdication, he became Duke of Windsor and lived in France, where he died in 1972 at the age of 77. (JO)