‘All of Denmark is crying’: Danes react to Margrethe II’s abdication

‘I cried. And then I watched it back and cried again,’ says one as nation processes shock royal broadcast

It began like any other Danish New Year’s Eve. Martin Ebmark, a hotelier from the central town of Billund, was, “like everyone”, sitting watching the queen’s annual address on the television with his family.

He and his wife raised a toast to the queen, resplendent in a Cadbury-purple frock, “when she started talking about ‘the right time’. My wife turned to me and said, ‘she’s not doing what I think she’s doing! Is she?’ Then, she did it.”