Crowds gather in Copenhagen as Queen Margrethe abdicates

Thousands expected on streets of Danish capital to see monarch hand over to Crown Prince Fredrik

Thousands of people have gathered on the streets of Copenhagen to bid farewell to Queen Margrethe II, Denmark’s longest serving monarch, as she prepared to hand over the role to her son, Crown Prince Frederik.

The queen’s abdication comes two weeks after surprise announcement in her New Year’s Eve speech that left much of the country reeling. Even Denmark’s Social Democrat prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, previously not considered a royalist, has said the queen’s handling of the role has converted her.