A Demotion for Henrik

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In her New Year's Eve speech on December 31, 2015, Queen Margrethe II announced that her husband, Prince Henrik, was retiring, effective January 1, 2016.  This meant that he would be stepping down from most of his royal duties, although he would to continue to attend a few state events, including state dinners.  (He still has to eat dinner, and a state dinner is a lot better than a tray brought to your room by a member of your staff.)

Yesterday, the 81-year-old Prince was present for the arrival of the President and First Lady of Mexico.  He also attended the state dinner last night.  Some sharp eyed royal watchers noticed that in the official guest list, Henrik was styled as His Royal Highness the Prince Henrik, and not as HRH The Prince Consort, which had been his official style since 2007.

The Palace has confirmed Prince Henrik's title earlier today, noting that this was the Prince's wish.  I think his wife may also have had a role in the change of title.

The change appears in the Prince's official page on the Danish monarchy's website, although the URL remains unchanged.

http://cphpost.dk/news/prince-henrik-of-denmark-dropping-his-title.html

http://kongehuset.dk/den-kongelige-familie/regentparret/hkh-prinsgemalen

  http://kongehuset.dk/en/the-royal-house/regentparret/hrh-the-prince-consort

http://kongehuset.dk/en/news/guest-list-for-state-banquet-at-fredensborg-palace