Royal Musings: Queen Anne Marie celebrates her 80th birthday

Sunday, August 30, 2026

Queen Anne Marie celebrates her 80th birthday

@The Royal Court

Earlier this month, Queen Anne-Marie fulfilled a big wish when Her Majesty visited Greenland for the first time. The trip went to Nuuk and Ilulissat and was a gift from Queen Anne-Marie's two sisters. During the trip, Her Majesty was accompanied by her youngest daughter, Theodora.

On August 30, 1946, Crown Princess Ingrid of Denmark gave birth to a daughter at Frederik VIII's Palace at Amalienborg in Copenhagen. This was the royal couple's third daughter, joining Princess Margrethe, 6, and 2-year-old Princess Benedikte

Frederik is the heir apparent to his father, King Christian IX. Frederik's younger brother, Prince Knud, is next in line to the throne, as succession is based on Salic law, which limits succession to men.

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The princess was baptized at Holmen Church (Lutheran) in Copenhagen and given the names Anne-Marie Dagmar Ingrid. She had ten godparents: King Christian X and Queen Alexandrine of Denmark (her paternal grandparents), Crown Prince Gustaf Adolf of Sweden (maternal grandfather), Prince Bertil of Sweden (maternal uncle), King Haakon VII of Norway (paternal great-uncle), Crown Princess Martha of Norway (Crown Prince Frederik's paternal first cousin and Crown Princess Ingrid's first cousin once removed), Princess Dagmar of Denmark (paternal great aunt), Prince George of Greece and Denmark (son of King George I of the Hellenes), Queen Mary of the United Kingdom and Princess Juliana of the Netherlands.

On April 20, 1947, Anne-Marie's grandfather died, and her father succeeded as Frederik IX. In 1953, Parliament promulgated a new Act of Settlement, establishing male primogeniture and allowing daughters to inherit if they had no brothers. Hereditary Prince Knud moved down to fourth place in the line of succession behind Margrethe, Benedikte and Anne-Marie.

Anne-Marie remained in the line of succession until she married King Constantine II of the Hellenes in Athens on September 18, 1964. She renounced her Lutheran faith when she converted to Greek Orthodoxy the following April.

All black and white images: Marlene A Eilers Koenig Collection

Constantine had succeeded his father, King Paul, in March 1964, but his reign would be brief. Greece suffered from political instability, which led to a right-wing coup in April 1967. King Constantine's failed counter-coup led to him and his family going into exile, first to Italy, and then England, buying a 10-bedroom house in Hampstead, where he and Anne-Marie raised their five children: Alexia (1965), Pavlos (1967), Nicolaos (1969), Theodora (1983) and Philippos (1986). Anne-Marie and Constantine lived in the house for 46 years before selling it in 2013 for £9.8 million, and moving to Greece.

King Constantine II died in Athens in January 2023.