Prince Joachim: Important decision made over his royal future

Prince Joachim and his family are preparing for a big move this summer.

The Danish royals are relocating to the US in a matter of months as part of the prince's career plans. Find out more about Europe's royal families in our video below...

A statement released by the Danish palace just last month confirmed the news that Joachim will "take up a new position under the Ministry of Defense as defense industry attaché at the Danish Embassy in Washington DC”.

Joachim has been working as Defense Attaché at the Danish Embassy in Paris since 2020 after completing France's highest ranking military training course.

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The prince and princess will be joined in Washington by their two children – Count Henrik, 13, and Countess Athena, 11.

Joachim also has two sons from his previous marriage to Alexandra, Countess of Frederiksborg – Count Nikolai, 23, and Count Felix, 20.

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All four were stripped of their HRH titles at the start of the year as part of an effort by their grandmother Queen Margrethe to streamline the monarchy.

© Photo: Getty Images

Since Joachim’s new job will see him continue to work outside of Denmark, the question of his allowance had to be debated in parliament. Notably, neither Princess Marie nor his children receive any funding.

And it has now been revealed that the Danish parliament is in full support of him continuing to receive his allowance while in the US.

Joachim will take up his new position in Washington on 1 September with the family set to move over the summer months. The job will last for three years with the potential to renew at the end of Joachim’s term.

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It comes after Margrethe spoke about her decision to strip four of her grandchildren of their princely titles.

The children impacted are Nikolai, 23, and 20-year-old Felix, Joachim’s sons with his first wife Alexandra, Countess of Frederiksborg, and Henrik, 13, and Athena, 11, who he shares with Princess Marie, whom he married in 2008.

As of 1 January, the siblings stopped being known as His or Her Royal Highness or Prince or Princess. Instead, they are now styled Count or Countess of Monpezat.

© EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock

"When I let go of the reins, he's there. I am a link in a very long chain that continues, and I believe that he will probably find that out," she said of her heir Frederik in an interview with Weekendavisen's editor-in-chief, Martin Krasnik.

"For me, it has been important that it should not be Frederik's lot to make such a decision. It was better that it was me," she further confided.