A Right Royal Podcast is back with a bang for the New Year! We've hardly had time to take our trees down and polish off the last of our Christmas leftovers, and yet we're already knee-deep in royal drama.
In the new episode, our hosts Andrea and Emmy return to delve into all things Danish royalty — from King Frederik's reaction to his wife Queen Mary's popularity, to what the Danes really think about those infamous pictures of King Frederik in Madrid with Mexican socialite, Genoveva Casanova.
Andrea and Emmy are joined by Wim Dehandschutter, royalty journalist at DPG media, Joe Little, managing editor at Majesty Magazine and Chris Ship, royal editor at ITV News. In the aftermath of the whirlwind abdication of Queen Margrethe and accession of her son, Frederik, there was plenty to discuss.
One of the most contentious talking points was the recent scandal that struck the new King towards the end of last year, when he was spotted in Madrid with Genoveva Casanova. Chris Ship shared his insights into how the Danish public reacted to those controversial snaps.
Listen to the podcast below to find out what Chris had to say.
The new Queen Mary was a major topic of conversation, as she was greeted by a huge outpouring of impassioned cheering when she appeared on the balcony at her husband's accession. As King Charles experienced during his marriage to Princess Diana, Frederik has to contend with the fact that his wife is, perhaps, more popular than he is. The question is: does he care?
“Well, I suppose you could perhaps compare him with Prince Charles and Diana, and Prince Charles most definitely did care. But I'm not sure that Frederik necessarily does. Again, it's hard to say but he's a very emotional guy. And we saw that on his wedding day, when he cried as she was walking up the aisle to him," Joe said.
He added: "I think he's very much in love with her. And I don't think he would resent for one moment the fact that she is far more popular than him and is perhaps regarded as the saviour of the Danish monarchy."