Prince Joachim of Denmark


Prince Joachim of Denmark, Count of Monpezat, is the younger son of Queen Margrethe II and Prince Henrik. Joachim is sixth in the line of succession to the Danish throne, following his elder brother, Crown Prince Frederik, and Frederik's four children.

Early life

HRH Prince Joachim was born on 7 June 1969 at Rigshospitalet, part of the Copenhagen University Hospital in Copenhagen, and was christened on 15 July 1969 in Aarhus Cathedral, the first member of the royal family to have been christened outside of Copenhagen. His godparents were his maternal aunt, Princess Benedikte of Denmark; his paternal uncle, Jean Baptiste de Laborde de Monpezat; the Crown Prince of Norway ; and Princess Christina of Sweden.
Prince Joachim attended school as a private pupil from 1974 until 1976 at Amalienborg Palace and then from 1976 until 1982 at Krebs' Skole in Copenhagen. In the period 1982–1983 the Prince studied as a boarder at École des Roches in Normandy, France. In 1986, Prince Joachim graduated from the Øregaard Gymnasium. In 1991–1993, he completed his studies in agrarian economics at Den Classenske Agerbrugskole Næsgaard. The Prince's first language is Danish, but he also speaks French, English and German.

Schackenborg

In 1993, Prince Joachim took over the estate of Schackenborg Castle in the town of Møgeltønder, in Southern Jutland, having been granted the estate in the will of Count Hans Schack in 1978.
The Prince and his first wife, now Alexandra, Countess of Frederiksborg, received 13 million Danish kroner collected by the people of Denmark as a national gift, reserved for restoration of the estate. The restoration was completed in 1999. The couple was divorced in 2005, whereupon Countess Alexandra moved with their two sons to Copenhagen, while Prince Joachim remained at Schackenborg.
In 2007 The Danish Royal House announced the engagement of Prince Joachim and French native Marie Cavallier, whom the Prince had first met in 2004. The couple was married 24 May 2008 and resided at Schackenborg Castle for the following six years.
In 2014, the estate was handed over to the Schackenborg Foundation, which consists of Prince Joachim, Bitten and Mads Clausens foundation, Ole Kirks Foundation, and Ecco Holding. Prince Joachim, Princess Marie and their children moved from the castle to Klampenborg north of Copenhagen, but the couple remains patrons of the Schackenborg foundation.

France

During the summer of 2019 Prince Joachim, Princess Marie and their two children moved to Paris, France, while the Prince had been admitted to the highest ranking military educational program at École Militaire by invitation from the French Minister of Defense. Prince Joachim graduated 26 June 2020, being the first Danish Officer to complete the two-part special education.
Earlier in June 2020 the Danish Secretary of Defense appointed the Prince to Brigadier General due to his new acquired educational merits at École Militaire. He was subsequently appointed to Military Attaché at the Royal Danish Embassy in Paris, France for the next three years by the Danish Ministry of Defense. The Prince will commence his new position 1 September 2020.
Prince Joachim will maintain his patronages and royal engagements when possible. Princess Marie will continue her work with her patronages and partner organizations as usual.
On 24 July 2020, Prince Joachim was admitted to Toulouse University Hospital for surgery on a blood clot in his brain. His condition was described by the Palace as stable.

Military career

First marriage

On 18 November 1995, at Frederiksborg Palace Church in Hillerød, near Copenhagen, Joachim married Alexandra Christina Manley, now Alexandra Christina, Countess of Frederiksborg, a Hong Kong-born former sales and marketing deputy chief executive of British, Chinese, Czech and Austrian ancestry.
They had two sons:
On 16 September 2004 the couple announced their separation, and divorced on 8 April 2005. Alexandra, Countess of Frederiksborg subsequently married again and lost the title Princess of Denmark. She continues to live and work in Denmark and the couple share joint custody of their sons.

Second marriage

On 3 October 2007 the Danish Royal Court announced that Prince Joachim had become engaged to Marie Cavallier, now Princess Marie of Denmark. The wedding took place on 24 May 2008 in Møgeltønder Church – in which the christening of Prince Felix had taken place – near Schackenborg Manor. The wedding date marked the 73rd anniversary of the wedding of Joachim's grandparents, King Frederick IX and Ingrid of Sweden.
The couple have two children:
None of his children are styled as a Royal Highness but as Highness per the Danish Royal Court. Since 30 April 2008 all children hold the additional Danish style of their father as Count/Countess of Monpezat as legitimate patrilineal descendants of their late grandfather prince Henrik.

Titles, styles, honours and arms

Titles and styles

His official title in Danish is Hans Kongelige Højhed Prins Joachim af Danmark, Greve af Monpezat. He has been Prince of Denmark since birth and Count of Monpezat since 29 April 2008, when Queen Margrethe granted the title to her male-line descendants.

Honours

National

He was honoured with:
The Dansk Rugby Union website names Prince Joachim as the patron of the DRU. He participated in a classic-car race, part of the GTC-TC championship: he drove a BMW 2002, sharing the ride with Derek Bell.