Frederik X

Frederik X (Frederik André Henrik Christian, pronounced [ˈfʁeðˀʁek, ˈfʁæðˀʁæk]; born 26 May 1968) is the King of Denmark, reigning since the abdication of his mother, Margrethe II, in 2024.

Frederik is the eldest son of Queen Margrethe II and Prince Henrik. He was born during the reign of his maternal grandfather, King Frederik IX, and became Crown Prince of Denmark following his mother's accession in 1972. He received his early education privately at home and later attended Krebs School, École des Roches, and Øregård Gymnasium. He earned a Master of Science degree in political science from Aarhus University. After university, he served in diplomatic posts at the United Nations and in Paris, and he has trained in all three branches of the Danish Armed Forces.

Frederik met Australian marketing consultant Mary Donaldson while attending the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. They married on 14 May 2004 at Copenhagen Cathedral and have four children: Christian, Isabella, Vincent, and Josephine.

Frederik was born by emergency caesarean section at Rigshospitalet, the Copenhagen University Hospital in Copenhagen, on 26 May 1968 at 23:50 to the then Princess Margrethe (later Queen Margrethe II), oldest daughter of King Frederik IX and heir presumptive to the Danish throne, and Prince Henrik. At the time of his birth, his maternal grandfather was on the throne of Denmark, his maternal uncle-by-marriage Constantine II was king of Greece and his matrilineal great-grandfather, Gustaf VI Adolf, was on the throne of Sweden.

He was baptised on 24 June 1968, at Holmen Church, in Copenhagen. He was named Frederik after his maternal grandfather, King Frederik IX, continuing the Danish royal tradition of the heir apparent being named either Frederik or Christian. He became Crown Prince of Denmark when his mother ascended the throne on 14 January 1972. Frederik's only sibling is Prince Joachim of Denmark.

Frederik attended primary school at Krebs' Skole between 1974 and 1981, as a private pupil at Amalienborg Palace from 1974 to 1976, and from the third form again at Krebs' Skole. From 1982 to 1983, he attended the École des Roches [fr], a boarding school in Normandy, France. In 1986, Frederik graduated from Øregård Gymnasium. In addition to Danish, he is fluent in French (his father's language), English, and German.

In the autumn of 1989, Frederik began studying political science at Aarhus University. As part of his education, he spent the 1992–1993 academic year at Harvard University, where he studied political science under the name Frederik Henriksen. Whilst at Harvard, he participated in the Phoenix – SK Club, and lived in a rent-controlled apartment. Frederik is the first Danish royal to complete a university education.

Frederik took up a position for three months with the Danish UN mission in New York in 1994. In 1995, he obtained his MSc degree in political science from Aarhus University. He completed the course in the prescribed number of years with an exam result above average, thus becoming the first royal to obtain a master's degree. His final paper was an analysis on the foreign policy of the Baltic States, which he had visited several times during his studies. The prince was posted as First Secretary to the Danish Embassy in Paris from October 1998 to October 1999.