PEACE OFFERING OR PR STUNT?
Publicly the brothers are united, but bad blood still flows
The frostiness appeared to have thawed between the members of the Danish royal family as they all came together for a Golden Jubilee luncheon at Copenhagen City Hall to toast the monarch’s 50-year reign.
The moment marked the first time the royals, including Princess Mary, 50, husband Prince Frederik, 54, Prince Joachim, 53, and wife Princess Marie, 46, had reunited after their row over Queen Margrethe stripping Joachim’s four children of their royal titles.
But a clued-in source says 82-year-old Margrethe’s beaming smile masked ongoing tensions among the relatives.
“While it’s nice that the queen has brought her children together in a show of unity, most people think it was more for publicity than anything, to smooth over all the bad headlines over the past few months,” the royal insider tells Woman’s Day, noting that the event’s seating arrangement only highlighted the ongoing divide between them.
“Mary and Marie certainly didn’t look happy to be back in each other’s company, and they all sat at separate tables once they were inside. Fred didn’t look at all pleased. This feud between the brothers and their wives has been going on for a long time. There are a lot of hurt feelings.”
Joachim admitted as much publicly in September, revealing his children Prince Nikolai, 23, Prince Felix, 20, Prince Henrik, 13, and Princess Athena, 10, had been “injured” by their grandmother’s decision that as of January next year, they would no longer be known as princes or princess but as counts and countess.
And while Joachim and the queen held peace talks last month, insiders say he knows that to keep his $65,600-a-month grant, he has to show his support publicly.
“As much as the queen might wish for her sons to bury the hatchet, no one is under any illusion that this would have happened so fast,” says the spy.
“They’re just playing nice for their mother – and the cameras.”