Prince Joachim of Denmark is coming to America!
The palace announced on Friday that Prince Joachim and his wife, Princess Marie, are moving to Washington, D.C. this summer. The second son of Queen Margrethe will start a new job at the Danish Embassy under the Ministry of Defense on September 1, helping strengthen the defense industrial cooperation with the United States and Canada in the coming years.
The announcement said that Prince Joachim and his "family" will make the move, likely meaning the couple's two children, 13-year-old son Henrik and 11-year-old daughter Athena, will join them. Joachim is also a father to sons Nikolai, 23, and Felix, 20, from his previous marriage to Alexandra, Countess of Frederiksborg.
Prince Joachim, 53, and Princess Marie, 47, moved to France four years ago. "The reason was that Prince Joachim initiated France's highest-ranking military training course as a supplement to the Prince's long-term commitment to the Defense," the palace said. "After completing the education, both the Prince and Princess were associated with the Danish Embassy in Paris as the Defence Attaché and Special Cultural Representative, respectively."
The news comes after Queen Margrethe announced last year that she was stripping Prince Joachim's four children of their prince or princess titles and "His/Her Highness" styling. At the start of 2023, they became known instead by His Excellency Count of Monpezat or Her Excellency Countess of Monpezat.
The announcement created strain within the Danish royal family. Prince Joachim told the press he felt blindsided by the bombshell and claimed he was only given five days' notice of the news. Queen Margrethe, however, maintained that the plans had been in motion for a while and said the decision was made in the best interests of her grandchildren.
Shortly after the announcement was made, the monarch issued an apology saying she "underestimated" how greatly the shock of the news would affect the family dynamic and calling the change "necessary future-proofing of the monarchy."
While Prince Joachim and Princess Marie are about to call the United States home, another royal resident is leaving the country. The Swedish palace announced earlier this month that Princess Madeleine of Sweden will return to her home country after living in Florida with her husband and their three children since 2018.
"HRH Princess Madeleine and Mr. Christopher O'Neill, together with their children, will move to Stockholm in August 2023," they said in a statement, adding that they'll relocate to Sweden "indefinitely." They will reside in an apartment at Stockholm's Royal Stables.
Their two eldest children, 9-year-old Princess Leonore and 7-year-old Prince Nicolas, will begin elementary school in Stockholm in the fall, while 4-year-old Princess Adrienne will start preschool.
Prince Joachim will join some other royal residents in the U.S. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle relocated to her home state of California in 2020 after stepping back from their royal roles within the British royal family. They live in Montecito with their children, 3-year-old son Prince Archie and 1-year-old daughter Princess Lilibet.
Royal sisters (and Prince Harry's cousins) Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie have also lived in the United States at points in the recent past.
Japan's former Princess Mako gave up her royal status to marry her college boyfriend. The couple moved to New York City in 2021, and Mako reportedly got a job assisting curators at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
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