Denmark’s former queen Margrethe has been rushed to hospital following a fall.
The 86-year-old, who abdicated two years ago, was looked at by doctors at Copenhagen’s Rigshospitalet, who found ‘a significant accumulation of blood in the hip area following a fall’.
She is expected to remain in the hospital for several more days.
Despite this, Denmark’s royal family said she is ‘doing well under the circumstances’.
Earlier this month, she had to spend several days in hospital after undergoing an angioplasty, a medical procedure that opens up closed or narrowed blood vessels.
Margrethe, a heavy smoker for much of her life, remains popular among Danes for having subtly modernised the monarchy – but has faced multiple health problems in recent years.
She had long maintained that she would never abdicate but a major back operation in 2023 led her to change her mind.
She stepped down in January 2024 as a result of this surgery, passing the throne to her son, King Frederik X.
Denmark’s former queen Margrethe (pictured in 2024) has been rushed to hospital following a fall
But Margrethe still plays a significant role in public life in Denmark. Last month, she chided current monarch Queen Mary after she crouched down to stroke a dog at a royal event.
In the family’s first outing following the death of her father, John Dalgleish Donaldson, Mary, 54, joined Margrethe’s 86th birthday celebrations in Fredensborg.
The mother-of-four, dressed in a smart, navy suit, stood alongside her husband, King Frederik, Margrethe and Queen Anne-Marie of Greece, Margrethe’s sister, as they waved to well-wishers gathered outside the palace.
In one moment, the former monarch’s dog Tilia appeared and stood next to Mary, and after noticing her, she bent down to stroke the dachshund.
According to a translation from Hello, however, it was met with disapproval from Margrethe, who shook her head to the side and, when translated into English, said: ‘I don’t think this is the right time for that.’
Her comment led Mary to stop abruptly.
It was reminiscent of the late Queen Elizabeth II, Margrethe’s distant cousin, scolding Prince William in 2016 on the balcony of Buckingham Palace during Trooping the Colour.
The late monarch was seen tapping William on the arm and gesturing him to stand up as he crouched down to tend to a boisterous Prince George. Close examination of the moment appeared to show Queen Elizabeth saying: ‘Stand up William.’
William rose to his feet, looking rather sheepish over the public telling off from his then-90-year-old grandmother.
The exchange occurred when Mary bent down to stroke Margrethe’s biscuit-coloured dachshund, Tilia
Just last month, Queen Mary announced the death of her father John.
She said at the time: ‘My heart is heavy, and my thoughts are grey. My beloved father has passed away.
‘But I know that when the grief settles, the memories will brighten my day, and what will remain strongest is love and gratitude for everything he gave me and taught me.’
Denmark’s royal house said Donaldson’s ‘health has been declining over the past few years’ and Mary visited him in late March.
The family will hold a private memorial service at a later date.
Donaldson was a professor of applied mathematics and was born in Scotland on September 5, 1941.
He moved to Tasmania with his first wife, Henrietta Clark Horne, in November 1963.
The couple welcomed their daughter, Mary Elizabeth Donaldson, on February 5, 1972, in Hobart.
