Queen Margrethe of Denmark abdicated the throne Jan. 14, giving the crown to her son, Crown Prince Frederick X.

This was announced at the Queen’s annual New Year’s Eve address on Dec. 31, 2023. Her abdication came exactly 52 years after she took the throne from her late father, King Frederick IX, on Jan. 14, 1953.

Queen Margrethe served as the world’s only Queen Regnant, a female ruler equal in title and status to a King, after the death of the United Kingdom’s Queen Elizabeth II in September of 2022. She also served as the first female ruler of Denmark, being labeled as her father’s successor with a constitutional amendment allowing women to inherit the throne when she was 13.

This shift in equality reflects a global governmental trend that Denmark has displayed for many years: the Constitutional Monarchy.

Monarchies are often thought of as one ruler — typically a king or queen — who holds all the power over their country.

In constitutional monarchies, however, monarchs act as figureheads, while an elected parliament runs the political functions of the state.

As Denmark’s figurehead, Queen Margrethe’s job was to represent the kingdom internationally and stand as a unifying force nationally. Monarchs such as her open exhibitions, inaugurate bridges, receive foreign ambassadors and award medals.

In the recent age of development, this style of government has become more and more common in traditionally monarchial states, especially those in Europe. There are a total of 10 countries that officially call themselves a Constitutional Monarchy today.

On the other hand, many countries in the world have resisted these advances, taking more authoritarian approaches to government, most notably the handful of totalitarian regimes still existing today.

While the official number of Constitutional Monarchies on Earth has grown to 10, there are only 6 states recognized as totalitarian still in existence, shrinking from the 23 present throughout the 1900s.

The willing and graceful abdication of Queen Margrethe appears in stark contrast to the iron fist with which other rulers hold their throne.

The queen concluded her announcement to the country and its territories not with sorrows, but with gratitude, telling the people, “Thank you to the many, many people, who on special occasions and in everyday life, have embraced me and my family with kind words and thoughts, turning the years into a string of pearls.”