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Margrethe II (Danish: Margrethe 2.; Faroese: Margreta 2.; Greenlandic: Margrethe II), full name: Margrethe Alexandrine Þórhildur Ingrid) was the Queen of Denmark between 1972 and 2024. She was also the supreme authority of the Church of Denmark and Commander-in-Chief of the Danish Defence Forces.
Born into the House of Glücksburg, a royal house with origins in Northern Germany, she was the eldest child of Frederick IX of Denmark and Ingrid of Sweden. She succeeded her father upon his death on 14 January 1972, having had become heir presumptive to her father in 1953, when a constitutional amendment allowed women to inherit the throne. On her accession, Margrethe became the first female monarch of Denmark since Margaret I, ruler of the Scandinavian countries in 1375 - 1412 during the Kalmar Union.
In 1967, she married Henri de Laborde de Monpezat, with whom she has two sons: Crown Prince Frederik (born 1968) and Prince Joachim (born 1969).
When ascending the throne in 1972, Margrethe II abandoned all the monarch's traditional titles except the title to Denmark, hence her royal style "By the Grace of God, Queen of Denmark".
She stepped down on 14 January 2024, exactly 52 years after she ascended the throne. After her abdication, her eldest son ascended the throne as King Frederik X. | 
