Danish Royal Watchers: Happy 60th Queen Anne-Marie!

At home in London, but ready to return to Greece.

Happy 60th birthday Queen Anne-Marie!
B.T. reports Queen Anne-Marie will celebrate her 60th birthday in Greece with her close and extended family. Queen Margrethe and Prince Henrik will travel to Greece and so will Princess Benedikte and her family, so the three Danish royal sisters will be together for this celebration. Queen Anne-Marie's life has been centred on her Danish childhood and then marriage to ex-King Constantine II who became king of Greece in 1964 at the age of 23. The family went into exile after a military coup in 1967. Issues surrounding ex-King Constantine are still controversial in Greece, but surveys about Anne-Marie suggest she is a popular figure in her own right.

Recently Queen Anne-Marie gave an extended interview to Danish weekly Billed Bladet (No.31 2006) in which she discussed a wide-range of issues. Anne-Marie says she and her family speak a mixture of English and Greek, that she and Constantine plan to move to Greece permanently and that she wants to be buried in Greece. Anne-Marie admits to dying her hair as she can't face being grey yet, but this is the only thing about her which is fake! Anne-Marie also made some comments about Frederik and Mary, about how happy they are together and what a great person Mary is. She talked about her children and grandchildren, with details about names/nick names and about giving up the house in London to return to Greece. Anne-Marie also said Queen Margrethe is the oracle of the family and talked about how wonderful it is that the family can still get together at Graasten and on other occasions.