“A brash young rebel inspires a fight for freedom.”
Our surfing is many different things to many different people. Therapy, an escape, form of exercise, meditative, a cheap thrill, bit of masochism etc. For Count Nikolai of Denmark, it is a weapon of social war. A cudgel that can be lifted high in the air and brought screaming down into the face of an adversary.
But certainly you are aware of the title fight brewing in the happiest country on earth. Yes, Denmark, and all it’s various perfections, its Nomas and Tivolis, also has a royal row that makes England’s Prince Harry business seem positively genteel. Last September, you already know, Queen Margrethe II decided to strip the titles of four of her grandchildren. Her youngest son, Prince Joachim, had his four children, Prince Nikolai, Prince Felix, Prence Henrik and Princess Athena lose royal status and, instead, relegated to being mere Counts and Countesses.
Ouch.
The move was done in the name of modernization, though Princess Marie, Prince Joachim’s second wife, angrily spat, “There’s nothing modern about hurting children’s feelings.”
While that notion may be disputed, the whole nasty business has simmered and, yesterday, broke back into the open when instead of attending his royal cousin Prince Christian’s 18th birthday party, Count Nikolai, 24, went surfing in Australia.
Boom.
The handsome young man, a model studying at Sydney’s University of Technology, posted a photo of the affair to his Instagram account and received much praise.
While the press, including surfing’s “bad dog” BeachGrit, was quick to see the move as a heavy swipe, Count Nikolai later took to Instagram to wish his cousin a happy day, writing, “Funny how time flies… Happy 18th Christian! Hope everyone celebrates you just as you deserve.”
Nice.
“Celebrate you just as you deserve” has a bit of a sting, though, no?
In any case, Prince Christian’s birthday in Copenhagen was very well attended. According to the Daily Mail:
The lavish event saw royals from across Europe travel to Christianborg Palace in Copenhagen where striking image shared on Instagram shows the future heads of monarchies from around Europe posing for a rare photograph together.
Dressed to the nines, future Queens Princess Estelle of Sweden, 11, Princess Ingrid Alexandra of Norway, 19, Princess Catharina-Amalia of the Netherlands, 19, and Princess Elisabeth of Belgium, 21, smiled for the camera next to Christian.
The aforementioned Prince Joachim and his aggrieved wife Princess Marie even made an appearance. Royal watchers took it to be an olive branch in the wake of some ugliness.
What do you think?
Peace in our time or further victims over the horizon?
