Queen Margrethe II will become Denmark's first monarch to abdicate in nearly 900 years when she hands over the throne to her son, Crown Prince Frederik, on Sunday. Margrethe always maintained during her 52-year-reign that she wouldn’t quit, but back surgery and other ailments left her unable to undertake as much as she could in the past. “Time takes its toll,” she said, announcing her plans to abdicate in a New Year's address that stunned the kingdom.
For centuries monarchs were far more likely to die from disease or violence than to hand over titles that carried real power before the democratic era of constitutional monarchies.
