Princess Isabella of Denmark

Names

Isabella Henrietta Ingrid Margrethe

Early life and education

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Perspective

Princess Isabella was born on 21 April 2007 at 4:02 pm CET at Rigshospitalet, the Copenhagen University Hospital, in Copenhagen, to then Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary.^[1] The following day, public buses and official buildings flew the Danish flag, the Dannebrog, and at noon a 21-gun salute was fired from the Sixtus Battery at Holmen Naval Base in the Port of Copenhagen and from Kronborg Castle in North Zealand to mark her birth.^[2] Incidentally, Isabella was the first princess whose birth was marked with 21 shots, as the number of shots in the cannon salute had previously been different depending on the sex of the newborn, as 21 shots were fired for a boy and 17 shots for a girl.^[2] But before Prince Christian was born in October 2005, the palace decided that 21 shots should be fired, regardless of the child's sex.^[3]

Her christening took place on 1 July 2007 at the Royal Chapel of Fredensborg Palace and was performed by the Bishop of Copenhagen Erik Norman Svendsen.^[4] She was baptised at the royal baptismal font which has been used for the baptism of royal children in Denmark since 1671, and wore the royal christening gown which was made for her great-great-grandfather, King Christian X, in 1870.^[4] At the christening, her name, per Danish royal tradition, was revealed to be Isabella Henrietta Ingrid Margrethe, after the Danish queen consort and ancestress Isabella of Austria, the princess's maternal grandmother, paternal great-grandmother, and paternal grandmother respectively. Her godparents were her father's first cousin, Princess Alexia of Greece and Denmark; Queen Mathilde of Belgium (then Duchess of Brabant), Nadine Johnston, Christian Buchwald, Peter Heering and Marie Louise Skeel.^[5] Isabella received the Lutheran rite of confirmation in the same chapel on 30 April 2022, which was presided over by Henrik Wigh-Poulsen, the Danish royal Chaplain-in-Ordinary.^[6]

With the passing of the 2009 Danish Act of Succession referendum, Isabella became the first princess in Danish history to not get bypassed by a younger brother when Prince Vincent was born in 2011.

On 13 August 2013, Isabella started school at Tranegårdsskolen in Gentofte, the same public school as her older brother.^[7] In January 2020, Isabella and her three siblings initiated a 12-week school stay at Lemania-Verbier International School in Verbier, Switzerland.^[8] The stay was eventually cut short and the siblings returned home in March due to the intensification of the COVID-19 situation in Denmark.^[9] In March 2022, it was announced that Isabella would continue her education at Herlufsholm School starting in August 2022.^[10] However, on 26 June 2022, her parents announced in a statement that Isabella would not start Herlufsholm after all due to revelations of recurring problems of bullying, violence and sexual abuse at the school,^[11] and in September 2022, she started 9th form at Ingrid Jespersens Gymnasieskole in Copenhagen instead.^[12] In August 2023, Isabella started upper secondary school at Øregård Gymnasium – the same school her father, Frederik, and uncle, Joachim, previously attended.^[13]

Public life

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Isabella undertook her first official engagement, the baptism of a ferry – the M/F Prinsesse Isabella operating between Jutland and Samsø – named in her honour, on 6 June 2015.^[14] She and her siblings accompanied their parents on official visits to Greenland on 1–8 August 2014 and the Faroe Islands on 23–26 August 2018 where she partook in several official engagements.

Her 18th birthday was marked with two public celebrations: On 11 April 2025, Aarhus Municipality hosted a reception at the city hall featuring tributes from the city's young talents in creative fields such as music, gastronomy and fashion. During the reception, Isabella made her first ever public speech, thanking the city and the participants for a "very unique" birthday celebration.^[15] The speech was subsequently praised as being "brave" and "charming".^[16] On 15 April, the Danish court and the Royal Danish Theatre hosted a birthday performance for Isabella at the theatre's Old Stage featuring performances from the field of ballet, theatre, music and opera.^[17] Youths between the age of 17 and 24 from across the kingdom were eligible to apply for tickets to the performance which was also attended by her parents and three siblings; her grandmother, Queen Margrethe II; her cousins, Count Nikolai and Count Felix of Monpezat; her great-aunts, Princess Benedikte of Denmark and Queen Anne-Marie of Greece; as well as the Prince and Princess of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg.

Titles, styles, and honours

21 April 2007 – 29 April 2008: Her Royal Highness Princess Isabella of Denmark
29 April 2008 – present: Her Royal Highness Princess Isabella of Denmark, Countess of Monpezat^[18]

Honours

National honours

Orders and appointments

Knight of the Order of the Elephant (14 January 2024) (R.E.)^[19]

Medals and decorations

Dame of the Royal Family Decoration of King Frederik X (21 April 2025)^[20]
Prince Henrik's 75th Birthday Medal (11 June 2009)^[21]
16 April 2010: Queen Margrethe II's 70th Birthday Medal^[22]
14 January 2012: Queen Margrethe II's Ruby Jubilee Medal^[22]
16 April 2015: Queen Margrethe II's 75th Birthday Medal^[22]
10 June 2017: Queen Margrethe II and Prince Henrik's Golden Wedding Anniversary Medal^[22]
11 June 2018: Prince Henrik's Memorial Medal^[23]
16 April 2020: Queen Margrethe II's 80th Birthday Medal^[22]
14 January 2022: Queen Margrethe II's Golden Jubilee Medal^[24]