Over the weekend, Denmark’s Prince Joachim and his wife Princess Marie gave another interview. Previously, Joachim spoke, on camera, to a Danish media outlet soon after his mother Queen Margrethe yanked his four children’s royal titles. Joachim was very upset and he said the children are upset too. He made it sound like he was barely given any notice. His two sons by his first wife are in their 20s, but his two younger children, Henrik and Athena, are just 13 and 10. And they just got bullied by their grandmother in public. Well, after the kids’ titles were yanked, it feels like Joachim and Marie are ready to speak out against Margrethe… and Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary. Some highlights from this weekend’s interview:

Athena is already being bullied: Princess Marie said that Athena is being bullied at school after the decision was publicly announced earlier this week. ‘They come and say (to Athena): Is it you who is no longer a princess?,’ Princess Marie told Danish news outlet BT. She said her children were put under the public spotlight and feels the need to defend them, especially now after her youngest is being picked on. ‘The children were publicly exhibited. At very short notice. This means that we, as parents, have not had time to prepare them for the change and people’s reactions,’ she added.

Joachim & Marie discussed Frederik & Mary: Joachim and Marie said they have not spoken to the Crown couple, with Marie describing the relationship as ‘complicated’. The prince added that they have not yet spoken to the Queen either. Commenting on Crown Princess Mary’s point that her children may too lose titles in the future, Joachim said: ‘I don’t know how they feel if they have to think it through. Now is preparation time. We didn’t have that.’

A proper way: Speaking about the monarch’s intention to slim down the Danish royal family, he said: ‘The reality must still be: whether you modernize or slim down, it must be done in a proper way. It’s about children. Orderliness and children. It is a very heavy matter.’ Meanwhile, referencing the idea of a slimmed down monarchy, Marie said: ‘I don’t think it’s modern to have some injured children.’

[From The Daily Mail]

In this interview, Joachim and Marie indicated that they’re “not thinking of leaving the Danish royal house. Instead, they will continue their work in their own way – even if the family is divided like never before,” according to Hello. What’s interesting about that is that Joachim, Marie and their two young kids live in Paris now. In early 2019, they moved to Paris for what was supposed to be a temporary military training program for Joachim. Then Joachim had a stroke in 2020. At the time, people were told that Joachim decided to keep his family in France and take a position as defense attache at the Danish embassy. Now that move is being seen in a different light though – perhaps an effort from Margrethe, Frederik and Mary to exile him. In 2021, Marie came right out and said that the move to France wasn’t their “choice.” As in, they were exiled.

There are also new and old quotes about how Joachim has “felt humiliated and ignored for a long time” and that the issue with his children’s titles will not be “the last word in the matter.”

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid.