Danish royal family to get ‘The Crown treatment’ in upcoming TV drama

Denmark's new King Frederik X and Queen Mary were crowned after Queen Margrethe II abdicated. Photo / AP

The Danish royal family are going to be given “The Crown treatment” with a TV dramatisation of their lives and reign on the way.

The series which carries the working title Af Guds nade, or By the Grace of God will chart the life of the recently abdicated Queen Margrethe II.

Viewers will be given an insight into her path to the throne, life at the royal court of Amalienborg as well as her romance with the “dashing, gallant” Prince Henrik.

While The Crown began shortly before Elizabeth II rose to the throne, the Danish series will introduce viewers to Margrethe while she was still a child.

According to Denmark’s TV2, the series will begin in 1940 and depict the Danish royal family for better and for worse.

It will contain elements of political drama but will primarily be about a girl and her family, according to the network.

Queen Margrethe II abdicated after more than 50 years on the Danish throne in a surprise New Year’s Eve address. She has been succeeded by her son, the now King Frederik X.

She was born during the Second World War and the Nazi German occupation of Denmark.

Announcing By the Grace of God, TV 2 said the monarch’s birth came “as a light in the darkness”, making her a “symbol of hope and unity in an occupied Denmark”.

As well as being Denmark’s longest reigning monarch, Queen Margrethe II was famously down to earth during her reign, being spotted alone in supermarkets, and working as an artist on the sets for ballet and theatre productions.

Queen Margrethe abdicated in a surprise New Year's Eve address. Photo / AP

Her life was previously portrayed in a musical at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen.

Producer Meta Louise Foldager Sørensen, who was executive producer of hit political drama Borgen, said: “Now is the time to tell the magnificent story, which can give us an insight we haven’t had before.”

Borgen is a Danish political drama series which premiered in 2012 to rave reviews domestically and abroad.

Pernille Bech Christensen, the producer, said: “It is the story of a family, an institution and an anachronism fighting to preserve its relevance in a modern age. The royal house is something that all of us Danes share, regardless of whether you are a supporter, an opponent or just somewhere in between.”

The Danish monarchy has yet to respond to news of the drama.

The Windsor family are known to be less than enthusiastic about The Crown, which Netflix labelled as a “fictional dramatisation”.

Prince Harry, Prince William, and then-Prince Charles as portrayed in The Crown. Photo / Keith Bernstein, Netflix

The series has depicted King Charles’s affair with Queen Camilla and the days leading up to the death of Diana, Princess of Wales.

According to a recent book by royal biographer Robert Hardman, Prince William has been seen “rolling his eyes” at the mention of the programme.

One early critic of the Danish series is a director who was put under pressure to shelve his film about the wild antics of then crown prince Frederick amid fears it would cause offence.

Christian Tafdrup said he was annoyed that the series had been given the go-ahead while his film wasn’t. “There was too much fear of touch back then, and it was really a pity,” he said.

A Danish media historian has called it “a question of delicate balances” between keeping the royals happy and telling intimate truths.

Gunhild Moltesen Agger said “The press has had the problem that if you don’t follow the unwritten code of good behaviour, then you don’t get access to the part that the royal family would like to make available”.

Though pre-production work has been going on for a year and a half, filming of the Danish drama is expected to start in 2025. It is not known who will play the role of Margrethe or the rest of the family.