After much speculation, the Danish royal family confirmed an open secret in an official statement: Prince Joachim and Princess Mary will move to Washington, D.C.
The couple and their two children, Henrik, 13, and Athena, 11, have been living in Paris for four years and have confirmed that they will cross the Atlantic in September 2023 to settle in North America.
The news came after Queen Margaret decided to revoke the princely titles and the treatment of Her Royal Highness to her four grandsons, Prince Joachim had two older children in her previous marriage to Countess Alexandra, "Princess of Hong Kong" Wen Yali.
Four years ago, Prince Joachim and Princess Marie moved to France with their two children. They moved to France because the prince began a military training course at the highest level in France to supplement his career in the armed forces.
After graduation, Prince Joachim and his wife were assigned to the Danish Embassy in Paris as Defence Commissioner and Special Cultural Representative, respectively.
Queen Margaret's youngest son will assume his new position as Defense Industry Commissioner at the Danish Embassy in the U.S. Capital on September 1, 2023, at the Ministry of Defense. According to the Danish royal family, his work will "help strengthen defense industry cooperation with the United States and Canada in the coming years."
Prince Joachim's appointment will be for three years with the possibility of extension, as the country "is strengthening cooperation in the security field with the United States, Denmark's most important ally and strategic partner," the Danish Defense Ministry reported. Prince Joachim was appointed to strengthen cooperation with the United States".
In his work, Prince Joachim will report to the Department of Defense and will be accountable to the ambassador and defense commissioner in Washington on a day-to-day basis.
The Ministry of Defence has been keen to highlight Prince Joachim's "deep knowledge of the armed forces", "including completing military leadership training, experience as a defence attaché in France and knowledge in the defence industry, which are all qualifications he can draw upon in this position." ”
Prince Joachim said after his transfer became public that he was proud of the continued opportunity to represent Denmark's security and defence sector internationally.
"Transatlantic cooperation is a high-priority area and I am honoured that I have been found qualified to undertake this task," he said. ”
Despite the new job, Prince Joachim will continue to perform certain duties of the royal family to the extent permitted by his new duties.
Less than a month ago, Princess Mary spoke out on a possible relocation.
According to Paris Race newspaper, she said: "Nothing has been confirmed, nothing has been announced, these flowers are not from us, so at the moment these words are all rumors." ”
Princess Mary attended Babson College in Boston as a young man.
In 1997, she began studying at Marymount Manhattan College in New York and graduated in 1999 with a degree in humanities. After her studies, she worked for Double Click, an Internet publishing company in the Big Apple, for a year and a half.
Since November 2022, there have been accounts of this change in the lives of Prince Joachim and Princess Mary.
These rumors became especially strong after Queen Margaret's decision to strip Prince Joachim of the title, who are no longer princes and princesses as of January 1, 2023.
The decision to revoke the title was not shared by the persons whose titles were revoked, nor by their parents, who publicly expressed their dissatisfaction.
The revocation of the title caused a split in the Danish royal family, and both the queen and the heir to the throne, Prince Frederick, tried to overcome this division by publicly displaying an image of unity.
Prince Joachim traveled to the United States and will follow in the footsteps of Britain's Prince Harry, who and his wife Meghan Markle voluntarily withdrew from the royal family in early 2020 and subsequently settled in Los Angeles, California.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle out of comparison psychology and old grudges, because son Archie did not get the title of prince like his brother and sister-in-law Prince William and Kate Middleton's son Louis, they sat on the royal family, claiming that Meghan Markle, who is half black, and Archie, who is a quarter black blood, are racially discriminated against.
Currently, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's son Archie and daughter Lilibet have been awarded the title of Prince and Princess.