Queen Margrethe of Denmark has been rushed to hospital in Copenhagen after suffering a heart attack, with the royal household issuing an official statement on her condition
17:02, 14 May 2026Updated 17:11, 14 May 2026
The Danish royal family issued a statement after the former queen was taken to hospital (Image: Getty)
Queen Margrethe of Denmark has been rushed to hospital this afternoon following a heart attack, the royal household has confirmed. Margrethe, 86, was transported to Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen’s largest public and teaching hospital.
Denmark’s former monarch will remain in hospital over the weekend for observation and additional examinations. The announcement stated that Margrethe is in good spirits, but she is tired from the ordeal. The statement added that further updates will be provided if there is any news.
It read: “Her Majesty Queen Margrethe has been admitted to Rigshospitalet this afternoon due to a heart attack. Queen Margrethe will be admitted over the weekend for observation and further examinations,” reports the Express.
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Queen Margrethe has been hospitalised after a heart attack(Image: Getty)
“Her Majesty is tired, but in good spirits. The Royal House will announce when there is news.”
Denmark’s longest-reigning monarch abdicated in January 2024 after 52 years, passing the throne to her eldest son, now-King Frederik. at the time, Margrethe made it clear that her health played a role in her decision to relinquish her duties.
In her New Year’s Eve address in 2023, Margrethe said: “The surgery naturally gave rise to thinking about the future – whether the time had come to leave the responsibility to the next generation.”
The Palace issued a statement on Queen Margrethe’s condition(Image: Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
She added: “I have decided that now is the right time. On 14 January 2024 – 52 years after I succeeded my beloved father – I will step down as queen of Denmark.”
Just months after the abdication, Queen Margrethe was hospitalised after suffering a fall in her home. “According to the circumstances, the queen is doing well, but was admitted for observation for the time being,” the head of communications, Lene Balleby, was quoted as saying at the time.
Margrethe received 42 official state visits in her nation and undertook 55 foreign state visits herself during her lengthy reign. She is the world’s most recent female reigning monarch.
Over the course of her lengthy reign, Queen Margrethe tended towards the unconventional, being a creative, opinionated individual – who wasn’t afraid to give her subjects a scolding when needed – with an imaginatively eccentric sense of style.
Queen Margrethe is the world’s most recent female reigning monarch(Image: Getty)
While monarchs so often feel aloof and beyond relatability, Queen Margrethe is in many ways considered comparatively down-to-earth, despite her glamour. A former chain smoker, Margrethe was regularly photographed with a cigarette in hand, and is known to shop for her own groceries at the local supermarket.
In 2024, Queen Margrethe became Denmark’s first monarch to abdicate in nearly 900 years when handing the throne over to her son. She always maintained during her 52-year reign that she would not abdicate, but back surgery and several ailments left her unable to undertake as much as she could in the past.
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