HE’S the former “party prince” set to become the King of Denmark following his mother’s shock abdication after 52 years on the throne.
Crown Prince Frederik and Princess Mary will take over when Queen Margrethe II steps down on January 14 – a decision she announced as part of her New Year’s Eve speech.
It’s the first abdication in the country in 500 years - and some royal commentators have suggested it was part of a “shrewd” bid to save her son's marriage amid claims of a cheating scandal.
Affair rumours emerged after Frederik was photographed with former MasterChef star Genoveva Casanova in Madrid in November, and they were spotted on a night out until 1am.
The TV star branded claims “malicious” and categorically untrue, but speculation continued after Crown Princess Mary was seen crying a fortnight ago and shared a cryptic post about loneliness.
Are there illegal baby names? Surprising monikers that are BANNED in other countries, from Sarah to Thomas
Royal author Phil Dampier told MailOnline: "I think Margrethe may have worried that their marriage was in trouble and therefore she had to act.
"I can’t help thinking that it has something to do with the recent rumours about Crown Prince Frederik spending a night with a Mexican socialite."
He added: “The Queen always thought Mary was a fantastic asset to the royal family and if she thought she might leave it would have been a disaster.
“She will now hope that Frederik and Mary patch up any differences and work together as the new King and Queen.”
Australian-born Mary and Frederik, who met in a pub in Sydney, have been married for 19 years and share four children.
Prior to their "fairy tale romance", he was dubbed "spoilt" and the “Casanova Crown Prince” who had dalliances with pop stars and drove fast cars.
Mary is widely credited with helping him go from "party prince" to a devoted family man in the eyes of the Danish public.
During his younger years Frederik reportedly resented his parents for having to put their royal duties ahead of him.
Danish royals expert Gitte Redder previously told AFP: “He was not strictly speaking a rebel, but as a child and young man he was very uncomfortable with the media attention and the knowledge that he was going to be king.”
Frederik previously dated model Malou Aamund for three years, but their romance came to an end after they were engulfed in a scandal.
All about Rachel Nickell who was murdered in front of her son Alex Hanscombe
The couple were pulled over by police on New Year’s Eve in 1992 and Malou was taken to the station after being charged with driving under the influence of alcohol.
After the incident their romance ended and the Danish royal court apologised on behalf of Frederik.
He also had a romance with lingerie model Katja Storkholm in the late 1990s.
They dated for nearly three years while he was in his late 20s and according to royal reporter Trine Villemann he was “head over heels”.
In her 2008 book 1015 Copenhagen K, Trine wrote how the model would suggest changes to his speeches and coach him as he didn’t like having to perform royal duties.
She claimed Frederik secretly proposed, but they were denied permission to marry by Queen Margrethe.
The Prince also dated popstar Maria Montell in 1999 before meeting his future wife Mary Donaldson at the Slip Inn pub in Sydney in 2000 while visiting Australia to support Denmark’s sailing team at the Olympics.
While he's largely curbed his party boy image, in 2008 Frederik was reportedly booted out of a Playboy themed nightclub after a boozy "wild session on the dance floor".
At one point he was spotted taking the bunny ears from a waitress and putting them on a pal, before bodyguards intervened at 3am and told him it was time to go home, reports News.com.au.
The website also reported he was allegedly filmed dancing in a Copenhagen nightclub with a mystery blonde days before his twins' christening in 2011.
Military nickname
After graduating from Aarhus University in 1995, Frederik enrolled in the Dutch military.
He completed extensive military studies and trained in all three of the country’s services – the army, the air force and the navy.
During his time in the latter he earned the nickname Pingo, meaning penguin, allegedly after his wetsuit filled with water, causing him to waddle while training in the elite diver unit The Frogman Corps.
Frederik was one of just four recruits to pass in 1995 – typically only a dozen out of the 500 to 600 applicants complete the nine-month programme.
The royal has a tattoo of the Frogman Corps' insignia, a shark, on his right calf and another inking on his right arm believed to reference his Pingo nickname.
Daredevil traits
In 2000 Frederik garnered his reputation as a daredevil after taking part in a four-month long 2,175-mile ski and dog sledding expedition across Greenland.
He has always been an avid sportsman, having run marathons in Copenhagen, New York and Paris, taken part in skiing competitions and dragon boat races, and was the first royal to complete an Ironman in 2013.
His popularity received a boost when he launched the Royal Run – an annual fun run across the nation’s five biggest cities – to mark his 50th birthday in 2018.
Frederik’s passion for high-adrenaline pastimes has seen him hospitalised multiple times from sledging and scooter accidents.
Royal expert Gitte Redder said. “He is a sportsman, he attends concerts and football matches, which makes him even more accessible than his mother."
Frederik himself suggested he had no intention to reduce his involvement in sporting activities after taking the throne, explaining: "I don't want to lock myself in a fortress. I want to be myself, a human being.”
The prince has also co-authored a book about climate change, been involved in Denmark’s Olympic Committee and launched a foundation that helps to financially support students of social policy and science.
Frederik met Mary - often dubbed a Kate Middleton lookalike - when he was 32 and she was 28.
They had a long-distance romance for a year before she moved to Denmark in 2001.
Recalling their encounter, Mary said: “The first time we met we shook hands. I didn't know he was the prince of Denmark.
"Half an hour later someone came up to me and said, ‘Do you know who these people are?'”
They married in 2004.
Mary is considered a “fantastic asset” to the Danish Royal Family and embraced the role after marrying Frederik.
She is a patron of more than 25 organisations and launched her own charity that focuses on domestic violence, bullying and loneliness.
In a recent poll 85 per cent had a positive opinion of Mary, believed to be due to her fluency in the language and commitment to royal duties and charitable projects.
In recent years Frederik and Mary have taken up more royal duties due to Queen Margrethe’s ill heath, which some believe contributed to her decision to abdicate.
But speculation is mounting that it was a wise move to keep Princess Mary on side in light of the recent saga.
