Mary’s father-in-law Prince Henrik gets his wish for his final days

Prince Henrik of Denmark has been transferred from a Copenhagen hospital to Fredensborg Castle north of the city, where he wants to spend his final days, the royal palace says. 

The Danish royal family released a statement on Tuesday in Danish which translated roughly as “His Royal Highness Prince Henrik has today been transferred from Rigshospitalet to Fredensborg Castle, where the Prince wishes to stay in his last time”

The statement said that the prince’s condition remained “serious”, however no further details were given. The 83-year-old prince is the father of Crown Prince Frederik, who is married to Australian-born Princess Mary.  Henrik was diagnosed with a benign tumour two weeks ago, and has been hospitalised following an illness that began during a visit to Egypt.

“Here the prince can be surrounded by the family and stay in an environment that matters to him,” British tabloid Hello magazine reported from comments a palace spokeswoman gave Danish media. Over recent days, members of the royal family have visited the prince, Hello reported, including Frederik’s brother Prince Joachim and his sons Prince Nikolai and Prince Felix, along with Princess Mary, who took her two eldest children to visit.  

On Friday the palace said Prince Frederik, a member of the International Olympic Committee, had left the Winter Olympics in South Korea to be with his father after his condition grew more serious.

The statement said, “The state of his Royal Highness Prince Henrik is unfortunately greatly worsened. His Royal Highness The Crown Prince has thus discontinued his stay in South Korea, where he was in conjunction with the winter Olympics.”

Henrik was diagnosed with dementia in early September last year– shortly after the prince made headlines for behaving out of character . His family was left worried when he publicly said he no longer wanted to be buried alongside his wife, Queen Margrethe. He later vented his frustrations at never having been made king and being outranked by his wife.

“The extent of the cognitive failure is, according to Rigshospitalet, greater than expected considering the age of the Prince, and can be accompanied by changes in behaviour, reaction patterns, judgement and emotional life and may therefore also affect the interaction with the outside world,” the palace said in a statement at the time.

Would you wish to spend your last days at home? Are you a fan of the Danish royal family? 

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