Denmark’s Queen Margrethe II completes final ride in gold carriage ahead of rare abdication

Europe’s longest reigning monarch, Queen Margrethe II, rode through Denmark’s capital on Thursday 4 January in a gilded, horse-drawn coach as she concluded her last New Year celebrations before her abdication later this month.

Thousands braved the freezing temperatures, strong winds, snow and sleet in Copenhagen to cheer the popular queen along the route in what is to be her last public appearance as monarch.

She will step down on 14 January after 52 years on the throne.

The monarch, 83, will hand the throne to her oldest son, Crown Prince Frederik, in the first such resignation in Europe’s oldest ruling monarchy in nearly 900 years.