Princess Mary of Denmark’s nephew Count Nikolai of Monpezat is about to move to Australia, with the young royal set to study in Sydney, the same city Mary famously met Crown Prince Frederik during the 2000 Olympics.
The 23-year-old will call Sydney home for a semester while he studies at the University of Technology Sydney and will be joined by his long-term girlfriend Benedikte Thoustrup.
Nikolai is currently studying at the Copenhagen Business School and has already studied abroad in Paris.
Australia will be the furthest he has ever travelled, with the young royal telling Numero Magazine, “It is an adventure I am stoked to begin and super-excited to live abroad again.”
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“The choice fell on Australia because it is very foreign for a Dane like me. I have never been that far away and I believe seeing that corner of the world takes more than two weeks holiday, so I want to try and move there.”
Nikolai also works as a model and has been signed with London’s Scoop Models since 2018. He has previously walked the runways for Burberry and Dior.
The royal is the eldest grandson of Queen Margrethe II and the son of Prince Joachim, the younger brother of Frederik.
Nikolai and his three siblings recently lost the ability to use the title of His or Her Royal Highness after being told by the Queen that the move will be “good for them in the future”.
The siblings’ mother Countess Alexandra’s press secretary questioned why the change couldn’t have waited until their wedding days, as they would “lose their titles anyway”.
“My whole family and I are of course very sad. We are, as my parents have also stated, in shock at this decision and at how quickly it has actually gone,” Prince Nikolai told Danish newspaper Ekstra Bladet.
“I am very confused as to why it has to happen like this,” he added.
Alexandra, who was married to Prince Joachim for 10 years until 2005, told Danish magazine Se og Hør, “This comes like a bolt from the blue. The children feel ostracized. They cannot understand why their identity is being taken away from them.”
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Joachim said his children had been “harmed” by the news they’d no longer be able to use His or Her Royal Highness and had been stripped of their prince and princess titles.
“We are all very sad. It’s never fun to see your children being harmed. They are been put in a situation they do not understand,” he told Ekstra Bladet.
Her spokesperson also claimed Joachim found out the news from an aide and not the Queen herself.
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