It’s been over a year since the titles of Prince Joachim’s children were changed. Count Nikolai, Count Felix, Count Henrik and Countess Athena’s Prince and Princess titles were “discontinued” at the start of 2023. “We weren’t happy about the way it happened,” Princess Marie said in a new interview with The Washington Post. “But it’s a family thing. It’s complicated.”

Marie, who shares Athena and Henrik with her husband Prince Joachim, pointed out that it was more than just a title. “It’s also their name. It’s their identity since they were born,” the mom of two said. “So it’s more than just what people see as a title.”

But, Joachim noted: “We’ve moved on.”

The Danish Prince shares his older sons, Nikolai and Felix, with his ex-wife, Alexandra, Countess of Frederiksborg. Discussing the change to his title during an interview with 9Honey last year, Nikolai said: “It’s still quite a touchy subject but, I mean, I am the same person as I’ve always been,” adding, “It’s more just a formality or sort of change of belonging, in a way.”

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In 2022, the Danish Royal House announced that Queen Margrethe had decided “that, as of 1 January 2023, His Royal Highness Prince Joachim’s descendants can only use their titles as counts and countess of Monpezat, as the titles of prince and princess that they have held up until now will be discontinued” and that “Prince Joachim’s descendants will thus have to be addressed as excellencies in the future.”

Following “strong reactions” to her decision, Joachim’s mother admitted that she made her “decision as Queen, mother and grandmother, but, as a mother and grandmother, I have underestimated the extent to which much my younger son and his family feel affected. That makes a big impression, and for that I am sorry. No one should be in doubt that my children, daughters-in-law and grandchildren are my great joy and pride. I now hope that we as a family can find the peace to find our way through this situation.”

Queen Margrethe later explained to Weekendavisen that it was better that she was the one to make the change, rather than her older son now-King Frederik. “For me, it has been important that it should not be Frederik’s lot to make such a decision,” she said via Billed Bladet (translated to English). “It was better that it was me.”

Queen Margrethe abdicated in favor of Frederik earlier this year. Joachim, who lives in Washington, D.C. with Marie, Henrik and Athena, returned to Denmark for his older brother’s accession day in January.