Ahead of the holidays, the Danish Royal House revealed that Prince Joachim , Princess Marie and their children would be going on “a long-planned trip abroad over Christmas.” According to Her & Nu , the royals traveled to Vietnam, where they celebrated Christmas.
The magazine reported on Jan. 3 that the trip had originally been scheduled for 2020, but was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Danish Prince and Princess are said to have taken their two kids, Count Henrik, 13, and Countess Athena, ten, to Vietnam, along with Joachim’s older sons, Count Nikolai, 23, and Count Felix, 20, from his first marriage.
Joachim’s late father, Prince Henrik, spent the first five years of his life in Vietnam and spoke Vietnamese, per the Royal House.
While Joachim and his family reportedly traveled to Southeast Asia, the Prince’s older brother Crown Prince Frederik celebrated Christmas in Australia with his wife Crown Princess Mary’s family and their four children, Prince Christian, Princess Isabella, Prince Vincent and Princess Josephine.
Joachim, who currently resides in Paris, was in Denmark on New Year’s Day. The royal stepped out on Sunday for the New Year’s levee and banquet at Christian VII’s Palace. The Prince’s appearance followed the changes to his children’s titles. As of Jan. 1, 2023, their Prince and Princess titles were discontinued and they can now only use their titles of Counts and Countess of Monpezat.
Nikolai spoke out after the loss of his Prince title in a written response from his mother Alexandra, Countess of Frederiksborg’s press adviser, Helle von Wildenrath Løvgreen, to Billed Bladet . “It’s a strange feeling and an experience that I would rather have been without,” he said (translated to English). “But now it is as it is. For the rest of my life, I will be proud of the years when I was allowed to be a prince of Denmark.”