Let’s go back around 23 years to a meeting with Daisy. She and Fred were locked in a battle of wills over his relationship with an Australian lawyer. It was reported that Fred threatened to never get married if Daisy forbade him to propose to the woman he loved.
The Queen gave in, and four years later, Fred and Mary exchanged vows in a glamorous ceremony. Mary became our modern day Cinderella, and her journey from real estate attorney to Crown Princess of Denmark put Fred firmly on the map as a real-life Prince Charming. In other words, his love story was really all about Mary.
Over the years, there has been wide speculation as to whether Daisy would step aside and allow Fred to take over. However, in 2022, in an interview with UK’s ITV, she firmly stated her intention to never quit her job because she was inspired by Queen Elizabeth II.
A little over a year later, out of nowhere, photographs of Fred standing with his suitcase at a bus stop in Spain, chucking (a mobile phone) into a trash bin, caused heads to explode worldwide. Prince Charming had made himself the main character of the story, and his actions plunged his family’s legacy into chaos. Everyone felt bad for Mary, his wife of 20 years. She had borne him four children, and not only forgot how to speak English by the time their engagement was announced, but also promised to spend the rest of her life coughing up her consonants.
So here I am, at almost 3:00 a.m. wondering if I should bin a blog post I wrote to congratulate Her Majesty Queen Mary of Denmark. It felt too clean. I presented her as a perfectly curated avatar of regal elegance, stepping out of cars the right way, smiling enough, and never speaking above a whisper. My bad mind started whirring and my spider senses started tingling. I asked myself, was Fred’s alleged affair a genuine misstep, or the calculated flex of a genius? What, for the love of Christ, was he thinking?
Because I like convoluted stories, I decided to use game theory. I considered some strategies and payoffs. Imagine the board: Daisy, reigning until her final breath. Fred, the restless prince, waiting, waiting, waiting, until maybe the age of 72, to start the job.
My theory was that he engineered what appeared to be a romantic tryst, as a flick you to Daisy. Indeed, as soon as the images started circulating, out poured public scorn for the monarchy. In Denmark, 85% of the public support the Royal Family, but the voices of republicans were being amplified. The alleged other woman has reportedly run back to her former spouse and is taking refuge at his home somewhere in Spain.
In other words, was the “Affair scandal of Crown Prince Frederik and Genoveva Casanova” a theatrical production, with Fred sacrificing his reputation as a faithful husband to force Daisy to quit? Game theory says, “Yes, maybe, who knows?”
Predicting human behavior is tricky because motives change, intentions shift, and outcomes are unpredictable. Fred could be a puppet master, which is likely, given that he graduated from Harvard and trained with the US Navy Seals. Or perhaps he was a man baby caught up in his own sense of entitlement. Because who has ever heard of a Prince Genius? If you were born into a job with inherited wealth, common sense is a bonus but is not necessary. History tells us of Charles I and James I, two English monarchs who insisted on being the main characters even as others were writing a different story.
Let’s review my scenarios:
Master Manipulator. Fred crafts a fake scandal, knowing it will sting enough to make Daisy quit and offer him the throne. Risky? Yes, but the potential reward, accession before the age of 72, is worth the reputational burns.
Failed Architect. Perhaps Fred’s not that good at scheming. He has been caught in compromising situations before but always had a response ready. He is prepared to say, you are only looking at photos of him leaving an attractive socialite’s apartment early in the morning. This time, there is a strong reaction from the public. Daisy sees the backlash, and tells Fred he’s not ready to reign.
Utter chaos. Fred did some things. According to the press reports emerging at the moment, Daisy’s abdication is directly related to the marital discord caused by her son’s alleged affair. These reports serve as confirmation that the allegations concerning Fred’s indiscretions are true. Very disappointing, indeed.
As I dictated that last sentence, I was reminded that King Juan Carlos I “gave” his mistress, Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn €65 million as a “gift”, and later tried to get it back. Instead of giving back the money, she sued him so he would stop calling her. The takeaway here is that privilege can make people do weird things, like accept millions of dollars from shady corporate entities. Or, leave a whole family in a castle in Denmark and travel to Spain for a sleepover with another woman.
I have enjoyed writing fiction stories about monarchs, but I finally understand why people want them to go away. Yes, wealth and prestige are the obvious perquisites, but we should rethink the practice of birthing humans into a lifetime of endless public scrutiny and pampered, airy do-nothingness.
Being a monarch is not a dream role for anyone who wants the freedom to live on their own terms. I’m sure that if you ask Princess Charlene of Monaco, she will tell you she tried really hard to escape a life many women covet. The media loves telling the story of the prince who forced a white South African swimmer to marry into extreme wealth, knowing she didn’t like him. They won’t talk about why he didn’t offer the same deal to the Togolese flight attendant with whom he had a son.
We live in tumultuous times and a royal scandal is pixelated escapism. Thus, there may not be much sympathy for royal consorts who become victims of their own aspirations. But, in my opinion, we should at least let them keep their personal lives out of the public domain.
These days, anyone can become a global influencer, and that’s a good thing. It’s also good that today’s self-made moguls are finding out that with fame, wealth and influence come jealousy, scrutiny, and the constant threat of backlash. The age of fairy tales and sorcery is far behind us. Now that we are here, in a new era, we should work to redefine what it means to live happily ever after.
Saint Joan 
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