Queen Mary's nephew Count Nikolai puts in loved-up appearance with girlfriend Benedikte Thoustrup after split rumours as the budding model attends Australian Fashion Week

Daily Mail​

12-05-2025

Count Nikolai of Monpezat is making moves in the fashion world after being stripped of his royal title.
The 25-year-old, who is the nephew of Australian-born Queen Mary of Denmark, made a surprise appearance at Australian Fashion Week in Sydney on Monday night.
Nikolai, who has launched a modelling career since losing his title in 2022, sat front row at the Carla Zampatti show on day one of the event.
Alongside him was his girlfriend Benedikte Thoustrup, with the pair looking happy together after fielding split rumours late last year.
Nikolai looked dapper in a navy blue suit paired with a light blue dress shirt and dark brown tie.
Benedikte meanwhile stunned in a strapless, black peplum dress in a maxi length, along with camel toned heels.
The 24-year-old chose a natural, barely there makeup look and wore her caramel locks down in waves.
Earlier, the Danish It-girl had arrived wearing a beige trench coat that perfectly matched her shoes.
The couple looked relaxed and happy as they sat together watching the show, and exchanged loving looks while posing together before the runway show.
Late last year, the pair were rumoured to have split after Nikolai and Benedikte had not shared to social media any photos of them together for months.
Benedikte, who is the founder of Danish hair beauty company BénéSoie, had posted several glamorous modelling shots to Instagram - and Nikolai had been absent from all of them.
However, it was clear all was well as the genetically blessed couple cuddled up at hottest event on the Aussie fashion calendar.
Nikolai appearance at Fashion Week comes after tensions had risen between the Danish Royal Family since late 2022, after Queen Margrethe stripped Prince Joachim's four children - Nikolai, Felix, Henrik and Athena, of their titles.
At the time, Margrethe insisted the move would be 'good for them in their future.'
She said it would allow the children - who have maintained their positions in the line of succession - to 'shape their own lives without being limited by the special considerations and duties' that a formal affiliation with the Danish Royal Family involves.
But Prince Joachim publicly spoke out against his mother's decision in the days that followed - claiming that his children had been 'harmed' in the process.
Joachim, 55, hit out at her 'punishment' and claimed his four kids' identity was being 'removed'.
Commenting on their reaction to the move to B.T., Joachim, who is Margrethe's youngest son, in 2022 said: 'I can say that my children are sad. My kids don't know which leg to stand on. What they should believe.'
The brother of King Frederik - who became King in 2024 - had also claimed that he had only been told the news five days before it was made public, despite the Royal Household insisting the decision 'has been a long time coming'.
'I don't want to engage in speculation and mudslinging,' said Joachim. 'I am telling the truth... I was given five days' notice...
'I was given five days' notice of this. To tell my children that on New Year's their identity will be taken from them.'
He added that in May of that year, he was presented with a plan that his 'children's identity should be taken from them when each of them turned 25', to which he asked 'to be allowed to come back with my proposal'.
But he said he was given just five days' notice that the decision was to be accelerated, adding: 'I am so sorry for my children. I just demand the truth.'
Alexandra, Countess of Frederiksborg - Joachim's ex-wife and mother to Nikolai and Prince Felix - also at the time said she was 'in shock' over Margrethe's decision.
'We are all confused by the decision. We are saddened and in shock,' she said in a statement from her press advisor Helle von Wildenrath Løvgreen, reported Danish magazine Se og Hør.
The statement continued: 'This comes like a bolt from the blue. The children feel ostracised. They cannot understand why their identity is being taken away from them.'
Prince Joachim married his second wife Princess Marie in 2008, and they later welcomed Prince Henrik and Princess Athena.
Meanwhile, Queen Mary of Denmark - then a Crown Princess - defended her mother-in-law's choice, and suggested her own children's positions might not be secure.
The Australian-born royal, whose son Christian is currently the heir to the throne, with her three other kids' titles not affected by Margrethe, told Ekstra Bladet: 'Today we cannot see what the royal house will look like when it is Christian's time, or when Christian's time begins to approach.'
She added: 'Change can be extremely difficult and can really hurt. I think most people have tried it. But this does not mean that the decision is not the right one.
'And I can understand that it is a very difficult decision to have to make, and also a very difficult decision to receive.'
The move had created an 'icy' atmosphere within the Royal Family at the time, according to one local media report, and drove a wedge between a seemingly united family.
'There has never been a public conflict between the Queen and Prince Joachim,' Danish royal reporter Kenth Madsen told FEMAIL.
Nikolai has since launched his own Instagram account to promote his modelling career - and has seldom been seen with his cousins and aunt since the announcement.