Count Nikolai and Count Felix of Monpezat are brothers “in crime.” The siblings are the elder sons of King Frederik‘s younger brother Prince Joachim. The Danish Prince’s children made headlines back in 2022 when it was announced that Queen Margrethe would be changing their titles. Nikolai has previously said that he’s “proud of the years when” he “was allowed to be a prince of Denmark.” For him, growing up as a member of the Danish royal family has “always been very precious.” “My upbringing has been filled with joyous moments and a relatively ‘normal’ childhood,” Nikolai told Numéro magazine in 2023. “That said, I am aware of the special circumstances I was raised under and the responsibility it takes too. I believe I managed this very well.”
So, just who are Count Nikolai and Count Felix? Continue reading to learn more about King Frederik’s nephews…
1. Count Nikolai and Count Felix are Prince Joachim’s sons from his first marriage to Alexandra, Countess of Frederiksborg.
© Julian Parker/UK Press via Getty Images2. Count Nikolai is the eldest of Queen Margrethe II’s grandchildren.
3. Count Nikolai was born on Aug. 28, 1999 in Copenhagen. At the time of his birth, he was third in line to the Danish throne after his uncle Frederik and father Joachim.
© Julian Parker/UK Press via Getty Images4. Nikolai became a big brother for the first time with the birth of Count Felix on July 22, 2002.
5. Nikolai’s godparents include his uncle King Frederik.
© STEEN BROGAARD/SCANPIX DENMARK/AFP via Getty Images6. Felix and Nikolai have a stepmother, Princess Marie, whom their father married in 2008.
7. They have two younger siblings: Count Henrik and Countess Athena.
8. Nikolai signed with the modeling agency Scoop Models in 2018 and made his catwalk debut that February at the Burberry fashion show during London Fashion Week. That same year, the Count opened a show for the first time, walking for Dior. Nikolai later admitted to Vogue Scandinavia that opening and closing Kim Jones’ spring/summer 2019 Dior menswear show is “really what launched” his career.” He said, “I was so privileged that I got to both open and close the show. I really got a lot of attention after that.”
9. Nikolai has been dating his girlfriend Benedikte Thoustrup since reportedly 2018. The couple met at the private school Herlufsholm and had their first date at a nearby gas station, per ELLE Denmark.
© Edward Berthelot/Getty Images10. According to Royal Central, Nikolai stopped his two-year military training at the Royal Danish Army’s Sergeant School in 2018 because he felt that it was not right for him to have a career in the military.
12. Like his older brother, Felix chose to stop his military training. In August of 2021, he began his training at the Army Lieutenant’s Training Course at the Guards’ Barracks in Slagelse. That September, the Royal House’s communication manager announced that Felix had decided to discontinue his training, noting that his reasons were “considered private.” His mother Alexandra said (via Royal Central): “Prince Felix has stopped in the military because it simply is not for him and that is why he has decided to stop now. Now the prince must have peace and quiet to figure out what to do next.”
13. In 2022, Count Felix began his International Shipping and Trade education at the Copenhagen Business School.
10. Both Felix and Nikolai were born Princes of Denmark, however their Prince titles were discontinued at the start of 2023. Queen Margrethe decided to change the titles of her son Joachim’s kids, explaining that she wished “to create the framework for the four grandchildren to be able to shape their own lives to a much greater extent without being limited by the special considerations and duties that a formal affiliation with the Royal House of Denmark as an institution involves.” Joachim’s children can now only use their titles as Counts and Countess of Monpezat.
14. Nikolai, along with his girlfriend Benedikte, moved to Australia in 2023 to study for a semester at the University of Technology in Sydney. Ahead of his move Down Under, the Count told Numéro magazine that “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, hence I want to try and move there.”
© Kongehuset15. Nikolai graduated from the Copenhagen Business School in 2024 with an MSc in economics and business administration – sales management. “five years at university and I can finally call myself cand.merc 🎓🎓🎓,” he wrote on Instagram.
16. King Frederik awarded his nephews Felix and Nikolai the Grand Cross of the Order of the Dannebrog on May 26, 2025. Nikolai reacted to the honor on Instagram, writing: “very honoured to have received the order Storkorset af Dannebrog yesterday from my uncle on his birthday 🇩🇰.”
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