Princess Mary’s nephew Count Nikolai of Denmark has celebrated his 24th birthday in Australia after relocating Down Under to study on exchange for one semester.
The Count marked the special occasion by enjoying a getaway to Byron Bay with his friends and glamorous designer girlfriend Benedikte Thoustrup.
Nikolai posted several images to Instagram from the trip including one photo of him sitting outside and holding a T-shirt with the map of Australia.
A Vegemite jar and several muffins with candles were also visible on the table.
Nikolai also shared photos as he visited popular beaches including Boomerang Point Reserve with his friends.
Princess Mary’s nephew Count Nikolai of Monpezat has celebrated his 24th birthday in Byron Bay after starting new chapter in Australia following royal title drama
Benedikte also posted one photo of Nikolai enjoying a cocktail decorated with a sparkler.
The Count has travelled Down Under to study on exchange at the University of Technology Sydney for a semester, accompanied by his girlfriend.
The pair live together in Copenhagen, but have moved to Sydney to study from August 1 to November 30.
Nikolai, whose father is Prince Joachim of Denmark, is seventh in line to the Danish throne.
In March, Count Nikolai of Denmark launched a new Instagram account to promote his modelling career after being stripped of his ‘HRH’ status by his grandmother, Queen Margrethe.
Nikolai posted several photos to Instagram from his birthday trip as he visited popular beaches including Boomerang Point Reserve with his friends
It was a tumultuous year for the Danish Royal Family after the monarch controversially took the title from Prince Joachim’s eldest son, as well as also taking the prince and princess titles from his younger children Athena, 11, Prince Felix, 20, and Prince Henrik, 13.
They are now Counts and Countess and referred to as Their Excellencies – and in January this year the Danish Royal Family updated their website to show the new status.
The Queen insisted the move will be ‘good for them in their future’ and 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.
Following his grandmother’s move to strip him and his siblings of their titles ‘for their own good’, Count Nikolai said that he was sad, shocked and confused.
Nikolai’s designer girlfriend Benedikte Thoustrup also posted a photo of the Count enjoying a cocktail decorated with a sparkler
‘My whole family and I are of course very sad. We are, as my parents have also stated, in shock at this decision and at how quickly it has actually gone,’ he told Danish newspaper Extrabladet.
‘I am very confused as to why it has to happen like this,’ he told reporters from outside the Copenhagen apartment where he lives with his girlfriend.
Countess Alexandra, mother to Count Nikolai and Count Felix, was also ‘very sad’ and ‘shocked’ about the decision.
‘She can’t believe why and why now, because there’s no good reason,’ Helle von Wildenrath Løvgreen, press secretary to Countess Alexandra told CNN.
The Count has travelled Down Under to study on exchange at the University of Technology Sydney for a semester, accompanied by his girlfriend Benedikte (pictured)
‘They would lose their titles anyway when they get married one day.
‘Her sons are young men so maybe they might get married in the near future so why shouldn’t it wait until that day so that the titles would disappear on a happy day?’
Prince Joachim told Ekstra Bladet that his children had been ‘hurt’ by the decision – and claimed he had only been given a few days to break the news to them before the announcement was made publicly.
Prince Joachim, the brother of Frederik, Crown Prince of Denmark, is now married to Princess Marie of Denmark.
Pictured is Tasmanian-born Mary, Crown Princess of Denmark, who is married to Frederik, the Crown Prince of Denmark and is aunt to young Nikolai