Nikolai was baptised in the chapel of the Fredensborg Palace on 6 November 1999 by the Danish Chaplain-in-Ordinary, Christian Thodberg. At the christening, the musical work Lys på din vej, composed by Frederik Magle and dedicated to the prince, was performed for the first time.[2] His godparents are his paternal uncle King Frederik X, his maternal aunt Nicola Baird, Prince Edward, Duke of Edinburgh, Peter Steenstrup and Camilla Flint.[1] After their divorce in 2005, Prince Joachim and Alexandra had joint custody of the prince and his brother Prince Felix.[3][4][5] Nikolai and Felix have two half-siblings, Henrik and Athena, from their father's second marriage to Marie Cavallier.[6][7]
Nikolai was confirmed on 18 May 2013 in Fredensborg Palace Church in the presence of his immediate family and all his godparents.[8]
In early 2018, Nikolai signed as a fashion model with the agency Scoop Models.[15] He made his runway debut in February 2018 at Burberry's show at London Fashion Week.[16][17] He says he sees modeling as a job rather than a career.[18]
In February 2023, Nikolai signed as a model for Elite Model World - Paris under the name of 'Nikolai'.[19] Subsequently, in May he also signed with Barcelona based modeling agency Sight Management Studio as 'Count Nikolai of Monpezat'.[20]
In June 2024, Nikolai graduated from Copenhagen Business School with a Master of Science in Merchandising degree (cand.merc.) [21]
Titles and styles
Originally styled "His Highness Prince Nikolai of Denmark", Nikolai's style was expanded on 29 April 2008 to "His Highness Prince Nikolai of Denmark, Count of Monpezat".[22] In September 2022, Queen Margrethe II decided to strip the children of her son Joachim from the princely status they held since their births. Since 1 January 2023, Count Nikolai is known as "His Excellency Count Nikolai of Monpezat".[23] He has said that he was "shocked and confused" to learn about the decision to strip him and his siblings of their princely title.[24] Even with the change in titles, he and the others affected by the change maintain their places in the order of succession.[23]
1 Also prince of Norway 2 Also prince of Greece 3 Also prince of Iceland 4 Also prince of the United Kingdom 5 Not Danish prince by birth, but created prince of Denmark Princes that lost their title are shown in italics