Origins as a French title Members of the
Laborde de Monpezat family have styled themselves as "comte de Laborde de Monpezat" (English: Count of Laborde of Monpezat) since sometime late in the nineteenth century. The right to the use of that comital title is disputed; The ''Encyclopédie de la fausse noblesse et de la noblesse d'apparence'' () states that Prince Henrik's ancestor, Jean Laborde, received royal
letters patent of ennoblement in 1655, conditional on his reception as a
noble in the
Estates of the province of
Béarn, where his lands were located. However, this condition was never fulfilled, as the Estates refused Laborde's petitions in 1703 and again in 1707. Although the comital title has been used by the family as if it were a courtesy title, traditionally the
royal court and French society accepted such titles when used by genuinely noble families. Before his marriage with queen
Margrethe II of Denmark,
Prince Henrik also used this French comital title.
Danish title In 2008, the title of "Count of Monpezat" (
Greve af Monpezat) was conferred by the Queen on her and Prince Henrik's two sons, this as a genuine Danish
title of nobility and being hereditary to all legitimate descendants in the
male line. According to historian
Jon Bloch Skipper, the title granted in 2008 was unrelated to the original French noble title, but was a reference to Prince Henrik and his French lineage. On 28 September 2022, the
Royal Household announced that from 1 January 2023, the children of
Prince Joachim will no longer be titled Prince or Princess of Denmark, though their place in the
line of succession will be unaffected. This would leave Count or Countess of Monpezat as their most senior titles. The children will also lose the
style of
Highness, and they will instead be styled as
Excellency. Queen Margrethe II said that this would enable her grandchildren 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." ==List of counts of Monpezat==