It’s a big week for the Danish royal family as it prepares for the first abdication of a monarch in six centuries. But before that moment of history, there’s the small matter of a prince and princess becoming teenagers.

Yes, with just days to go until they become King and Queen of Denmark, Frederik and Mary have also seen their two youngest children reach those teenage years.

Prince Vincent and Princess Josephine mark their thirteenth birthdays on January 8th 2024 and in a week that is set to be marked by many special images, Denmark’s royals have kicked off with a portrait of the twins on their big day.

Vincent and Josephine’s entry into adolescence is marked with an official photo that shows them looking rather grown up and very smart – they are about to become the children of a monarch after all.

Their birthdays come just six days ahead of their father’s accession as Denmark’s first king in over fifty years.

Vincent Frederik Minik Alexander was born at 10.30am on January 8th 2011 at the Rigshospitalet in Copenhagen. His sister, Josephine Sophia Ivalo Mathilde, arrived 26 minutes later, at 10.56am. They are currently fourth and fifth in line to the throne behind their father and their older brother, Christian, and sister, Isabella, but all that is about to change.

The abdication of their grandmother, Margrethe II, on January 14 2024, in a Council of State meeting that starts at 2pm Danish time will turn their father into King Frederik X. From that moment, they will be third and fourth in line to the throne.

A week of history and celebration in Denmark just got off to a rather special start.