Count Nikolai and Benedikte Thoustrup Elle Denmark interview: Royal couple on how they first met and living in Australia

Count Nikolai of Monpezat and his girlfriend Benedikte Thoustrup have taken their love story public by appearing on the cover of a magazine together for the first time.

The glamorous young couple, who split their time between Australia and Europe, spoke about how they first met, the unusual choice of location for their first date and what it was like for Thoustrup to meet Nikolai’s royal relatives.

In the interview with Elle Denmark, the 25-year-old said he and Thoustrup were friends before they started dating.

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They both attended the prestigious Herlufsholm School in Næstved, south of Copenhagen.

Some royal fans might see similarities between their love story and that of the Prince and Princess of Wales, who met at university and started dating only after they had been friends first.

Nikolai told the magazine: “Two years actually passed, where we just hung out as classmates and friends, but then something happened, and then it quietly developed into a lovely relationship”.

Thoustrup admitted she knew who Nikolai was before starting at the school one year after he began there in 2014.

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Nikolai is the eldest son of Prince Joachim and nephew of Denmark’s King Frederik X.

His grandmother, Queen Margrethe II, reigned for 52 years before she abdicated the throne in January, 2024, allowing her eldest son to take over alongside his Australian-born wife, Queen Mary.

Nikolai and Thoustrup went on their first date to a local 7-Eleven, during a school excursion.

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She said of the experience: “The gas station was the first time we chose to be together without there being a reason for it, for example an assignment that needed to be written.

“And yes, a soda in the tank, and I was sold,” Thoustrup added.

Nikolai said: “We could go back to the gas station and share a soda on our 10th anniversary. There are still two years [to go], but it could be a lot of fun.”

Thoustrup also revealed she had met Nikolai’s family, but did not go into too much detail about exactly who she has been introduced to.

“It was very easy to meet Nikolai’s family,” she said.

“It was of course fun to see a little more behind the scenes of some of the events that others don’t experience because the cameras are off.”

Last month, Count Nikolai and his brother Count Felix, 22, attended the 18th birthday celebrations of their cousin, Princess Isabella, at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen.

But Thoustrup was not included on the guest list as Danish girlfriends or boyfriends are usually only invited to royal events once they become engaged.

Overnight, the Danish royal household announced King Frederik had awarded the Grand Cross of the Order of the Dannebrog to Count Nikolai and Count Felix.

Royal seated front row at Fashion Week

Count Nikolai said he was “very honoured” as he was pictured alongside his uncle at the royal family’s Copenhagen home, Frederik VIII’s Palace.

They will soon get their own coat of arms to be hung in the Knight’s Chapel at Frederiksborg Castle in Hillerød following their admission into the chivalric order dating back centuries.

Elsewhere in the Elle interview, Nikolai and Thoustrup spoke about their hopes to live in New York City one day.

They have been living in Sydney on and off since 2023, when Nikolai enrolled at the University of Technology to complete a semester of a business degree.

Thoustrup previously lived in Australia on exchange in Alice Springs, NT and Armidale, NSW, before her time Down Under with Nikolai.

Earlier this month, they were guests at Australian Fashion Week.

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