“On Wednesday evening, Queen Margrethe was admitted to the hospital after a fall, which unfortunately resulted in an injury concerning the vertebrae of the neck as well as a fracture in the left hand,” the palace said in a statement.

The 84-year-old’s hand is in a plaster cast and she will wear a stiff neck collar in the coming months, it added.

The queen was discharged from the hospital today and was back in her home at Fredensborg Palace, it said.

Margrethe, who retained her title after passing the throne to her eldest son Frederik, “is in good spirits and is doing well under the circumstances”.

She “will, however, be in recovery for a longer period of time”, the palace said.

Margrethe is hugely popular among Danes for subtly modernising the Danish monarchy during her half-century on the throne.

She had long vowed that she would never abdicate, but a major back surgery in 2023 led to a change of heart.

The operation “gave cause to thoughts about the future – whether now would be an appropriate time to pass on the responsibility to the next generation”, she said in her shock abdication announcement on New Year’s Eve.