Denmark's Queen Margrethe is discharged from hospital after a fall

COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Denmark’s Queen Margrethe II, who stunned her country by abdicating earlier this year, has been discharged from a hospital after a fall earlier this week caused “damage around the neck vertebrae as well as a fracture of the left hand,” the palace said Friday.

The 84-year-old queen has her left hand in plaster and will wear a stiff neck collar in the months to come, the palace said.

Margrethe was admitted late Wednesday to the university hospital in Copenhagen for observation after falling in the evening at Fredensborg Castle, north of the Danish capital.

The royal household said in a statement that the mother of King Frederik X was “in good spirits and is doing well” but “will, however, be in recovery for a longer period of time.”

Margrethe was back at Fredensborg Castle, the palace said, adding several of her public engagements have been cancelled.

In January, Queen Margrethe became Denmark’s first monarch to abdicate in nearly 900 years when she passed the throne to her son.

She always maintained during her 52-year reign that she wouldn’t quit, but back surgery and several ailments left her unable to undertake as much as she could in the past. “Time takes its toll,” she said, when announcing her plans to abdicate in a New Year’s address that stunned the kingdom.