Denmark: Queen Margrethe to undergo knee replacement surgery

Denmark: Queen Margrethe to undergo knee replacement surgery

The monarch told reporters during a visit to Athens that she will cut short her travels to southern Europe to have the surgery next week at a hospital in Aarhus in western Denmark, DR said.

The 66-year-old monarch met Greek President Karolos Papoulias Wednesday at the start of a three-day visit to Greece. She said she had planned to spend next week on board the palace's ship in the Mediterranean Sea after her visit ends Friday, but will now return to Denmark on Monday.

Margrethe has struggled with knee problems for a long time, but it was unclear whether her condition had worsened during her Greece visit, the AP reports.

Margrethe, who is the older sister of Greece's former Queen Anne-Marie, also met with Pope Benedict XVI in a private audience in Rome last week.