He’s true blue! Hunky Danish royal Count Nikolai celebrates his 24th birthday with beers in Byron Bay with his bikini-clad girlfriend

Princess Mary’s cousin, Count Nikolai of Denmark, is currently enjoying a semester on exchange in Australia.

And the handsome prince enjoyed the country’s natural resources on Saturday when he headed to Byron Bay beach for his 24th birthday.

Along with his bikini-clad girlfriend Benedicht Thoustrup and a group of friends, Nikolai seemed in a good mood as he went for a swim and a beer on the shore.

The group then broke out the football for a kick around the grass.

Designer Benedicht, who accompanies Nikolai on his semester-long journey Down Under, made sure all eyes were on her as she strolled around in her black two-piece.

Nikoali, meanwhile, showed off his slim physique in striped board shorts.

At times, the couple could be seen getting cozy in the surf, while Nikolai playfully hugged the brunette from behind.

The couple lives together in Copenhagen, but moved to Sydney at the beginning of August for his studies. The pair will leave in November.

Nikolai, whose father is Prince Joachim of Denmark, is seventh in line to the Danish throne.

In March, Count Nikolai of Denmark launched a new Instagram account to promote his modeling career after being stripped of his ‘HRH’ status by his grandmother, Queen Margrethe.

It has been a tumultuous year for the Danish royal family after the monarch controversially usurped the title of Prince Joachim’s eldest son, as well as the titles of Prince and Princess from his younger children Athena, 11, Prince Felix, 20, and Prince Henrik. 13.

They are now Earls and Countess and are referred to as Their Excellencies – and in January this year, the Danish Royal Family updated their website to reflect the new status.

The Queen stressed that this step will be “good for them in their future” and will allow the children – who have retained their position in the line of succession – to “shape their own lives without being constrained by the special considerations and duties’ that a formal government entails. affiliation with the Danish royal family.

After his grandmother’s decision to strip him and his siblings of their titles “for their own good,” Count Nikolai said he was sad, shocked and confused.

“My whole family and I are of course very sad. We are, as my parents have also stated, shocked by this decision and by how quickly it has happened,” he told the Danish newspaper Extrabladet.

“I’m very confused as to why this has to happen,” he told reporters outside the Copenhagen apartment where he lives with his girlfriend.

Countess Alexandra, mother of Count Nikolai and Count Felix, was also “very sad” and “shocked” about the decision.

“She can’t believe why and why now, because there’s no good reason,” Helle von Wildenrath Løvgreen, Countess Alexandra’s press secretary told CNN.

“They would lose their titles anyway if they got married one day.

“Her sons are young men, so maybe they’ll get married in the near future, so why not wait until that day, so the titles would disappear one lucky day?”

Prince Joachim told Ekstra Bladet that his children were ‘hurt’ by the decision – claiming he was only given a few days to break the news to them before the announcement was made publicly.

Prince Joachim, the brother of Frederik, Crown Prince of Denmark, is now married to Princess Marie of Denmark.