Queen Mary of Denmark, who recently returned to royal engagements after her brief illness, attended the Realdania's conference Our Quality of Life at the Lokomotivvaerkstedet in Copenhagen.
Related: Queen Mary returns to Royal duties with smile after brief illness
During the event, held in Thursday, the Danish queen delivered a surprise speech about the complexities of parenthood.
"'Overall, how satisfied are you with your life right now?vThis is one of the questions behind the comprehensive study of quality of life that Realdania is publishing today (and which you are reading),” she began.
The queen, who shares four teenage children with her husband King Frederik, then shifted her focus to parenthood.
"How many people here have children? You know the joys – and sorrows – of parenthood,” she said.
The Queen further continued, "Studies show – to my great surprise – that new parents' happiness in life drops quite significantly and only levels out when the children move away from home. Yet we would never trade our children for anything… almost never.”
"Having children is a good example of how meaning in life does not always coincide with the greatest possible joy in life,” she added.
Queen Mary is the mother to four children, Crown Prince Christian, Princess Isabella and twins Prince Vincent and Princess Josephine.
Related: Queen Mary breaks silence with important message after health issue
