On 27 February 1971, at Lyngby, Denmark, Christian married Anne Dorte Maltoft-Nielsen (3 October 1947 in Frederikssund – 2 January 2014 in Copenhagen) who thus became "Her Excellency Countess Anne Dorte of Rosenborg". Although lacking the prior royal assent of the monarch given in the Council of State that the law required, the king expressed no personal opposition to his nephew's choice of bride and, according to Christian, the king's private consent later had to be formally registered by the King-in-Council. In a 1985 interview with "Billed-Bladet", Count Christian had explained (translated from Danish):