Eight years after the death of Prince Henrik of Denmark, his grandson Count Nicholas has spoken for the first time about what it means to lose a grandfather while the world around you demands you carry on as if nothing happened. Henrik died in February 2018, and just a day after the funeral, the young count was already in London - at a Burberry fashion show, returning to Denmark two days later.

That very image reveals the truth behind the royal titles. While the public mourned a prince consort, for Nicholas the loss was more intimate and simpler. 'Many people probably felt they had lost their prince consort, but for me - I only lost my grandfather,' he says. A sentence anyone who has buried someone close understands without translation.

What the young count describes most honestly is the split few dare admit out loud: how to stay whole when today you're waiting on a runway, and the day before yesterday you stood beside a coffin. 'It's hard to keep the balance between being euphoric and sad, then euphoric again,' Nicholas admits. Royal or not, grief keeps no schedule.

For the family, Henrik was clearly more than a ceremonial figure. Nicholas describes him as a unifying presence - the man everyone gathered around, old and young alike. It's figures like that who, once gone, leave a void that isn't filled by inheritance or a title, but felt at every family gathering that afterward seems a little less complete.

The way he keeps the memory is quiet, without spectacle. Nicholas recreates shared photographs from the past, especially at the Château de Cayx vineyard in the south of France, the place his grandfather loved. Not a post for the cameras, but a personal ritual - returning to the same spot to feel that someone is still present. Sometimes the greatest tribute to someone isn't a monument, but one repeated walk through the vineyard he planted.