By Johannes Birkebaek COPENHAGEN (Reuters) – Denmark’s Queen Margrethe II on Thursday defied a cold spell to ride through the streets of Copenhagen in a gold-coated horse carriage for the last time as monarch before handing over the throne to her son Crown Prince Frederik next week. The 83-year-old queen, who was crowned in 1972, announced on live TV during her traditional New Year’s Eve speech that she intends to abdicate the throne, taking many in the country of 5.9 million people by surprise. “I was shocked when I saw the queen abdicated. I was also a bit sad because she’s been queen for 52…