Why is that?
In 1919 a law was passed that abolished the old system of entailed estates (majorats), which in Danish is associated with the word "Len" - hence the titles Lensgreve and Lensbaron. In each family there was only one Count (= Greve) or Baron at a time who had such a Len title, i.e. the one person who possessed the castle, so to speak. When this system was abolished in 1919, it was decided that the title of Lensgreve/Lensbaron could still be used by the living head of the family for the remainder of his life and in due course be passed on to the two people who successively would have inherited the entailed estate under the old rules. This meant, in other words, that the head of the family could go on using his old title, which upon his death would pass to his eldest son - and later to the eldest son of the eldest son. Future generations would only be allowed to use the ordinary titles of Count or Baron.
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