It was Girl Meets Boy, a classic Australian love story set in a Sydney pub. Girls marry boys. The girl lives happily ever after.
But in September 2000, when Mary Donaldson, then a 28-year-old real estate worker from Tasmania, met ‘Fred’, also known as Frederik, Crown Prince of Denmark, at a slip-in, she Suddenly I found myself in a completely different situation. fairy tale.
“When we first met and shook hands, I didn’t know he was the Crown Prince of Denmark,” Mary said in a 2003 interview. “Maybe after about 30 minutes, someone came up to me and said, ‘Do you know who these people are?’
Crown Princess Mary, 51, will become Denmark’s next queen this month, more than 23 years after Queen Margrethe II announced her abdication in a New Year’s Day speech. Her husband of Mary became Frederick X.
She is internationally acclaimed among royal watchers for her unique sense of personal style and outspoken commitment to progressive causes such as climate change advocacy, sustainability, and women’s and children’s rights. It has been.
In Denmark she is worshiped. And in her native Australia, the Tasmanian princess’s unlikely story has made headlines for decades, with the Danish royal family member and her proud wardrobe making headlines. It’s here.
In fact, Mary long ago renounced her Australian (and British, through her Scottish parents) citizenship. She speaks fluent Danish, with only a hint of her original accent retained. But in Australia, she is celebrated as a local treasure.
“Princess Mary is a wonderful ambassador for Tasmania,” Tasmanian Premier Jeremy Rockliffe said in a recent statement. He added: “We are very proud.”
Her upcoming succession to the throne only increases that interest and pride. A recent headline on the front page of the national newspaper The Australian read: “Long live Mary, our Queen Frannie living the fairytale dream.” (“Frannie” is Australian slang for a casual flannel shirt often worn on farms and in the workplace. Mary loved it in her youth.)
British media references to her Scottish roots and attempts to recast her as “Mary Queen of Scots” sparked scathing commentary in Australia. The Melbourne Age reported this week: “Not happy with her country’s royal family, British newspapers are trying to claim Denmark’s next queen, Crown Princess Mary, as one of her country’s royal family.” It was reported.
The British royal family is technically Australian, as the British head of state, King Charles III, is also the monarch of Australia. But most Australians are ambivalent about this at best. Recent polls show just 35% of Australians are committed to retaining the British monarch in the long term.
But that republican leaning doesn’t apply to Mary, who is seen as relatable and down-to-earth. “Mary’s relentless abandonment of drama, passionate commitment to causes in the public interest, and truly rare advocacy of the LGBTQ+ community in Denmark and beyond” will attract even the most ardent anti-monarchists, the Australian said. commentator Van Badham wrote in a recent column for the Guardian.
And then there’s the unlikely backstory. When Mary and Frederick met, Frederick was visiting Sydney for the Olympics. One of the people he was with asked an Australian friend to come with him to the pub. The friend brought her sister, her sister brought her friend, and her sister brought her roommate Mary.
In a 2003 interview with 60 Minutes Australia, Mary said of Frederick, “From the first moment we started talking, we never stopped talking.” The story goes that she gave him her own phone number and he called her the next day. A not-so-secret relationship followed, culminating in their marriage in 2004.
Mary was born in Hobart, the capital of the southern Australian island state of Tasmania, the daughter of a mathematics professor and an executive assistant. “I was the T-shirt and shorts girl, known for walking barefoot,” she said in a recent interview with the Financial Times. Although she attended public schools, rode horses, played sports, and otherwise had an unremarkable upbringing, she studied law and commerce at university and decided to pursue a career in advertising. moved to Melbourne and then Sydney.
Shortly after getting engaged in 2003, she told reporters: “I don’t remember ever thinking that I wanted to be a princess someday. I wanted to be a veterinarian.”
A recent poll commissioned by Denmark’s public radio station DR found that Mary is extremely popular among Danes, who admire her hard work, professionalism and Danish language skills, with an approval rating of 85 percent, ahead of her peers. more than many members of the royal family.
“She looked very professional as the crown princess from day one,” said Danish royal expert Lars Hobbacke Sorensen. “This is something Danes value very much. The fact that you can see the royal family working hard and being involved in the things that they’re involved in.”
He added: “She has become so popular that in recent years one might even say that her role has needed to be downplayed a little. She is, therefore, overshadowed by the Crown Prince, who is destined to become a monarch one day.” I wouldn’t risk dropping it.”
Australians also love Mary’s great work. But for many, part of her magic lies in the sheer improbability of an Australian monarch whose path to the throne began in a grimy inner-city pub, Ms Badham said in her column. wrote.
“It wasn’t God who put her there,” she writes, “but it was a warm Sydney night…and a slip-in.”