10) Princess Mary, Denmark
Princess Mary is living proof that fairy tales can come true. A native of Hobart, Tasmania, this elegant 39-year-old was working at an Australian advertising agency in 2000 when she literally bumped into a handsome young man named “Fred” in a crowded Sydney pub. It wasn’t until a half hour later that a friend informed her that “Fred” was in fact Frederik, Crown Prince of Denmark.
The pair fell head over heels in love and were married four years later on May 14, 2004 in a lavish ceremony conducted at Copenhagen Cathedral. Mary has since become a beloved figure in Denmark where, according to a recent poll, 75 % of Danes believe she will make an excellent queen.
Mary, Crown Princess of Denmark, Countess of Monpezat was born 5 February 1972 in Hobart, Australia. She is the wife of Frederik, Crown Prince of Denmark. Frederik is the heir apparent to the throne of Denmark, which means that at the time Frederik inherits the throne, Mary will automatically become Queen consort of Denmark. The couple met at the Slip Inn, a pub in Sydney, when the prince was visiting Australia during the 2000 Summer Olympics. Their official engagement in 2003 and their marriage the following year were the subject of extensive attention from Australian and European news media, which portrayed the marriage as a modern “fairytale” romance between a prince and a commoner.
Mary Elizabeth Donaldson was born the youngest of the four children of mathematician and professor John Dalgleish Donaldson (born 5 September 1941) and his first wife, Henrietta “Etta” Clark Donaldson, née Horne, (12 May 1942 – 20 November 1997), both of whom were Scottish. She was named after her paternal and maternal grandmothers, Mary Dalgleish and Elizabeth Gibson Melrose.
Henrietta Donaldson, Mary’s mother, was executive assistant to the vice-chancellor of the University of Tasmania. In 2001, four years after her death, Mary’s father, Professor John Donaldson remarried. His second wife is fellow Briton, author and novelist Susan Elizabeth Donaldson, née Horwood, known by the pseudonym Susan Moody. Mary Donaldson was born and raised in Hobart. In childhood, she was heavily involved in sports and other extracurricular activities both at school and elsewhere. She studied piano, flute and clarinet, and played basketball and hockey. Her early love of horses led her to competition riding as a teenager, on her horse, Diana.
Mary began primary school in Clear Lake City, now Houston, Harris County, Texas, while her father was working there. On returning to Hobart, she attended Sandy Bay Infants School, Waimea Heights Primary School and then Taroona High School in Tasmania. She attended Waimea Heights Primary School from 1978 to 1982. Mary completed her secondary education at Taroona High School and Hobart Matriculation College. She studied at the University of Tasmania for five years. From 1989 to 1994 Mary completed a combined degree in Commerce and Law (BCom, LLB) at the University of Tasmania, and graduated on 27 May 1995. Between 1994 and 1996, Mary attended a graduate program and qualified with certificates in advertising from The Advertising Federation of Australia (AFA) and direct marketing from the Australian Direct Marketing Association (ADMA).
The crown princess’s mother tongue is English and Danish is her second language. She studied French during her secondary education. In 2002, she briefly tutored in English in Paris. On meeting Frederik, Crown Prince of Denmark she studied Danish as a foreign language at Studieskolen in 2003. While studying in Tasmania, Donaldson reportedly had a joint business interest in a company called Kingcash, with Brent Annells, with whom she had a seven-year relationship in the 1990s.
She worked for Australian and global advertising agencies after graduating in 1995. Upon graduation Mary moved to Melbourne to work in advertising. She became a trainee in marketing and communications with the Melbourne office of DDB Needham, taking a position of account executive. In 1996, Mary was employed by Mojo Partners as an account manager. In 1998, six months after her mother’s death, she resigned and travelled to America and Europe. In Edinburgh, she worked for three months as an account manager with Rapp Collins Worldwide; then, in early 1999, she was appointed as an account director with the international advertising agency Young & Rubicam in Sydney.
In June 2000, she moved to a smaller Australian agency, Love Branding, working for a short time as the company’s first account director. However, in the (Australian) spring of 2000 until December 2001, she became sales director and a member of the management team of Belle Property, a real estate firm specialising in luxury property. In the first half of 2002 Mary taught English at a business school in Paris but, on moving to Denmark permanently, she was employed by Microsoft Business Solutions (5 September 2002 – 24 September 2003) near Copenhagen as a project consultant for business development, communications and marketing.
Mary Donaldson met Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark at the Slip Inn during the 2000 Summer Olympics on 16 September in Sydney. He was previously identified by her friends as the Crown Prince of Denmark. They conducted a long-distance relationship by phone, email and letter and Frederik made a number of discreet visits to Australia. On 15 November 2001 the Danish weekly magazine Billed Bladet named Mary as Frederik’s girlfriend. Mary moved to Europe in December 2001, while she was working as an English tutor in Paris. On 24 September 2003 the Danish court announced that Queen Margrethe II intended to give her consent to the marriage at the State Council meeting scheduled for 8 October 2003. Frederik presented Mary with an engagement ring featuring an emerald-cut diamond and two emerald-cut ruby baguettes. The couple became officially engaged on 8 October 2003.
Mary Donaldson and Crown Prince Frederik married on 14 May 2004 in Copenhagen Cathedral, in Copenhagen. Mary wore a wedding gown designed by Danish designer Uffe Frank and had a small bridal party which included her two sisters and her friend Amber Petty, a radio announcer on commercial radio in Australia. Frederik was supported by his brother Prince Joachim. Three of Mary’s nieces, Erin and Kate Stephens and Madisson Woods, were flower girls; Frederik’s nephew Prince Nikolai of Denmark and first cousin once removed, Count Richard von Pfeil und Klein-Ellguth were pageboys. The wedding was celebrated in Copenhagen and at Fredensborg Palace. The couple reportedly spent their honeymoon in Africa.
The couple has four children:
Prince Christian Valdemar Henri John, born 15 October 2005
Princess Isabella Henrietta Ingrid Margrethe, born 21 April 2007
Prince Vincent Frederik Minik Alexander, born 8 January 2011
Princess Josephine Sophia Ivalo Mathilda, born 8 January 2011
The Danish Folketing (parliament) passed a special law (Mary’s Law) giving Mary Donaldson Danish citizenship upon her marriage, a standard procedure for new foreign members of the royal family. Mary was previously a dual-citizen of Australia and the United Kingdom. Formerly a Presbyterian, Mary became Lutheran. Shortly before entering the royal family, Mary signed a marriage agreement similar to those of her father-in-law and her former sister-in-law. The agreement was subsequently updated in late 2006. The details of these have never been made public, but it can be assumed that they deal with financial matters, royal status and custodial rights to the children in the event of a divorce.
The Crown Princess and her family currently reside at Frederik VIII’s Palace, one of the four palaces that make up the Amalienborg Palace complex. From May 2004 they have also resided at The Chancellery House, a building in the park at Fredensborg Palace.
HRH the Crown Princess of Denmark attends the wedding of the Crown Princess of Sweden. She is pictured here surrounded by Queen Máxima of the Netherlands; the Willem-Alexander, King of The Netherlands; Crown Princess of Norway; and Beatrix of the Netherlands, former queen regnant of The Netherlands. Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark stands at the far left.
Following the wedding, the couple embarked upon a summer working tour of mainland Denmark aboard the royal yacht Dannebrog, and then to Greenland and later the 2004 Athens Olympics. In 2005, during the celebrations for the 200th anniversary of Hans Christian Andersen, the royal family was involved in related events throughout the year. Frederik and Mary marked the anniversary in London, New York and in Australia, where Mary was made Honorary Hans Christian Andersen Ambassador to Australia in the Utzon Room of the Sydney Opera House. In 2005 the royal family visited Faroe Islands.
Since becoming Crown Princess of Denmark, Mary has made a number of international visits and Frederik and Mary participated in the reburial ceremonies for Empress Maria Feodorovna in Denmark and Saint Petersburg. In November 2009, Mary made a surprise visit to Danish soldiers in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. One of the Crown Princess’s stops was FOB Armadillo.
In the context of immigrant issues in Denmark, Mary has visited the disadvantaged migrant areas of Vollsmose (2006), Gellerup (2007), and Viborg (2010), and has participated in integration projects and to teach the Danish language to refugees. As patron of the Danish Refugee Council Mary visited Uganda (2008) and East Africa (2011) and supports fundraising for the region.
Mary is assisted by her ladies in waiting. Her first lady in waiting was English-speaking Countess Victoria Bernstorff-Gyldensteen. She then appointed her friend Caroline Heering as a lady in waiting. Tanya Doky later became lady in waiting, while Caroline Heering was assigned the role of Mary’s personal assistant. Mary has played an active role in promoting an anti-bullying program based on an Australian model through the auspices of Denmark’s Save the Children.
Mary is also involved in a new campaign to raise awareness and safe practices among Danes about skin cancer through The Danish Cancer Society. In September 2007 Mary formally established the Mary Foundation, with capital from public and private donations, to advance cultural diversity and encourage a sense of the right to belong and contribute to society for those who are socially isolated or excluded.
Mary was voted Woman of the Year 2008 by a Danish magazine, Alt for damerne. The Princess donated her cash reward to charity. She was interviewed by Parade Magazine (US) and television programs of Andrew Denton (Australia) and USA Today (USA). As a native English-speaker, Mary’s main priority from the time of her engagement was to master the Danish language. Mary has acknowledged that this was a challenge for her in several interviews at the time of her engagement and marriage.
If Frederik ascends the throne, Mary will be the first Australian-born woman to be a queen consort.
Mary is a godmother to:
Holger Reedtz-Thott, son of Mary’s friend, Baroness Helle Reedtz-Thott.
Josephine Fleming, daughter of Caroline and Rory Fleming.
His Highness Prince Henrik of Denmark, Count of Monpezat (Henrik Carl Joachim Alain), born 4 May 2009.
Konstantin Johannsmann (Konstantin Gustav Heinrich Richard), born 24 July 2010.
Her Royal Highness Princess Estelle, Duchess of Östergötland (Estelle Silvia Ewa Mary of Sweden), born 23 February 2012.
Mary is an active patron of Denmark’s third-highest-earning export industry, the fashion industry. She has been named one of the world’s most fashionable people in Vanity Fair’s annual International Best-Dressed List and has posed and given interviews for magazines including Vogue Australia (where she used pieces of foreign designers, such as Hugo Boss, Prada, Louis Vuitton or Gaultier, and Danish designers, as Malene Birger and Georg Jensen), Dansk (Danish Magazine, dedicated to Danish fashion), German Vogue (where was photographed between pieces of Danish modern art in Amalienborg Palace). Mary also posed for other magazines during her life as a royal, such as Women’s Weekly Australia magazine (to which she spoke in several occasions about her life as a royal and her family) and Parade Magazine. Her elegance was praised by designer Tommy Hilfiger.
Since 2004 Crown Princess Mary has steadily worked to establish her relationships with various organisations, their issues, missions, programmes and staff. Mary’s patronages range across areas of culture, the fashion industry, humanitarian aid, support for research and science, social and health patronages and sport (golf and swimming). The organisations for which she is patron have reported positive outcomes through their relationship with Mary and there are various reports in the Danish media and on some of the websites of the organisations themselves about Mary being quite involved in her working relationship with them. Mary is currently involved in supporting anti-obesity programs through the World Health Organization, Regional Office for Europe.
Mary’s current patronages include cultural organisations, the Danish fashion industry humanitarian aid, research and science, social, health and humanitarian organisations and sporting organisations. Crown Princess Mary is also an Honorary Life Governor of the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute based at the Garvan Institute/St Vincent’s Hospital, Sydney, a member of the International Committee of Women Leaders for Mental Health and a member of various sporting clubs (riding, golf and yachting). In June 2010, it was announced that Crown Princess Mary has become Patron of UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, “to support the agency’s work to promote maternal health and safer motherhood in more than 150 developing nations”. Mary lends her support to a number of other ‘one-off’ Danish causes, industry events and international conferences. In 2011, the Westmead Cancer Centre at Westmead Hospital in Sydney was renamed the Crown Princess Mary Cancer Care Centre Westmead.
On 11 September 2007 Crown Princess Mary announced the establishment of the Mary Foundation at the inaugural meeting at Amalienborg Palace. The initial funds of DKK 1.1 million were collected in Denmark and Greenland and donated to Frederik and Mary as a wedding gift in 2004. Crown Princess Mary is the chairwoman of eight trustees. The Mary Foundation aims to improve lives compromised by environment, heredity, illness or other circumstances which can isolate or exclude people socially.
Titles and styles
- Miss Mary Elizabeth Donaldson from 5 February 1972 to 9 May 2004.
- Her Excellency Mary Elizabeth Donaldson from 9 May 2004 to 14 May 2004.
- Her Royal Highness The Crown Princess of Denmark from 14 May 2004 – 29 April 2008
- 29 April 2008 – present: Her Royal Highness The Crown Princess of Denmark, Countess of Monpezat
- Her official title in Danish is Hendes Kongelige Højhed Kronprinsesse Mary af Danmark, Grevinde af Monpezat. The title of Countess of Monpezat is not a substantive title, which means that Mary is not the Countess of Monpezat, but rather Countess Mary of Monpezat, a count’s wife.
Danish honours and decorations
- Denmark Knight of the Order of the Elephant (R.E.)
- Denmark 11 June 2009: Commemorative 75th Birthday Medal of His Royal Highness The Prince Consort
- Denmark 16 April 2010: Commemorative 70th Birthday Medal of Her Majesty The Queen
- Denmark 14 January 2012: Commemorative Ruby Jubilee Medal of Her Majesty The Queen
Foreign decoration
She was awarded:
- Brazil: Grand Cross of the Order of the Southern Cross of Brazil (2007)
- Bulgaria: First Class of the Order of Stara Planina (2006)
- Finland : Grand Cross of the Order of the White Rose
- Greece: Grand Cross of the Order of Beneficence
- Norway: Grand Cross of the Order of Saint Olav
- Sweden : Commander Grand Cross of the Order of the Polar Star
With the marriage in 2004, the Crown Princess Mary was honoured with the Order of the Elephant, and her father John Dalgleish Donaldson with the Order of the Dannebrog. In accordance with the statutes of the Danish Royal Orders, both the Crown Princess and her father were granted a personal coat of arms, this for display in the Chapel of the Royal Orders at Frederiksborg Castle. The main field of the Crown Princess’ coat of arms is or tinctured and shows a gules MacDonald eagle and a Sable tinctured boat both symbolising her Scottish ancestry. The chief field is azure tinctured and shows two gold Commonwealth Stars from the Coat of arms of Australia, and a gold rose in between, depicted as her personal symbol. Above the shield is placed the heraldic crown of a Crown Prince of Denmark.
The coat of arms of her father is almost identical to that of the Crown Princess, but a gold infinity symbol is depicted (symbolising his career as an Australian mathematician), instead of the gold Rose. Above his shield is instead placed a barred helmet topped with a gules rampant lion, which is turned outward. The lion is derived from the Scottish coat of arms and also from the arms of Tasmania and Hobart. Both coats of arms were approved in 2006 and placed in the Chapel of the Royal Orders in 2007.
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