All About King Frederik and Queen Mary of Denmark’s Royal Love Story

King Frederik and Queen Mary may be the new King and Queen of Denmark, but their royal love story has much more humble beginnings.

Their relationship began in the most unlikely place: a pub in Sydney, Australia’s Darling Harbour, thousands of miles from Denmark. Then-Prince Frederik was in town for the 2000 Olympics and first laid eyes on Australian-born Mary Donaldson at Sydney’s Slip Inn. The royal, who introduced himself simply as “Fred”, struck up a conversation with Mary, a 28-year-old advertising executive from Tasmania, and the rest was history.

“Something clicked,” Mary said of the night they met in a 2005 interview. “It wasn’t fireworks in the sky or anything like that, but there was a sense of excitement.”

That excitement developed into a secret long-distance romance, and by 2003, Mary had moved to Denmark and Queen Margrethe had given her consent for the couple to become engaged. They had a royal wedding in May 2004 in Copenhagen, making Mary a member of one of the oldest monarchies in the world.

“I don’t remember wishing to be a princess one day,” Mary once said. “I wanted to be a veterinarian.”

Meet the Danish Royal Family: Your Guide to the Family Tree of the Danish Monarchy

After being known as Crown Princess Mary for almost 20 years, she is now Queen Consort of Denmark. Queen Margrethe announced in her New Year’s address on 31 December 2023 that she would abdicate the throne in January, making Frederik and his wife the new king and queen of the Scandinavian nation. And although Queen Margrethe, 83, cited health issues as the reason for abdicating, royal commentators believed it was an attempt to strengthen Frederik and Mary’s relationship after rumors of an affair surfaced in November 2023.

Suggestions of infidelity emerged after Spanish media published photos of then-Prince Frederik with philanthropist, model and TV personality Geneveva Casanova during his private trip to Madrid in October 2023. However, Casanova denied allegations of a romance between her and the heir to the throne. , calling them “completely untrue”.

After Queen Margrethe’s decision to abdicate the throne (which she held for 52 years), King Frederik and Queen Mary ushered in a new era in the Danish monarchy. Although they will not have a coronation, the couple – who have four children – assumed their new titles of king and queen with a proclamation on January 14.

From their unexpected meeting to their royal romance, here’s everything you need to know about King Frederik and Queen Mary’s love story.

They met in a pub in Sydney in 2000

Crown Prince Frederik and Mary Elizabeth Donaldson in August 2002.

KELD NAVNTOFT/SCANPIX/AFP/Getty

Frederik and Mary’s royal love story began far from Danish palaces — in a local bar in Sydney.

The then prince traveled to Sydney in September 2000 to support the Danish sailing team at the Summer Olympics. While there, the then 32-year-old royal visited a pub called the Slip Inn in Sydney’s Darling Harbor – and met Mary Donaldson, a 28-year-old advertising executive originally from Tasmania.

The two hit it off, but when Mary first met Frederik – who introduced himself only as “Fred” – she had no idea he was royalty.

“The first time we met or shook hands, I didn’t know he was the Crown Prince of Denmark,” Mary revealed in a 2003 interview. 60 Minutes Australia. “It was maybe half an hour or so later that someone came up to me and said, ‘Do you know who these people are?’ ”

Frederik asked for Maria’s phone number that evening and a romance began between the two.

“From the first moment we started talking, we never stopped talking,” Mary said 60 Minutes Australia. “It really established a strong relationship to begin with.”

They had a long distance relationship for almost two years

Crown Princess Mary of Denmark and Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark at a reception at Buckingham Palace for foreign guests ahead of the coronation of King Charles III. and Queen Camilla on May 5, 2023 in London, England.

Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty

The king and queen spent the first two years of their romance in a long-distance relationship, with the Danish royal secretly traveling to Australia to visit Mary. The couple also managed to keep their relationship out of the public eye for over a year until a Danish tabloid revealed in November 2001 that they were an item.

“It was one of those relationships where we slowly became closer to each other despite the geographical distance,” said Frederik in an interview with 60 Minutes Australia in 2003.

Their long distance relationship lasted until early 2002 when Mary moved from Sydney to Copenhagen. In addition to moving halfway around the world, she also converted to the Lutheran Church and began learning Danish (a notoriously difficult language to learn).

They announced their engagement in October 2003

Crown Prince Frederik shows off the engagement ring on Mary Donaldson’s hand on October 8, 2003.

KELD NAVNTOFT/AFP/Getty

In October 2003, three years after their first meeting at the Slip Inn, Frederik and Mary announced their engagement. Prince Frederik proposed with an emerald-cut diamond surrounded by a pair of ruby ​​baguettes, an obvious nod to the colors of the Danish flag.

They got married on May 14, 2004

Prince Frederik and Princess Mary Elizabeth Donaldson leave Copenhagen Cathedral on May 14, 2004.

SVEN NACKSTRAND/AFP/Getty

The future King Frederik and Queen Mary were married on May 14, 2004 in Copenhagen Cathedral, with a reception at Fredensborg Palace. For the royal wedding, Mary wore a long-sleeved ball gown by Danish designer Uffe Frank, a veil first worn by Sweden’s Crown Princess Margareta in 1905, and a tiara gifted to her by her new parents, Queen Margrethe and Prince Henrik, according to Vogue Australia.

Mary’s personal history was also reflected in her wedding ensemble: she carried a bouquet decorated with eucalyptus, a tribute to her native Australia, and her late mother’s engagement ring was sewn into her wedding dress, per Vogue Australia. (Her mother died in 1997 of complications from heart surgery.)

“I love her and will protect her with all my heart,” Frederik vowed in his wedding speech.

They have four children together

Denmark’s Crown Prince and his family during a visit to the village of Mikladalur on August 24, 2018.

Ole Jensen/Corbis/Getty

The royal couple has four children: Prince Christian, Princess Isabella, Prince Vincent and Princess Josephine.

They welcomed their eldest child, Prince Christian, on October 15, 2005. As the couple’s first-born child, he is currently first in line to the Danish throne.

Princess Isabella was born on April 21, 2007. She is now second in line to the Danish throne, behind her older brother.

All about the four children of Crown Prince Frederik and Princess Mary

Frederik and Mary then welcomed twins, Prince Vincent and Princess Josephine, on 8 January 2011. They are currently third and fourth in line to the throne, as Vincent was born just minutes before his twin sister.

While four children certainly keep King Frederik and Queen Mary busy, they still manage to find time for each other as a couple – even if that time is family time.

“Time becomes more precious when you have children,” said Mary Berlingske Tiende 2008. “It’s not like you lose each other because you’re with children. It’s just a different way to be together and that’s the best part of it all.”

Queen Mary has revealed that a tarot card reader has predicted her royal future

Denmark’s Crown Princess Mary seen arriving at the Danish Parliament on October 1, 2019.

Ole Jensen/Getty

Frederik and Mary’s meeting in a bar in Sydney may have been a coincidence, but Mary later discovered that a tarot card reader had predicted her royal future before she ever laid eyes on the king.

Mary was visiting a flea market in Sydney when she saw a fortune teller and decided to try it. After drawing her cards, the fortuneteller told Mary that she would meet a man from abroad, become famous and move to Europe.

“So I left there and thought, ‘Well, yes, it was a lot of fun, but nothing more,'” Mary told Jens Andersen (author of Under the Barauthorized biography of King Frederik), according to a Danish newspaper Kristeligt Dagblad.

Mary continued, “But I’ve always been interested in the spiritual. In mystery and destiny.”

They returned to the Olympic Games several times

Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary during a preliminary basketball game at the Olympic Basketball Hall in Beijing, China, 10 August 2008.

Alain BENAINOUS/Gamma-Rapho/Getty

The Olympics brought Frederik and Mary together and they have returned to the event several times since their first meeting in 2000.

The Danish royal couple has attended almost every Olympic Games since their fateful meeting in Sydney. They traveled to Athens in 2004 (just a few months after their wedding), Turin in 2006, Beijing in 2008, Vancouver in 2010, London in 2012, Sochi in 2014 and Rio de Janeiro in 2016.

King Frederik was also accepted into the International Olympic Committee in 2009 and had Olympic hopes of his own when he considered trying out for Denmark’s 1996 Olympic sailing team.

“If I had dropped everything I was doing, yes, if I had spent four years training for it, then I could have done it,” he said of his Olympic ambitions. “Instead, I plunged into a different life, so no, I don’t regret it.”

They were proclaimed King and Queen of Denmark on January 14, 2024

IDA MARIE ODGAARD/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP via Getty Images

Queen Margrethe — the longest-reigning monarch in Denmark’s history — announced at the end of 2023 that she would step down from the throne after serving as queen for more than five decades. As a result, Frederik and Mary were proclaimed King and Queen of Denmark on 14 January, which was also the 52nd anniversary of Margrethe’s accession to the throne.

The news about the announcement of Queen Margrethe’s abdication was a shock for the Danes, they say The Telegraph, since she had previously made it known that she intended to rule for life. She is the first Danish sovereign to abdicate in almost 900 years, according to a press release from the Danish Royal House.

Queen Margrethe was not the only one to make history with her abdication: Mary is now the first queen to be born in Australia.

Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education