Mary 40: Mary is a Professional Princess & Major Draw

Straight out of journalist Nynne Hein Møller and Laura Juul's arses, fluff, untruths and smears on other women just to make Mary look good. This, from the nation's most serious and respected broadsheet? They are totally in Daisy's back pocket. If the monarchy goes down - conventional wisdom says - the economy and the whole system goes down. Hooey! But Berlingske's editors will make sure that Mary is sold and that no one see that the future empress has no clothes. These gals probably told themselves as they emailed this story to each other, building it up as they went, grit your teeth and enjoy the satire! Same for you, dear reader!

Article: 03 February Berlingske.dk article

A Professional Princess and Major Draw

Sunday, Denmark's Crown Princess turns 40. And Danes can be proud of Mary and her many attractive qualities.

Not only that she is the mother of four young children. She is also Denmark's crown princess and future queen. A profession that might scare most people.

But not the birthday girl Mary, who on Sunday turns 40 years old, and who has taken on this difficult task in a highly professional manner. This is the judgment, at least from Lars Hovebakke Sørensen, royal family expert and lecturer in history at the University of Copenhagen.

"The biggest surprise about Mary was that she initially acted as professionally as crown princess, with no royal experience. Like Margaret, she has taken her royal role very seriously," he says.

Mary to fashion fair

The Danes first heard about the future Crown Princess, as she appeared in magazines some 11 years ago after Crown Prince Frederik had met an Australian woman when he was in Sydney for the Olympics in 2000. The woman turned out to be named Mary Donaldson, the youngest of four siblings from Tasmania and a law and commerce graduate.

In 2002, she moved to Denmark and in October 2003 it was official: The couple became engaged, and Mary Donaldson would be, on the 14th of May 2004, Denmark's Crown Princess.

And the very fact that Mary has an ordinary, bourgeois background, doing otherwise she could have had a hard time role as Crown Princess. So says Klaus Kjøller, associate professor of communications at the University of Copenhagen.

"She has built a strong brand, just by not making some mistakes. A few things from her past have not even popped up that have ruined the image of her. And it may well otherwise be a big problem when a bourgeois becomes elevated to royal, as they may have a past that pops up, as for example, we have seen with the Norwegian Crown Princess," he says.

The Norwegian Crown Princess Mette-Marit was a single mother and had reportedly circulating in drug circles in 2000 when she was introduced as a future Norwegian crown princess. It was then difficult for many Norwegians to privateers.

Another significant thing about Crown Princess Mary is her great commitment to the work as a royal. Both Sørensen and Klaus Kjøller roses as her appearance at public events.

"She is always well prepared for meetings up to the events she participates in. Her work also has a broad span: she is interested in health, diseases, conditions of children and fashion, all of which are specific issues that she has cultivated," says Sørensen.

And Klaus Kjøller agrees.

"She has a special kind of presence at events, and she seems to be at her best when she receives bouquets and listens to people. She is also good at improvising, and may be walking out of the tight, cordoned off route to greet a specially dedicated child she lost in the crowd," he says.

A deviation from the choreographed route happened when the Crown Prince was on an official visit to Australia. An Australian journalist who reported on the Crown Princess's visit to Sydney was at a walkabout in a Sydney park. The journalist said on live TV that "this is the closest we'll come to the royal couple." Mary heard it, stopped, went over to the journalist, patted her on the shoulder and said with a big smile: "No, it's not the closest you'll get".

Fashion Week kicked off with Crown Princess visits

The Royal House says that the royal birthday will not be marked in public. The Crown Princess' round day will also be quickly replaced by a new birthday in the royal family. Monday will be the big day for her sister-in-law, Princess Marie, at 36 years old.