Met the future king in a pub

Born in Hobart, Australia, on February 5th, 1972, Mary Donaldson was working as an advertising executive in Australia when she met the then 34-year-old Frederik while out with friends at Sydney’s Slip Inn bar, during the summer Olympics in 2000.

She only discovered later that he was the crown prince of Denmark and his group of friends was made up of other European royals– including his younger brother Prince Joachim and cousin Prince Nikolaos of Greece and Denmark.

“The first time we met, we shook hands,” she said in an interview several years ago.

“I didn’t know he was the prince of Denmark. Half an hour later, someone came up to me and said, ‘Do you know who these people are?'”

Frederik meanwhile told daily Kristeligt Dagblad that meeting Mary was “not only a rush of love, but also the feeling of having met my soulmate.”

After a discreet long-distance relationship and numerous under-the-radar visits, the couple became officially engaged in October 2003 and married on May 14th, 2004 in Copenhagen Cathedral.

They are now parents to four children: Crown Prince Christian, 18, who will one day become king after his father, Princess Isabella, 16, and twins Prince Vincent and Princess Josephine,13.

Language skills

Mary made a splash in Denmark from the start, impressing the public with her ability to learn the Danish language quickly. By 2007, she was regularly speaking to members of the public and answering journalists’ questions in carefully-pronounced Danish.

She also won over her mother-in-law immediately.

“I have to say that the first time (Frederik) allowed me to meet her, I hoped it would last,” Queen Margrethe recalled in a 2015 interview.

“For the almost 20 years that she has been a member of the royal family, the crown princess has widened and perfected her role as spokesperson and PR official for the royal family, Denmark, and her chosen causes,” the daily Berlingske wrote about her.

Charity work and ‘modern’ choices

She is known for her work to fight bullying, domestic violence and social isolation, as well as promoting mental health and women’s rights.

King Frederik and Queen Mary, during their time as the crown prince and princess, were seen as a modern couple, evidenced by an apparent love of pop music, modern art and sports. Their first-born, Crown Prince Christian, was the first Danish royal to attend daycare.

They “do not represent a potential revolution compared to the queen”, but a careful transition adapting to the times, historian Sebastian Olden-Jørgensen told news wire AFP ahead of King Frederik’s accession to the throne in January 2024.

Mary has made regular visits back to Australia with her husband and children over the years, where she is keenly followed by the media in her home country.

She is as popular as the king and Queen Margrethe

In a poll carried out by Epinion in early 2024 on behalf of Danish public broadcaster DR, Queen Margrethe and Queen Mary had a whopping 89 percent support among Danes, with King Frederik just behind on 86 percent. 

READ ALSO: ‘Insanely popular’: Why are the Danish royals so important to Danes?

“Some people think my husband is a bit in my shadow because I’m very much in the spotlight and I have a lot of engagements,” she said in a 2017 authorised biography of then-Crown Prince Frederik.

“But he’ll never be in my shadow, and I’ll never be in his shadow, because he reflects light on me,” she said.

She is sometimes compared to Britain’s Crown Princess Kate for her sense of fashion style and long dark locks, regularly making the best-dressed pages of Danish and international magazines.