Majestic Mary

When Tasmania’s Mary Donaldson fell in love with a prince, the world was captivated by her real-life fairytale. This month, as Crown Princess Mary of Denmark, she returns to visit Australia, and speaks about what it means to her.

A wintry drizzle is falling across Copenhagen and, but for the sentries in their greatcoats and bearskin hats, the cobbled square outside the Amalienborg Palace, the 18th-century home of the Danish royal family, is empty. Quiet prevails inside, too, and as the main staircase snakes around a landing, I look out to the balcony where, on their wedding day last May, His Royal Highness Crown Prince Frederik and his bride, Her Royal Highness Crown Princess Mary, exchanged their first, exuberant public kiss.

It is a different Mary who waits in a chandeliered anteroom. The girl who said “Ja” before the stone altar of Copenhagen Cathedral was still in a state of wonder, swept up in a surreal fairy story that had carried her from a rented home in Sydney into the arms of a prince and the heart of nation. Today, the former Mary Donaldson, who has just turned 33, is full of poise and assurance, and eager for a role in the life of her new country. Her natural elegance and eye for fashion has earmarked Denmark’s new royal as one of the world’s most glamorous princesses, showcasing Danish fashion by wearing clothes by the country’s top designers. She is also patron of the Danish Fashion Fair and believes Danish designers to be among the finest anywhere.

The Crown Princess has also embraced the more serious side of patronage, using her warmth and openness to champion various causes – she is royal patron of six charities, including the Danish National Organisation for Mental Health and the Danish Heart Association. From an outsider’s point of view, Mary’s life seems like that of a character from a fairytale by Denmark’s celebrated Hans Christian Andersen: a beautiful girl wins the hand of a handsome prince and is carried off to a castle in a far-off land.

Does it ever feel like that to her?