Crown Princess Mary celebrates her 50th Birthday on Saturday, 5 February 2022, with her family in private.
The Gala Dinner at Rosenborg Castle, to mark this occasion, scheduled for Friday, 4 December, was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic and current infections from the Omicron strain.
However, the Mary Foundations’ planned birthday celebration has been postponed until later this year.
The Crown Princess speaks both English and Danish.
Queen Margrethe was hosting the event including the Danish Royal Family and representatives of official Denmark.
The Crown Princess has acted as Regent when Queen Margrethe and Crown Prince Frederik have been abroad during official visits representing Denmark.
From Commoner to Crown Princess
Denmark’s Crown Princess was born Mary Elizabeth Donaldson on 5 February 1972 in Hobart, Tasmania in Australia – the youngest daughter of Professor John Dalgleish Donaldson and his wife Henrietta Clark Horne (died 20 November 1997).
Mary has two older sisters: Jane and Patricia and an older brother, John.
She graduated from the University of Tasmania with a Bachelor’s degree in Commerce and Law (B Com. LLB) and qualified for a Certificate in Advertising from The Advertising Federation of Australia (AFA) and later a Certificate in Direct Marketing from the Australian Direct Marketing Association.
Mary moved to Melbourne to work in advertising and travelled around America, Europe and the United Kingdom, especially Scotland – her father’s homeland – where she worked as an Account Manager in Edinburgh for three months.
She returned to Australia at the beginning of 1999 to take up positions with advertising agencies Young and Rubicam and Love Branding before becoming Sales Director and a member of the Management Team with Belle Property – a real estate firm specialising in luxury property – in 2000.
Mary met Crown Prince Frederik on 16 September 2000 during the 2000 Summer Olympic Games in Sydney through her flatmate who knew the Prince of Asturias (later King Felipe VI of Spain) who was also present, as well as Prince Joachim, his cousin Prince Nikolaos of Greece and Denmark, and Princess Märtha Louise of Norway.
However, their relationship remained very low-key despite some reports in the Danish media.
In 2002, Mary moved to Europe where she taught English at a Business English School for a few months, before moving to Denmark and being employed by Microsoft Business Solutions as a Project Consultant for business development, communications and marketing.
The couple became officially engaged on 8 October 2003, after Queen Margrethe II gave her consent at a State Council Meeting.
The Danish Royal Wedding
On 14 May 2004, Mary married Crown Prince Frederik at Copenhagen Cathedral, in the presence of the Danish Royal Families, Donaldson and the Monpezat families, the Earl and Countess of Wessex (representing Queen Elizabeth II) and other foreign Royal Families, including Sweden, Norwegian, Belgium, Netherlands, Spain, Luxembourg, Monaco and Serbia.
Australian Governor-General Michael Jeffrey and Governor of Tasmania were among the notable guests at the wedding, as well as former Danish, Greenland and Faroe Island Prime Ministers and friends.
The newlyweds rode in a carriage from the Cathedral to Amalienborg Palace before appearing on the balcony with their immediate family, whilst over 20,000 people assembled below in the palace courtyard below.
A lavish reception for 400 guests followed at Fredensborg Palace later that evening.
Crown Princess Mary was honoured with Denmark’s highest-ranked honour, the Order of the Elephant.
Lego produced the 5877 Belville The Royal Wedding Coach in 2004 in honour of the Royal Wedding which was only available in Denmark.
They have four children: Prince Christian, Princess Isabella, Prince Vincent and Princess Josephine.
The Crown Prince Couple currently live at Frederik VIII’s Palace at Amalienborg and the Chancellery House at Fredensborg Palace.
When her husband succeeds to the Danish throne, Crown Princess Mary will become the first Australian-born Queen consort.
Military Service
Crown Princess Mary’s military career began as a private in the Home Guard in 2008, and, after completing training, promoted to sergeant in 2009, lieutenant in 2009, a first lieutenant in 2015 and becoming captain in 2019.
The Crown Princess has participated in the Home Guard’s large number of activities exercises through the Army, Navy and the Air Force.
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