King Frederick Lets Queen Mary Shine on Visit to Australia
"For me, Australia has held a very special place in my heart,” King Frederick said.
Queen Mary might be Queen of the Danes, but in her home country of Australia she will always be “our Mary.” Born and raised in Tasmania, Mary Donaldson was a normal Aussie girl before she met the future King of Denmark, then known as Prince Frederick. King Frederick and Queen Mary are currently on a momentous royal visit to Australia, and it is putting the country’s relationship with Mary and Fred into perspective.
On Sunday, King Frederick gave a speech at a state banquet in Canberra, where he said, "for me, Australia has held a very special place in my heart ever since I slipped into that bar and lost it in a conversation that has never ended.” Queen Mary and King Frederick met at the Slip Inn during the 2000 Sydney Olympics, and Mary’s life was forever changed.
Queen Mary and King Frederick are on an official visit to Australia.
The Australian people are very fond of "our Mary."
While she may be the Queen Consort of Denmark on a global stage, in Australia she is just “Mary,” a beloved, highly revered Australian cultural icon. During their recent visit, King Frederick told a story about their first royal visit to Mary’s home country in 2005. In Sydney, they were speaking to members of the public, and King Frederick recalled “Mary was chatting to some of the people who had shown up to say hello, and I stood next to Mary and I overheard a young boy standing next to his mother asking her, 'Mummy, Mummy, who's that boy next to Mary?'" The ‘boy next to Mary’ was in fact her new husband, the Crown Prince of Denmark.
King Frederik X of Denmark and Queen Mary of Denmark at their royal proclamation in 2024.
Queen Mary attends a state banquet in Australia.
"That's how it is occasionally, in the eyes of Australia,” King Frederick joked. “I suspect I shall always be the one standing next to Mary,” King Frederick said in his speech, before admitting “this is perfectly okay, I take that very much as a compliment." Queen Mary is incredibly popular in Australia, and this popularity has shown throughout their royal visit to the country, their first since becoming King and Queen in 2024.
Queen Mary took the opportunity to speak to the people of Australia, and let them know how important her Aussie heritage is to her. "In my speech to Frederik on his 50th birthday, which is now some years ago, we're getting close to 60, I said 'Our roots grow throughout our lives'," she said during their royal visit, before remarking "I feel so incredibly privileged to have my roots in both Australia and Denmark."
