Amid a heavy schedule of stiff ribbon-cutting ceremonies, Danish Crown Princess Mary has shown she still has a fun-loving Australian larrikin spirit.
Her husband Crown Prince Frederik’s ascension to the throne this Sunday, following his mother Margrethe’s retirement as Denmark’s monarch, will see Mary become the first Australian to reach the position of Queen.
As part of the promotion, she is expected to take on several high-ranking patronages once the royal household finishes a review and redistribution process.
”There are high-ranking patronages that more or less belong to the Queen. Some of them at least will be transferred to her and Frederik,” Copenhagen University historian Sebastian Olden-Jørgensen told AAP.
As crown princess, she has already served as a patron of 32 charities and organisations in Denmark, Australia and on the international stage.
Empowering women and girls, mental health, the environment and sustainable fashion are among some of the causes she has championed.
”She has been trying to make a difference and use her position within the royal family to improve the lives of others,” author and royal commentator Thomas Larsen told AAP.
Since 2004, she has been a patron of Denmark’s Christmas Stamp Foundation (Julemærkefonden) which supports vulnerable children.Â
Director Søren Ravn Jensen said Mary sometimes showed a playful side.
”She came and had very high heels … I thought: ‘Oh my god she’s going to play padel tennis in those high heels’,” Mr Jensen told AAP, adding she later changed into sneakers.
On another visit she happily bounced on a jumping castle, he added.
Her Mary Foundation has focused on combating domestic violence and school bullying.
In 2007, after seeking inspiration from the Australian Alannah & Madeline Foundation’s ‘Better Buddies’ program, her charity launched Denmark’s first major project to combat bullying.
‘Free of Bullying’ has reached 40 per cent of childcare centres, 60 per cent of preschools and 45 per cent of Denmark’s primary schools, according to the foundation’s website.
Her foundation’s work on the issue put the royal couple in an awkward position in 2022 when a documentary made claims about a bullying culture at the elite boarding school that their eldest son attended and they were forced to send him elsewhere.
CROWN PRINCESS MARY’S PATRONAGES INCLUDE:
* Australia’s Alannah & Madeline Foundation
* Global Fashion Agenda
* World Wildlife Fund, Denmark
* World Health Organization, Europe regional office
* SIND – National Association for Mental Health
* Maternity Foundation
By Lisa Martin in Copenhagen
