The latest on Joachim and Marie

This last week Prince Joachim has been in Greenland for the Royal Greenland Fund visiting various organisations in Nuuk.

There is not really any 'news' to report on the Prince Joachim and Marie Cavallier romance. This is more to keep up with the media coverage of what they know, what they wish they knew and, well, what they make up! SE og HØR and Billed-Bladet have encountered/ambushed Marie's father Alain Cavallier outside his apartment in Paris. Marie's father gave several comments (see below for more detail) and said his daughter had been overwhelmed by the attention she has had from the Danish media and was now trying to keep a low profile. Meanwhile, it turns out Marie doesn't drive in Geneva (um, she failed her driving test) and so she walks to her office not too far from her apartment. Of course she needs to walk her dog every day also and this has been the source of many of the photographs we have seen as she must leave her apartment at least a couple of times a day. That she was somewhat unprepared for the onslaught of the Danish tabloids is obvious.

TV2 suggests an uncertain reception for Marie Cavallier in Denmark based on very different interpretations of a remark by Prince Henrik by Her & Nu and Kig Ind. When visiting a French school in Copenhagen just over a week ago, Prince Henrik said he was there to speak about the school, not about the family. Based on this remark and to give an idea how distorted the reporting can be, Her & Nu claimed a chilly reception awaited Marie with the Royal Family, while Kig Ind claims she is already part of the family!

Billed-Bladet says Marie misses Joachim (she hasn't seen him for more than four weeks). The Billed-Bladet journalist caught Marie in a jogging outfit walking her dog on a leash. She is reported as saying things have been very hectic and she needs some time for herself away from media attention to think things through. She says she doesn't know what the future will bring, but she hopes her relationship with Joachim develops in a normal way without the manipulations of the media. She says she has learned the hard way what the media can do, and that she wasn't prepared for how her dealings with the media would be presented in Denmark. She feels only positive things about her relationship with Joachim and is very upbeat about it, hopefully with his shoulder to lean on!

It is a dog eat dog world with the tabloids. Ekstra Bladet reports on an interview with Marie's father Alain Cavallier in Paris, but fails to mention they have lifted the interviews SE og HØR and Billed-Bladet managed to get without any Ekstra Bladet involvement at all. However, Ekstra Bladet has spoken with Marie's stepdad Christian Grassiot over the phone. His company is REInvest and is Marie's workplace on the fifth floor. Marie works as a partner in the firm. He told Ekstra Bladet that Marie is grown up and in charge in her own life and what's most important for him is that she is happy. SE og HØR caught a few remarks from Alain Cavallier when he left his building to get in his car. He confirmed Marie's mother had met Prince Joachim and that Marie had called him to say how sorry she was to have caused so much media trouble.

According to Billed-Bladet the cheerful Monsieur Cavallier says his daughter is young, in love and in need of private time with Prince Joachim. He says she is concerned about all the commotion she has caused by speaking to the media and wants to retreat for some peace and quiet. This was all he said, but Billed-Bladet gives a bit of information about him being semi-retired, in advertising, a member of an exclusive golf club Saint Cloud with a very good handicap, divorcing from Marie's mother 17 years ago when she was thirteen, etc. He was born not too far from Cahors in south-west France, the location of the DRF's wine estate, Château de Cayx and Château de Caïx, Cahors and the winery estate. Marie's mother, Françoise, moved to Geneva and remarried, to Christian Grassiot, with whom she owns a real estate investment business. Marie went to an exclusive boarding school called Beau Soleil in the Swiss Alps. She did well at school and engaged in a wide range of sports and other extra-curricular activities. She went to Boston College and university in New York, studying commerce and marketing. Okay, hope you can follow all this! Billed-Bladet has given Marie a nice school report.

We haven't yet seen Marie's mother Françoise (as we know she has met Prince Joachim and it is nice to have some more surprises to come). Without having Marie's mother to compare to at present, let's go out on a limb and say Marie has a strong resemblance to her father!