Happy birthday Crown Princess Mary!

We hope Mary has fun for her birthday!

Today Crown Princess Mary is 35 and so it is a happy birthday for her today! It will be celebrated privately, but as always, should we find out any birthday details we will post them later.

Mary's birthday is one of the official flag flying days in Denmark so the blog is flying the Dannebrog too. Posted early for most time zones, but in the time zone where Mary was born, it is her birthday!

Update: Mary, Frederik and Christian are in Verbier, Switzerland for Mary's birthday, which is quite a tradition by now. They have skied in Switzerland for Mary's birthday since before they were married. Mary has been pushing Christian around in a pushchair in the snow rather than donning the skis though.

Spanish Hola! reports Frederik, Mary and Christian made their customary trip to Verbier in Switzerland for a couple of days skiing, or, in Mary's case hanging out in the snow. As usual they have stayed at friend Peter Warnøe's house in Verbier, whose partner Malene Juhl-Joergensen is also there. Peter Warnøe heads up the Danish company Aston IT Group, says Hola! (Princess Mary escapes with Prince Frederik to Switzerland for the future Queen of Denmark's 35th birthday)





The Mercury (Hobart) - Flags fly for Mary

It is too embarrassing to mention the fictional fantasy treatment Mary has received from the two main Australian women's weekly magazines for her birthday. Both are incorrect and baseless. The editors should hang their heads in shame!
To quote The Sydney Morning Herald's 'What the gossip mags say' weekly column: "In other news, Woman's Day and New Idea appear to have once again got mixed up at the printers, bless them. The mags sport near identical covers documenting Princess Mary's new haircut.
That's right, the former Tasmanian and future Queen of Denmark has chopped her locks to a new, sleek bob, and the change is so important that stories must be invented to accompany pictures of the princess. The Day settles on "Princess Mary's marriage crisis", whereas New Idea goes for "Mary's baby crisis". Both stories, of course, are your stock-standard crowd-pleasers and, judging by the copious use of anonymous "sources", entirely untrue." And, which crowd might be pleased by these stories?

Following are links to media birthday stories from Denmark today.

Tillykke med de 35 happy birthday to Mary from B.T. and B.T. has a birthday photo gallery (click on "Næste" for the next pic in the gallery)
From Berlingske Tidende - Fra tasmansk pige til dansk kronprinsesse - a little biography which reveals Mary must now be learning French to add to her Danish.
With Berlingske Tidende's birthday wishes for Mary is the story about how much she is worth to the Danish economy.
Berlingske Tidende birthday photo gallery Tillykke med dagen, Mary (Many happy returns for the day, Mary)
Politiken's birthday wishes are also in the form of the story about Mary's worth to the Danish economy.
TV2 - Mary er guld værd for Danmark (Mary is worth gold for Denmark) continues the theme of wishing her a happy birthday combined with the same story.

From Jyllands Posten/The Copenhagen Post:

You're 35 and worth 12 billion to us all

By The Copenhagen Post

An English expert estimates Crown Princess Mary adds billions of kroner to the value of the country's brand.
The Crown Princess can celebrate her 35th birthday Monday knowing she is worth several billion to Denmark's brand image, reported Dato newspaper.
English image researcher Simon Anholt estimated that of the country's DKK 772 billion brand value, Crown Princess Mary represents more than DKK 12 billion.
'At the moment, Mary is the person in the royal house who stands out most in character. She is the only one I, being from England, have registered in the past few years,' said Anholt.
'It's because she's new, prominent, in the media a lot and extremely beautiful. It also has something to do with how she met her husband. It had a touch of that Princess Diana romance to it.'
Jens Carsten Nielsen of Copenhagen Business School agreed and said the Crown Prince and Princess have a huge effect on Danish exports and tourism.
'When the two go out and represent Denmark it brings attention to the products our country produces. It's a controlled effect on the emotional plane.'
Nielsen also said that the Crown Princess's popularity benefits the organisations for which she serves as patron.
'It's a direct branding effect when she, for example, publicly supports Child Welfare Day or the Danish Cancer Society. It allows for a connection to be made between her and the organisation's own brand.'
Nielsen added that media attention is one of the most obvious benefits of anything involving the royal family.
'Everyone is conscious that when the Crown Princess shows up, it will be in the papers and photographers will come and take pictures.'
Anholt warned that the Crown Princess's effect might not last, however.
'She has to keep performing. Diana, for example, increased her value because she was inlvolved with so many projects - not only in England, but around the world. She has to get involved in projects that go beyond Denmark's borders if she seriously wants to maintain her brand worth.'
Overall the royal couple are a good investment for the state. Frederik receives approximately DKK 16 million annually, while Mary gets DKK 2 million for herself.
In all, members of the royal family receive DKK 90 million each year. As the nation's monarch, Queen Margrethe receives the most, about DKK 67 billion. And, showing that differences in royal salary are based more on position than gender, her husband, Prince Henrik receives about DKK 7 million.JP/CP

Lets hope Mary doesn't feel too much like a Danish commodity on her birthday and also that she ignores the Diana/global brand stuff and has a good life instead!!