Mary & her twins enjoy close family but remain in hospital

Photo © Billed Bladet | Jesper Sunesen: Frederik busy going between the palace and the hospital

In Denmark today there is no information yet on when Crown Princess Mary and the twins might be leaving hospital. This is no doubt a good thing since it should be the health of the twins and their mother which determines the media schedule, not the other way around. Billed Bladet reports that at 9:30 this morning Crown Prince Frederik has taken Prince Christian and Princess Isabella to visit their mother and their new brother and sister. It is reported that yesterday in the evening Mary had a quiet time with just family visitors and her sister Jane, who stayed with her for around 8 hours. Billed Bladet has since reported that after a two hour visit with Mary and the twins, Crown Prince Frederik returned the children to Amalienborg Palace with a tear stained Isabella in his arms. The older children have been separated from their mother since Saturday and Frederik, in collaboration with John Donaldson, Susan Moody and the children's nannies are trying to ensure that Christian and Isabella are doing as well as can be at home at Amalienborg.

Billed Bladet Christian and Isabella enjoy a cosy morning with Mary

12 January 2011 | Ulrik Ulriksen

There is every indication that Mary will not leave the University Hospital today after her oldest royal rugrats have been visiting.

This morning Crown Prince Frederik picked up Prince Christian and Princess Isabella at Amalienborg Palace so that they could visit Rigshospitalet's maternity ward to be together with Mary and twins.

Christian was in top form as he arrived at the hospital at half past nine in the morning. Christian and Isabella had a couple of large teddy bears with them...

The Crown Princess spent a snug evening yesterday with visits from immediate family: Frederik took Christian, Isabella and her father John Donaldson plus her eldest sister Jane. Jane in particular was with Mary and the twins at the maternity ward for almost eight hours.

B.T. Snuck in with Christian and Isabella:

Mary's sister in secret visit to the hospital

KARINA SVEN FARM Tuesday, 11 January 2011, 17:22

The twins are already a major attraction within the family. On Tuesday afternoon Christian and Isabella visited again. And Mary's stepmother had visited earlier. And yesterday Mary's sister was in the hospital for nine hours.

The noses of hyper-attentive Danish journalists and photographers and the Australian newspaper The Mercury [ie: News Ltd's Lucy Carne 'syndicated' to 9 or more masts] spotted Mary's sister Jane Stephens at Rigshospitalet.

Since the jungle drums sounded, she made more than a 24-hour-long trip from Tasmania to Denmark to see the new family members, the press has pretty well been on our toes. But in vain.

Jane Stephens landed on Monday and subsequently spent nine hours at the hospital in the company of her sister, her brother-in-law and the newborns.

She arrived at the hospital in one of the royal family's cars, but did not want to talk to the press which were present. She had a large gift from a local children's store with her.

At 20.45, Jane left the hospital again, this time in the company of Prince Christian, Princess Isabella and their father the Crown Prince.

Late on Tuesday afternoon, Christian and Isabella once again visited their new siblings.

Photo © B.T./Jeppe Michael Jensen

The Courier Mail Mary and twins preparing to go home
Female First.uk Princess Mary and twins to leave hospital

Billed Bladet Isabella sad at leaving Mary
Digital Journal Opinion: Danish monarchy shines, while politics sputters
The Huffington Post Princess Mary Gives Birth To Twins In Copenhagen
CBS News Celebrity Circuit Denmark's Crown Princess Gives Birth to Twins
The Examiner Danish royal twins greeted with joy and passports
Aol News Danish Crown Princess Gives Birth to Twins

TV2 gallery - an interesting look at what some of the world press made of Mary's twin's birth


DRFGarden YouTube of Frederik's press conference (12:20)
TV2 early news report from TV2. The media is ready for the twins to leave hospital, but are they?

Christian's & Isabella's big week (plus a wrap)

After the excitement of the birth of the twins, news has slowed down as we wait to find out when the Crown Prince Couple will leave hospital with the newborn babies. Ekstra Bladet reports that the hospital foyer might be mistaken for a painter's conference because of the 30 or so step ladders crowding the area. The media organisations and photographers set up step ladders for the best vantage points for when Mary and Frederik exit with the babies. Journalists from Denmark and abroad are hoping to secure the best possible place for photos and questions although it is not yet known when Crown Prince Couple will show themselves and their newborns to the Danish people.

Meanwhile Prince Christian and Princess Isabella have had their own busy week, B.T. reports. Last Tuesday, January 4, Christian and Isabella attended the Garnison Sogns Menigheds Børnehave (Garrison Parish Church's Preschool) which is very close to Amalienborg. The kindergarten newsletter simply welcomes "Christian and Isabella" and has refused to comment more. In something familiar to all families the world over, the newsletter warned parents to check their children's hair for lice. Even royals are not immune to the fundamentals of everyday life! Prince Felix attended this kindergarten before 'graduating' to Krebs' School, where Nikolai attends, and which Frederik and Joachim also attended as children. The kindergarten is attached to the church which Crown Prince Frederik, Crown Princess Mary, Christian and Isabella attended for church service last Christmas Eve. There are many new arrangements for the Crown Prince Family since moving into the newly renovated Frederik VIII's palace at Amalienborg. It now seems very likely that the drive Crown Princess Mary made across the square at Amalienborg last week with Ziggy to pick up the children was a drive to pick them up at their new kindergarten. B.T. sources confirm that the royal couple have been driving Christian and Isabella to kindergarten, just as any parents do. The kindergarten is a private institution which has around seven nursery children aged 2-3 years and 31 children aged 3-6 years. The kindergarten writes on their website that they give very high priority to play and friendship, so perhaps, B.T. suggests, it is here that Prince Christian and Princess Isabella will meet good friends they will have for life.

Visitors to the twins yesterday and today included Countess Alexandra, Princes Nikolai and Felix and Martin Jørgensen, Julie Mølsgaard and Ellen Hillingsø. Mary's eldest sister Jane Stephens spent 9 hours at the maternity ward with Mary and the twins after arriving from Australia and missing the media scrum in the foyer by going in another entrance, as did Christian and Isabella. 


Prince Henrik has caused a stir (another!) with his comments about newborns. Henrik can always be depended upon for some colour, and there is no doubt that Frederik and Mary would understand exactly what he means with no offence taken. There is no doubt he is an attentive and loving grandfather to all his grandchildren, if photographic evidence is a measure. (see below)

B.T. Ellen Hillingsø shakes her head at the Henrik:'They are not ugly'

Kenan SEEBERG | KARINA SVEN FARM (BT-KSV) - Tuesday, 11 January 2011, 13:37

Actress Ellen Hillingsø disagree with Prince Henrik's assessment of the royal twins.

Hillingsø visited his childhood friend Crown Prince Frederik [for a half hour visit]...

Is it true that the twins are ugly like Prince Henrik says, bt.dk asked her.

"No, no,no," she replied.

How were they?

"They are extremely cute," she smiled.

Ellen Hillingsø's friendship with Crown Prince Frederik is one of the many friendships that have been passed down in the royal family. Their mothers, Birgitte Hillingsø and Queen Margrethe, went to school together.

1) and 2) Alexandra, Nikolai, Martin Jørgensen and Felix, 3) Ellen Hillingsø, 4) some of the waiting media

Photos © HELLO!magazine.com, B.T./Jeppe Michael Jensen, SN.dk/Thomas Arnbo, B.T./Nils Meilvang

MSN Starlounge Christian photographed arriving at the hospital

Due to a strong cold Prince Christian did not see the twins before Sunday...Late Monday, he returned to Rigshospitalet to visit his mother and the two new siblings.

As with the visit on Sunday, Crown Prince Frederik's and Crown Princess Mary's eldest son used a lift to access the maternity ward. Mary's father, John Donaldson, together with his wife Susan Moody take care of Christian and his little sister, Princess Isabella, while Mary is in hospital. Lightening the load for Frederik who as a father of four, he has his hands full. "The Crown Prince is actually more tired than the Crown Princess. They look forward to getting home and getting started with a regular routine. It is, of course, a handful for them, but I am sure they will do it well," said Countess Alexandra, when she visited earlier in the day with Martin Jørgensen and the new babies cousins, Prince Felix and Prince Nikolai. Mary's sister Jane Stephens has also just arrived in Copenhagen to help with the newborns.

B.T. speculates about Frederik and Mary needing more help with the children. Frederik and Mary have remained hands-on parents even though they have had various nannies. They spend a lot of time with the children, read them stories and comfort them if they have bad dreams just as any parents do.

SN.dk A bit of a stir from Prince Henrik. He has suggested that newborn babies are not beautiful, including his own grandchildren.

Prince Henrik is on one of the annual royal hunts today and was asked about the new babies. "They are as ugly as other babies. I do not think that babies are beautiful,"said Prince Henrik Tuesday morning about the Crown Prince couple's newborn twins. His reply came before setting out for the hunt. "But the twins are cute above all, they have some good potential, so I'm happy about them. The best part is that their parents are happy and well and that the Crown Princess is in fine form," he said,...

The Daily Telegraph Princess Mary's twins meet siblings
Hello! magazine Denmark's new little prince and princess start to receive first visitors
The Mercury (Hobart) Mary leaving hospital soon

Thanks commoner, cph and gudinde :))

Mary's Australian visit continues

Photo © News.com.au

Yesterday Crown Princess Mary was seen in Hobart having lunch and doing some selective shopping with sisters Jane and Trish and friends. Today Mary left Hobart and flew to Melbourne for a connecting flight to Adelaide, where she was driven to friend Amber Petty's apartment, arriving around 1pm. Reported plans include a reunion of shared friends from Sydney for Amber Petty's 40th birthday party. Happily Mary does appear to have enjoyed a quiet and private (at least from us) day in Hobart on Wednesday, with just a photo glimpse of her farewelling visitors at sister Jane's house during the morning. There have been short items on commercial evening news programmes this evening about Mary's departure from Hobart and arrival in Adelaide which have not been posted on media websites - maybe the last day of the Australian election campaign has something to do with that. B.T. is carrying a story that Australians are 'surly' about Mary's visit based on comments posted on newspaper websites (you can read them from the links to stories here if it takes your fancy). B.T. quotes some of the comments. Fortunately the sometimes bizarre ramblings of many of these posted comments are not representative of most Australian's view of Crown Princess Mary based on evidence elsewhere and certainly in this blog's experience. On the other hand, Billed Bladet reports that people who have encountered Mary on aircraft and local Australian media generally are remarking on the lack of a 'baby bump'. A midwife is quoted explaining that Mary's muscle fitness and height explains why the pregnancy is not yet very visible (based on a story in Se og HØR). Se og HØR writes of the privacy laws in Tasmania which prevented the press from being as invasive as they have been on previous visits (the amended law was introduced last year primarily to deal with people filming children in playgrounds and other public places and using the material inappropriately). It writes passengers noticed the Danish Crown Princess, who sat and read a Danish book, and travelled with a Danish bodyguard. One older female passenger is quoted saying, "She seemed like a totally normal woman. She looked beautiful, but I didn't see a baby bump."

The latest from The Adelaide Advertiser is that Mary was greeted by Amber Petty at her apartment building, while her security detail checked in at an adjacent boutique hotel. According to this report the 40th birthday celebration for Amber will be black tie tomorrow night (Saturday local time).

August 19:
The Mercury - Mary ventures out and about
The Daily Telegraph (Sydney) - Our meal with our Princess - meeting Mary for lunch
and replicated in all other News Ltd masts: The Courier-Mail, Adelaide Now, Perth Now, The Herald Sun, The Mercury
News.com.au gets the guernsey for most amusing headline: 'Lunch for three please! Mary takes bump for mammoth meal'



August 20:
ABC News - Princess Mary heads to Adelaide
The Sydney Morning Herald - Party princess jets in
The Herald Sun (Melbourne) - Princess Mary of Denmark stops off in Melbourne on way to Adelaide
The Mercury - Mary charms city with ease
ABC News - Princess Mary touches down in Adelaide
Digital Spy - Princess Mary: 'It's lovely to be home'
Sky News - Princess Mary thrills home town
The Adelaide Advertiser - First pic of Princess Mary's arrival in Adelaide (updated).
The Daily Telegraph (Sydney) - Tug of home strong for Princess Mary



Photos © News.com.au, Zimbio/PacificCoastNews.com, SMH/Getty, DayLife/GettyImages, Trevor Pinder/Herald Sun, news.com.au/Sam Rosewarne, News.com.au/NikkiDavis-Jones

News.com.au gallery
The Mercury photo gallery
Network 7 clip : The Morning Show (3:59) - August 19

Latest on the christening...

Low-key christening rehearsal at Fredensborg - Lillepigen and Christian exit stage left

We already know this christening is more low-key than Christian's (less than half the size), but there is confirmation today that none of Mary's siblings will be there on Sunday. Jane Stephens and Patricia Bailey will be at home in Hobart and Mary's brother John is at work in his job as a geologist in Western Australia. Mary's father and step-mother will attend

Royal guests will include Crown Princess Victoria, Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit. We also know there will be many of the closer family royals among Princess Benedikte's and Queen Anne-Marie's children. And, it is not pushing it too hard to speculate there will be a strong contingent of Frederik's and Mary's friends

It is thought about 140 guests are invited, but there are not many details until the christening. We will post the guest list, information about the service, church decorations and Bishop Erik Norman Svendsen's sermon when we can. They will appear on the court websites during the christening (links to both on the left navigation bar here)

The weather forecast for North Sjælland on Sunday is fine but cloudy and a daytime temperature of 22C, winds look as if they'll be north westerly

DR reports that the 35,000 or so people expected to be travelling on buses in the metro area on their way to their summer house needn't miss out on the news of Lille prinsessens name. The drivers on duty are equiped with radios which will be used to transmit the news to the passengers the moment it is made public at the christening!

The Municipalty of Århus will give Lilleprinsessen a playhouse sized copy of Marselisborg Castle in a ratio of 1:10 (3.8 metres x 1.7 metres and 1.85 metres high).

The playhouse (above) will be made of environmentally sound materials. The entrance will be between the two towers and the roof can be opened too, so that grown-ups can get in more easily. The playhouse is designed by Alice Rosborg, the city architect for the Århus Municipality

The Marselisborg Palace playhouse to be - a gift from Århus Municipality

The Sønderborg Municipality will give Lille prinsessen a gift she can use when she is visiting Gråsten Palace each summer. It is two little chairs, Peter model designed in 1944, and a little table made by the furniture designer Wegener. They hope the set will be placed at Gråsten Palace. The set is also a kind of construction toy because each chair has four parts which can be put together without tools.

From the Danish Pottery Museum comes a miniature cup and porridge bowl made by potter Lisbeth Kring Jensen (article in Danish Melfar Posten)

And another gift story from Ballarat via Sydney. The North Shore Times reported on a purchase for Lilleprinsessen 'Plush plaything posted to princess at palace'. The rams are pretty in pink!

Here's something fun - this is a link to panoramas of Fredensborg Palace and inside the Palace Chapel where the christening will take place. You need QuickTime to use the zooming panorama feature (zoom in with SHIFT and out with CTRL or hold down left mouse button and move right hand over a laptop mouse pad). The NR-photos are by Hans Nyberg.

This DR Prinsesse theme page has links to Margrethe's, Frederik's, Felix's and Christian's christenings (scroll down the page a little). Danes can get the name of Lilleprinsesse just after it is announced SMSd to them from a link on this page. So many bases are being covered it is hard to imagine a Dane who will not know the name within seconds of it being uttered!

DR.dk video clip (1:48) Guess what? there is a strong princess theme in Fredensborg
DR.dk video clip (0:30) Fredensborg in princess mode for the 18:30 news credits
TV2 video clip (2:20) Every little girl in Denmark seems to be a princess
DR.dk video clip (1:54) about the making of the Tasmanian gift to Lilleprinsesse

From The Sydney Morning Herald Danes guessing on name of Mary's baby

From news.com.au Punting on name for daughter of Princess Mary

Sydney's Daily Telegraph has a 22 photo 'Fred & Mary' gallery

And here is a royal baby collection of photos (TV2 is running a competition of opinions on who is the fairest of them all!) - TV2 historical royal babies gallery it begins with Christian X (for whom the christening robes were made in Belgium) as a baby with his mother Alexandrine, Frederik IX in the most unfortunate, erm, sailor's dress with his father Christian X standing directly behind his chair, poor Frederik IX again 'decorated' with a large frilly hat (he must have had a few laughs over those photos as an adult!), then Margrethe with Christian X, Frederik and Joachim, Nikolai and Felix, Christian and Lilleprinsesse.

Added:

The Sunday Tasmanian/The Mercury 'Danish royals keep mum'

Danish reports are that the press accreditation has been a bit of a bun fight. Had Frederik and Mary accepted all applications for accreditiation, the press alone wouldn't fit into the chapel, let alone the guests. B.T.'s Bodil Cath says the emphasis has been on it being small. On an Australian TV news this evening she indicated that maybe all Australian women are named Sheila or Kylie! Jyllands Posten reports on the press numbers too. Only a small number of the press who applied for accreditation got it, including just one photo-journalist from Australia

According to Jyllands Posten the Australian Embassy in Copenhagen will give Lilleprinsessen a selection of original Australian children's books as a christening gift on behalf of the Australian government. Great precedent! Christian got an original edition of the 1918 May Gibbs classic Snugglepot and Cuddlepie

Lillepigen will receive Hazel Edwards" There's a Hippopotamus on Our Roof Eating Cake and Jackie French's wonderful Diary of a Wombat based on a real wombat in her garden, among other books.

Webcasts

A note for our readers: both networks in Denmark (DR1 and TV2) have extensive (hours!) of coverage planned. In addition NRK in Norway will have a live broadcast which they usually webcast and leave on their site to watch again afterwards (how nice!). We anticipate that we will post webcast links from all three of these sources, so bone up on your Danish and Norwegian! Just come here if you are unsure where to find links and you will find them here.

The coverage will begin very early in Denmark with morning shows on both networks, from 7:00am on DR1 and from 8:30am on TV2 (after B1 and B2 come down the stairs to catch you unawares! - the Australian toddler's favourite Bananas in Pyjamas, and 2 - does Christian watch?)

Here is a link to the World Clock time converter so you can calculate times for where you live. The broadcasts will be roughly for 5 and 6 hours with the arrival of guests from 10:30am and the christening itself until around 1:00pm. For east coast Australians and then the other time zones, it will be late afternoon and early evening. Seven and Nine Networks are promoting coverage of some sort (with reporters there) but neither are live. As with Christian's christening, SkyNews may show it live if you have cable. For those around the globe who will be fast asleep, there will be plenty of video clips to see later from Danish and Australian television and plenty from the print media too. It will be hard to miss it!

Media wrap: family, friends, racing and football

Time for a bit of Danish catch up from last week!
Billed Bladet (no.23, 6 June 2007) reported a story by Ulrik Ulriksen: Joachim raced for Marie:

Prince Joachim raced his classical Cortina at Padborg Park the last time Marie was in town and she was there to see the action. For Marie it was her first time at the racetrack with Joachim. Prince Joachim won the race of the day. Ulriksen compares the speed on the racetrack with what he says is the full speed ahead towards an engagement.

The couple were based at Schackenborg Slot while they were in southern Jutland. They hung out together with Joachim's racing mates from the Cortina team Oscar Davidsen-Siesbye and Martin Berner and their wives, Britt and Connie. After the test drive on Saturday, the three couples enjoyed dinner and watching a football match (soccer) on TV in the evening.

The real race started Sunday and while Joachim and co raced, they had a special group of spectators. Marie, Britt and Connie cheered each time 'their boys' went by on the straight doing 150 kilometres an hour. “I’m completely crazy about this. I do really like racing. It’s so exciting,” said an exhilarated Marie Cavallier, while she watched Joachim drive across the finishing line in first position and therefore as the winner of the day. After the long day at the race track Marie helped pack the Cortina's team equipment away before returning to Schackenborg. “She sure isn’t afraid of lending a hand," said a passer-by.

Marie is now visiting Denmark more often than ever before during the time she and Joachim have been together. With Joachim she has visited Alexandra and Martin Jørgensen, been at a dinner and attended a christening with some of Joachims friends. At the beginning of May she was at Tivoli with Joachim for the wedding anniversary party of friends Michael and Benedicte Darsberg.

From the beginning of this year Marie and Joachim made it clear it was a big year for them this year. They started 2007 with a big New Year party at Amalienborg Slot where all their friends and Alexandra and Martin Jørgensen were present. They then met a couple of times in both Denmark and Switzerland before their winter holiday in the Alps at Marie’s family's place. The Princes Nikolai and Felix were there too. They displayed great enthusiasm for Marie, who proudly showed Joachim and the boys the tracks above her ski village of Villars.

After almost two years together Marie and Joachim have shown they want to be together more and more. Marie is still conscientious and manages her job at home in Geneva in her step-father’s investment-firm without giving cause for criticism. But he may soon have to look for a new employee, because Marie may start packing a really big suitcase to move permanently to Denmark. (the story is an edited version of Ulrik Ulriksen's in Billed Bladet, which was kindly translated by Muhler. Ulriksen also notes that Britt Tang Lassen appears to be Marie’s best friend in Denmark)

A day at the races: 1) & 2) Joachim and Marie, 3) ...and they're racing! 4) the cheer squad, 5) & 6) in pit lane, 7) Joachim and Marie, 8) all hands pack up, 9) Marie at the airport on her way back to Geneva at the end of the weekend.



From Billed Bladet (no. 23, 9 June 2007) there was a report on the family outing to the ill fated football match between Denmark and Sweden by Dorte Quist – To the soccer with aunt Mary:

Crown Princess Mary took the opportunity to go to a football match with her sister Jane, brother-in-law Craig and their three children Alexander, Erin and Kate, who are visiting from Australia. Even though Mary is still breastfeeding her six week old daughter, she was away from her for a few hours to watch the national team together with Frederik and her family from Australia.

Mary’s two nieces and her nephew seemed to look forward to it with both girls dressed in Denmark's red and white football shirts (DBU's) when they arrived. Perhaps the Crown Prince had found them at home in the closet since he has been presented with many of them by the DBU* through the years.

During the match Mary was the one who explained the rules to her nephew and nieces ... But often Mary had to ask Frederik for an explanation first and then the rest of the Australian family was told.

Mary has a very close relationship to her oldest sister, who is one of her closest confidantes. The 41-year-old Jane was a big support for her younger sister when Prince Christian entered the world ...Back then Jane came to Denmark and stayed in Kancellihuset with Mary and Frederik... It has been three years since Mary’s nieces, nephew and brother-in-law were in Denmark. That was at the wedding of the Crown Prince couple, when Frederik and Mary were more or less preoccupied by the many official arrangements – and then afterwards they left on their honeymoon. This time however there is plenty of time for family cosiness and sightseeing – including a national team football game at the national stadium in Denmark. (an edited version of Dorte Quist's story which was translated by Muhler. *DBU = Dansk Boldspils Union which organises football and handball)

And continuing - Embarrassing from the Danish side:

“That was a mess. A bit embarrassing from the Danish side.” It was an extremely grim Crown Prince Frederik who commented on the scandalous end against Sweden when he left Parken after the historic game.

What should have been a cosy and nice June evening with Mary and her sports keen Australian family, suddenly turned into an embarrassing affair. Frederik had looked forward to showing the family Denmark’s national sport in its most colourful, jubilant and loud surroundings. But instead it ended up with him having to explain to his sister-in-law Jane and brother-in-law Craig and their three children why the match was broken off and why we lost the three goals the Danish players had fought so hard for after having been behind 0-3. A sad end for an otherwise cheerful and fun evening for Frederik, the family and the other 42,000 spectators. (by Dorte Quist and translated by Muhler)

The UEFA disciplinary hearing decided Denmark should be heavily sanctioned. The game was declared lost with the score 0-3. Denmark's Christian Poulsen has been less than popular for allowing himself to be provoked and punching a Swedish player in front of the goal and got a 3 match suspension. Denmark now has to win all its games to stay in the UEFA competition and will have to play all of them as away games. The officials in Parken were blamed for ineffective crowd control. The spectator who ran onto the field was drunk, apologetic and will face charges of violence.



And still more from Billed Bladet, who had their ears tuned into the back garden at the Chancellery House the next day - Family cosiness in the garden:

The day after the excitement of the football at Parken ...was spent at home in Kancellihuset... the smell of bacon and eggs for breakfast wafted all the way out to Fredensborg Square to the guardsmen on duty, while some of the family members jumped head first into the swimming pool in the backyard of Kancellihuset.

It may not have been winter bathing but the air temperature was no more than 16 degrees C, so the water must have been cold... When the swimming was over, Mary and Frederik and their guests went to the breakfast table. The rest of the day was enjoyed in the open air in the garden with a lot of playful teasing among the children... Mary’s nieces, Erin and Kate and nephew Alexander seemed to have a wonderful time in particular, but also little Prince Christian happily joined in with his cousins.

Mary’s brother-in-law went for an afternoon stroll in peace and quiet ... in Fredensborg Park. On the way he greeted several people who recognised him as the always smiling Australian. (by Ulrik Ulriksen whose way with words makes it fun --funny?-- and challenging for Muhler to translate!)