Crown Princess Mary arrives in Australia for private visit

Photo © Zimbio/The Photo Agency

Crown Princess Mary has arrived in Hobart for a private visit with her family and friends. The visit was confirmed yesterday while Mary was in transit by Court spokesperson Lene Balleby. Mary has not visited Australia since 2008. Mary made an early low-key arrival in Sydney and immediately took a connecting flight to Hobart, arriving around 10am local time. The description of the visit as a secret one is obviously redundant. Reports in various Australian media stories that Crown Prince Frederik is in Singapore are incorrect. Frederik is currently regent while Queen Margrethe is on summer holiday at Château de Cayx with Prince Henrik. He has been regent since August 13 and will continue as regent until August 23, so is at home to be with Prince Christian and Princess Isabella while Mary is away for a week. Frederik will be in Singapore August 24-26 for the Youth Olympics and the 25th anniversary of the Danish Seamen's Church in Singapore and so will be unable to attend the wedding of his Greek cousin Prince Nikolaos and Tatiana Blatnik on August 25. Crown Princess Mary will attend the wedding for both of them since she will have returned after her last day in Australia on Saturday August 21. Reports suggest Mary will travel to Adelaide to celebrate friend Amber Petty's 40th birthday on Saturday before returning to Denmark.


Photos © Kim Eiszele/The Examiner/The Australian/News.com.au/The Mercury & Zimbio/The Photo Agency, ABC TV

The Sydney Morning Herald - Princess touches down in Hobart
The Launceston Examiner - Princess Mary touches down
The Australian - Princess Mary arrives in her home town of Hobart
ABC Online - Princess Mary heads to Tasmania
The Age (Melbourne) - Princess Mary arrives in Hobart
The Herald Sun (Melbourne) - Princess Mary's media pack warned about privacy laws
News.com.au - Princess Mary arrives in her home town of Hobart
ABC News - Princess Mary touches down in Tassie
The Australian - Denmark's Crown Princess Mary flies into Hobart on a private visit
ABC News - Expectant Princess Mary returns home
Adelaide Now - Princess Mary arrives in Hobart, ahead of trip to Adelaide
ABC News - Media warned on Princess Mary's privacy

The Mercury (Hobart) - gallery of arrival photos in windy Hobart
SMH clip - Mary disembarking in Hobart (00:44)
Yahoo/7news clip (01:07)
nineMSN Today Show (03:58)

After the twins announcement...

Photo © Uffe Weng/B.T.

On the day the official announcement of Mary's twin pregnancy, Frederik was sailing in Marstrand in Sweden in the Dragon Gold Cup 2010 and told Ekstra Bladet that "It is a double miracle". From B.T. Frederik was reported saying it will be quite a handful having twins. He said he didn't know how it would be to be a father of four, he supposed he will find out in six months. Frederik also said he and Mary had never thought they would 'make two babies', confirming what the Danish Court spokesperson Lene Balleby had already stated to the media, that the twins were conceived naturally. Prince Henrik, also at the Dragon Cup, had happily told Billed Bladet that even triplets would also be welcome. B.T. also wanted to know if it will be the end of baby-making after January. Frederik laughed, said that was funny, didn't answer the question, but said they would take it quietly, one day at a time.



Photos © Uffe Weng/B.T.

The Monday after the announcement Mary took Christian and Isabella for their first day of the school year. They are still attending nursery school but joined their schoolmates in celebrating the first day of pre-school for their former school chums (school begins at age 7 in Denmark). Since Christian was born at the end of the year Frederik and Mary have decided to keep him with his peers, although some of the older children in his group started pre-school on the day.

Billed Bladet (No.32, 2010) Mary i skole med Christian og Isabella - Mary to school with Christian and Isabella
Week 32 is the start of the new school year for many children in Denmark. That also included those attending Dronning Louise's Børnehus (= kindergarten/nursery school) in Fredensborg, which Christian and Bella attend. The kindergarten re-opened Monday August 9th after the summer holidays and Mary drove her children there.
On the way they stopped to see the big children who were starting in school at the nearby public school. Other children and parents from the kindergarten had also shown up with flags in the school yard, including some mates of Christian and Isabella.
Christian is a big boy, almost five, and he could start in pre-school this year but Frederik and Mary have opted to wait another year. But some of his mates from kindergarten started this week. Christian was left with his mates and Mary and Isabella went over to some of her mates and from here they saw the pupils on the way to school. It's hardly a secret that Mary is pregnant and many wished her well or gave her a thumbs up. Then it was on to the kindergarten. Bella had to get used to the idea that summer holiday was over and it was time for a new year in the kindergarten. (by Ulrik Ulriksen)

Photos © Billed Bladet/Ole Bjørk 9 Aug 2010

Princess Marie hasn't escaped the festival of babies. The day after the official announcement of Mary's twin pregnancy she was asked about the matter when she christened a rose named for her at a rose festival in Bogense. Billed Bladet's Ken Richter writes the weather was great and so was the turnout when Princess Marie visited Bogense. The news about twins had just broken so Marie was naturally also asked about her plans, "I hope I'll have more children - but not right now". As for Mary's news she said, "It's so lovely and I'm really happy for them. They are really fortunate." As with Joachim, she was also told when the family was gathered at Gråsten at the end the end of the summer holidays. Marie christened the Princess Marie rose in the crowded town square. Beforehand Marie had been taken for a tour through the town, including an exhibition of christening gowns, and just in case she should have missed the point, cardboard storks had also been planted here and there.
And in case she still didn't get it, her father-in-law Prince Henrik had expressed his delight at soon becoming a grandfather of seven and added that he wouldn't mind at all if even more grandchildren came along. There is a Billed Bladet photo gallery here of Marie's visit to the rose festival in Bogense.

Princes Nikolai and Felix had their first day at school on August 9 too. According to a B.T. report Nikolai is beginning fifth grade and Felix is starting second grade at Krebs School, the alma mater of their father and Crown Prince Frederik. Their first day arrival, together with Countess Alexandra and Prince Joachim, can be seen in this gallery. The suntanned princes can be seen with Countess Alexandra and Martin Jørgensen arriving at school here.

Kristeligt Dagbladet photo gallery - a 'family album' series
TV2 clip - Frederik: "This is a miracle"
Photo gallery - pics of both Frederik and Henrik

Thanks Muhler!

New claim Alexandra is pregnant

Her&Nu (no.18 2007) is reporting that Alexandra is pregnant. The evidence seems to be Her&Nu's judgement based on photos from Alexandra's last outing (in purple wrap dress). The magazine says Alexandra´s dream to become a mother again is true, based on the newest photos of the 42 year old newly-wed countess. As usual with pregnancy, time will tell. There has been no announcement or confirmation by Alexandra herself.



Meanwhile Alexandra has been busy:
April 27 2007 Alexandra presented the prize to the Danish Champion of Innovation after a competition between vocational students organised by the Danish Ministry of Education



April 28 Alexandra opened the Egmont Knowledge Centre at the
State Art Museum. Alexandra no longer has the use of a royal car or chauffeur, so a friend of Martin Jørgensen is doing the honours. Also, Alexandra no longer has Christine Lyng with her as lady-in-waiting/private secretary and has recently employed a part-time secretary for two days a week to handle her arrangements and correspondence etc. (thanks ambiDK!)

Alexandra was at a Danish Parkinson Association event for 300 sufferers at Rigshospitalet last week.



Also, Alexandra's monogram has now been modified to account for her new status as a countess by the removal of the crown denoting royalty, to a coronet.

If you want to see more on Alexandra, Lotte Haldrup's The Unofficial Website Alexandra Countess Of Frederiksborg is the place to go!

And a couple of photo galleries:
Billed Bladet photo gallery 1 - a princess' life in pictures
Billed Bladet photo gallery 2 - Alexandra's wedding

Mary from announcement to labour

Crown Princess Mary has gone into labour and we are now posting a look back at every appearance made by Mary since the announcement of her second pregnancy on 26 October 2006. Mary's pregnancy with Christian went from February to October 2005 and this second one has gone from August 2006 to 21 April 2007 (unless Mary has a long delivery and gives birth tomorrow - not likely though with a second delivery). The first photo in the series was at a nursing conference on the morning of 26 October 2006 at a time when there was widespread speculation that Mary was pregnant. Later that afternoon, around 3pm local time, the court published the announcement on Frederik's and Mary's website. The announcement came as no surprise and was widely anticipated. Of course the greatest speculation is about the gender of the coming baby. If it is a boy it will maintain a 100% record of male births in Queen Margrethe's line. If the baby is a girl, it will be the first princess born in Denmark in over 60 years (Queen Anne-Marie, Queen Margrethe's youngest sister was born 30 August 1946).