Prince FrederikandPrincess Maryof Denmark have a royally modern love story.
The couple has been married since 2004 and are now parents of four children — most recentlymaking headlines for their decisionto remove their 16-year-old sonPrince ChristianfromHerlufsholm Schoolafter allegations of sexual abuse and bullying at the establishment surfaced.
In astatementreleased June 17, the couple said they would be taking time to decide what was best for their family.
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But the couple started out as strangers — who met in a Sydney, Australia, bar.
Mary Donaldson was an Australian advertising executive when she found herself chatting to Prince Frederik, although he introduced himself simply as “Fred,” at the Slip Inn on Sydney’s Darling Harbor in September 2000. The pub was filled with people from around the world who were in town for the Olympics.
“Something clicked,” Princess Mary said in a 2005 interview. “It wasn’t the fireworks in the sky or anything like that, but there was a sense of excitement.”
Shortly into their conversation, Mary found out that she was talking to the Crown Prince of Denmark, heir to the 1,000-year-old Danish throne.
“The first time we met, we shook hands,” she said of their introduction. “I didn’t know he was the prince of Denmark. Half an hour later, someone came up to me and said, ‘Do you know who these people are?’ "
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For a year, the pair got to know each other through a long-distance relationship that flew under the radar of the media.
“She got to know and love Frederik as the man he is, not as the Crown Prince,” Mary’s friend Chris Meehan later told the authors ofMary, Crown Princess of Denmark.
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In 2002, Mary moved to Copenhagen, converted to the Lutheran Church and learned Danish, a notoriously tricky language to master. They announced their engagement in 2003 and married the following year at Copenhagen Cathedral. And the celebrations continued in Sydney! Banners were hung outside the bar where they first met to commemorate the happy occasion.
“I don’t recall wishing that one day I would be a princess,” she once said. “I wanted to be a veterinarian.”
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It turns out that they’re not the only Scandinavian royal couple who found love at the Olympics: King Carl Gustaf of Sweden met his wife, Queen Silvia, back at the 1976 Munich Olympics, where she was working as a hostess and interpreter for the IOC.
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Their main focus now is on their royal work and their four children: Prince Christian,Princess Isabella, 15, and twins Prince Vincent and Princess Josephine, 11.
“During the summer, we, together with our children, will make a decision about their future choice of schools,” they said in their recent statement. “With thoughts about the many students who will continue at Herlufsholm, it is our hope that the school now gets more peace to ensure the necessary changes and succeeds in creating a culture in which all thrive and feel safe.”
source: people.com
