Frederik and Mary visit Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany; September 27th-28th, 2010

[Emmily]

Originally Posted by PrincessAurora

She looks nice, but CP Fred looks OLD. The beard is unkempt and he looks like an old alcoholic rather than a dashing CP!

I think he looks dashing with the beard! Funny how we all see different things and what appeals to us. Keeps things interesting

[biathlon22]

It´s so nice to see Mary and Frederik in Germany. I think she looks wonderful during the whole visit. And after seeing her "live" in Stockholm in June, i have to say, that she is one of the most beautiful women i have ever seen.

[Lumutqueen]

The couple look good together.
Mary looks wonderful with a bump.

[Marika86]

Article and photo gallery on "Hello"

Pure People article and photo gallery

More photos from the visit at Rostock University's paediatric and youth clinic:

Pic 1
Pic 2
Pic 3
Pic 4

[asturiana]

Video: VIDEO: Mary besgte krftsyge brn - TV 2 Nyhederne

[lancchick]

Originally Posted by asturiana

Video from yesterday: Prinz und Prinzessin in Stralsund - Leute heute - ZDFmediathek - ZDF Mediathek

When I saw the pictures of Mary feeding the penguins, I was shocked they made a pregnant woman in high heels go into that enclosure. Talk about risky, although she handled it really well.

[Muhler]

Originally Posted by asturiana

Video: VIDEO: Mary besgte krftsyge brn - TV 2 Nyhederne

Thank you, Asturiana

Mary cannot speak German, so she is dependant on a interpreter and she is asked about that.
She explains: "It fine. She is actually very impressive. She is very good at it". (*)

Later on she visited a ward for children suffering from cancer and she said afterwards: "It weighs heavily on your heart but at the same time it's very rewarding and inspiring to hear/learn about their strength. That they look forward to getting better, to get out of here and back to their friends".

(*) Another indication that Mary is now almost "native" in her command of Danish, are the number of words she interjects in her sentences. Fillers, which are unnecessary but natural to a native speaker, who is just babbling along. That has in particular been the case within the past year or so.
There are lots of "fillers" in the Danish language which adds to the nuances of a sentence. Whereas English tend to be more precise, relying more on the meaning of the words, rather than intonation and other subtleties, which are so important in spoken Danish.
That is something that can really confuse foreigners, who can miss or misunderstand the meaning of a sentence, because he/she didn't pay attention to words that acts a "fillers" or alternatively to the way the sentence was said.
It's pretty complicated and difficult to explain for someone who hasn't experienced it.

ADDED.
Hmm. Time for a DK lesson perhaps.
Let's break down what Mary said: "Det går fint. Hun er faktisk meget imponerende. Hun er faktisk meget god til det". Okay, if we remove the fill-word, faktisk. What she said would be this: "It's fine. She is very impressive. She is very good at it".
It still makes perfect sense, right?
But to a Dane it can sound like she is making an evaluation or alternatively like her reply is a bit cold or stand-offish. So a native, and Mary, interjects the word "faktisk" to soften her remarks. So now she is saying something positive about the interpreter, but it's not an evaluation.
Do you understand the nuance explained here?

[Sternchen]

Originally Posted by lancchick

When I saw the pictures of Mary feeding the penguins, I was shocked they made a pregnant woman in high heels go into that enclosure. Talk about risky, although she handled it really well.

Well they weren't standing behind her, forcing her in with a gun pointing at her head...

She decided for herself that she wanted to go in

Originally Posted by Commonconsort

Looks like she didn't make much of an effort to-day. her hair seems greasy, her make-up is badly applied and those pants seem like they could belong to Frederik.
Must do better.

Seems that you saw footage of a different event from the rest of us

[asturiana]

Video: http://www.zdf.de/ZDFmediathek/beitr...derik-und-Mary

[greenways]

I take nothing away from Mary, in terms of being quite capable of looking after herself - I'm all for it. However, how would Fred feel if Mary had fallen and she or the babies were hurt, surely it's not worth the risk. You don't have to fall far to do a lot of damage. Maybe, between them Mary has requested he doesn't fuss, I don't know. But looking from the outside in, just seems a bit cold.

[Emmily]

Originally Posted by Muhler

Thank you, Asturiana

Mary cannot speak German, so she is dependant on a interpreter and she is asked about that.
She explains: "It fine. She is actually very impressive. She is very good at it". (*)

Later on she visited a ward for children suffering from cancer and she said afterwards: "It weighs heavily on your heart but at the same time it's very rewarding and inspiring to hear/learn about their strength. That they look forward to getting better, to get out of here and back to their friends".

(*) Another indication that Mary is now almost "native" in her command of Danish, are the number of words she interjects in her sentences. Fillers, which are unnecessary but natural to a native speaker, who is just babbling along. That has in particular been the case within the past year or so.
There are lots of "fillers" in the Danish language which adds to the nuances of a sentence. Whereas English tend to be more precise, relying more on the meaning of the words, rather than intonation and other subtleties, which are so important in spoken Danish.
That is something that can really confuse foreigners, who can miss or misunderstand the meaning of a sentence, because he/she didn't pay attention to words that acts a "fillers" or alternatively to the way the sentence was said.
It's pretty complicated and difficult to explain for someone who hasn't experienced it.

ADDED.
Hmm. Time for a DK lesson perhaps.
Let's break down what Mary said: "Det går fint. Hun er faktisk meget imponerende. Hun er faktisk meget god til det". Okay, if we remove the fill-word, faktisk. What she said would be this: "It's fine. She is very impressive. She is very good at it".
It still makes perfect sense, right?
But to a Dane it can sound like she is making an evaluation or alternatively like her reply is a bit cold or stand-offish. So a native, and Mary, interjects the word "faktisk" to soften her remarks. So now she is saying something positive about the interpreter, but it's not an evaluation.
Do you understand the nuance explained here?

That's really interesting! I understand the explanation. Is Danish one of the more difficult languages to learn because of these "fillers"?

[Terri Terri]

Originally Posted by greenways

I take nothing away from Mary, in terms of being quite capable of looking after herself - I'm all for it. However, how would Fred feel if Mary had fallen and she or the babies were hurt, surely it's not worth the risk. You don't have to fall far to do a lot of damage. Maybe, between them Mary has requested he doesn't fuss, I don't know. But looking from the outside in, just seems a bit cold.

The point is that she didn't and she was obviously perfectly capable of walking down 5 stairs from the airplane while holding on to the handrail. She also walked on very uneven ground while feeding the penguins and she walked on cobbled streets. She's not fragile or sick! Mary chose to wear high heels - she could have worn flat shoes instead. In addition, when the situation warranted it, Frederik held Mary's hand while they walked on cobbled and very uneven streets http://picture.belga.be/belgapicture.../22584526.html but it wasn't all the time as it wasn't necessary.

There are millions of pregnant women all over the world who go through pregnancy quite normally and they walk up and down stairs on their own!

[greenways]

I guess there's no right or wrong when it comes to opinion's, but I do love a man when he acts like a gentleman!!

[Terri Terri]

True! Its just our opinions! I don't see in these instances where CP Frederik was not being gentleman. We'll agree to disagree!

[greenways]

As we say in Australia, no worries!!

[Maura724]

Originally Posted by greenways

While Mary was coming down the steps of the plane, Fred was already greeting people. Mary is pregnant, in high heels, surely the chivalris thing to do would be to watch and make sure she didn't trip.

I totally agree with you, greenways, even if no one else does. I'm very old-fashioned, I like chivalrous gestures, I like to see a gentleman make a fuss over a lady, and I think he should have been much more attentive here.

On the other hand, since all I've seen is a still photo, I guess it's possible that he was watching her and just looked away for a second, the second the photo was taking. Or it's very possible that Mary doesn't want him to make a fuss about her and has told him so, and Fred is smart enough to know better than to argue with her while she's pregnant.

I love Mary's jacket - she's worn it before, maybe to the opening of Parliament, and I've always really liked it. But I think Fred really needs to lose the beard - he doesn't have the right face for it and was much more handsome before.

[Katrianna]

Great pictures and video, thanks everyone!

[Muhler]

Originally Posted by Emmily

That's really interesting! I understand the explanation. Is Danish one of the more difficult languages to learn because of these "fillers"?

Difficult to say for me as a native. But I guess it is.

The almost constant use of irony in spoken every-day Danish is certainly a problem for many foreigners.
Though perhaps not so much for Mary, because Danish and Australian humour is so very similar.
It is certainly a problem for many Swedes and we are afterall neighbours.

[dazzling]

tons of pictures from the reception

ANP gallery

[avrilo]

I really think he needs shaving or at least trimming that beard, he looks unclean