Frederik went Sailing while Willem-Alexander had a Birthday Party

[Marengo]

Marengo and Henri, please correct me if I'm wrong, but on a royal MB it was stated that Frederik was present on Aug. 31st for the fireworks display, but Mary wasn't with him. Apparently there is a picture of Frederik observing the display with other Royals.

I haven´t heard that story yet. All I heard was that a lady of the public told a poster of a Dutch language message board that she thought she could identify CP Mary during the fireworks. Not a very reliable source. The same goes for Frederiks presence. A poster said she thought she saw Frederik arrive later at the party. Unclear again. But in the end it is of no consequence if they were or were not present. This was not a state event but a private one, as was stressed my the Dutch RF several times. As I said before, the only people who care about this are probably a handfull of royalty fans.

 

[juliana]

The Farr 40 is simply a very expensive boat and the so called "world championship" simply an extravagant OTT competition promoted by the Farr 40 yacht builder for very rich people- it doesn't rate as a world championship as the boat races in the Olympics for example do. Nobody follows the Farr 40 races other than the extremely rich yacht owners as far as I am aware.

I think Henri M's posts are always very sensible too.

 

[COUNTESS]

I think it is all nonsense. It was a birthday party. Some came, some, probably, didn't. The Ducth Royal family is very warm and loving. The Danish Royal family is warm and loving, too. They are all nice. There are so many difficulties in this world and the focus of who came and who didn't to a birthday party is just banal. Let them work this out amongst themselves. No one here know what discussions took place, or even if they were invited.

 

[Madame Royale]

The Farr 40 is simply a very expensive boat and the so called "world championship" simply an extravagant OTT competition promoted by the Farr 40 yacht builder for very rich people- it doesn't rate as a world championship as the boat races in the Olympics for example do. Nobody follows the Farr 40 races other than the extremely rich yacht owners as far as I am aware.

Frederik does and helping secure it in Denmark, HRH had an obligation to be there..that simple.

 

[pollyemma]

I think it is all nonsense. It was a birthday party. Some came, some, probably, didn't. The Ducth Royal family is very warm and loving. The Danish Royal family is warm and loving, too. They are all nice. There are so many difficulties in this world and the focus of who came and who didn't to a birthday party is just banal. Let them work this out amongst themselves. No one here know what discussions took place, or even if they were invited.

I disagree that this is just a case of some people came and some people some people didnt. ALL the other heirs to the thrones who are in Willem Alexander's generation came. they thought this was an important enough milestone in their colleague/friends life to take the time. So F and M were conspicuous by their absence.

I definitely think this suggests that Frederick and Mary are not very close to WA and Maxima. Not that they dislike each other or don't get along, of course, but simply that they are not the closest of friends. when people are important to you, you make time for their milestone events.

 

[Madame Royale]

when people are important to you, you make time for their milestone events.

Unless of course you have an obligation which was diarised a year in advance...

 

[UserDane]

Unless of course you have an obligation which was diarised a year in advance...

Precisely!
The only good thing about this ongoing - and in my view totally superfluous discussion of WHY Frederik and Mary could not attend - is that the thread would have been infinitely longer if Frederik had let 9 or 10 people in his crew and the entire Danish organisation behind the competition down by being a no-show and not live up to the obligations he had to them. Now that would have been a valid reason for discussion his non-appearance - this isn't!
Why is it so difficult for some posters to understand that if you have a previous engangement and you have committed yourself to it - you stick to it?????

 

[Madame Royale]

...if you have a previous engangement and you have committed yourself to it - you stick to it?????

Absolutely, UserDane.

HRH The Duchess of Cornwall celebrated her birthday not so long ago and a member of her husband's own family, HRH The Prince Edward, Duke of York was a no show because he had committed himself to another engagement..did he not attend because he isn't close to Camilla? I would assume not. It's more likely he didn't go because prior plans had already been finalised.

 

[MissSaga]

Precisely!
The only good thing about this ongoing - and in my view totally superfluous discussion of WHY Frederik and Mary could not attend - is that the thread would have been infinitely longer if Frederik had let 9 or 10 people in his crew and the entire Danish organisation behind the competition down by being a no-show and not live up to the obligations he had to them. Now that would have been a valid reason for discussion his non-appearance - this isn't!
Why is it so difficult for some posters to understand that if you have a previous engangement and you have committed yourself to it - you stick to it?????

I agree completely.
I also think this thread is sort of stupid. I never meant to wtart a whole new thread, when I posted a simple comment on M&F in their events thread.

 

[UserDane]

I know you didn't MissSaga

 

[ricarda]

Though this is not the right forum for it, just to set something straight, Maxima isn´t promoting Dutch fashion, so she doesn´t need to wear dutch designs (thank god, just see what a dutch designer does to poor Laurentien).

Though this is not the right forum for it, just to set something straight,
Mary isn't patron of Danish fashion (if that's what you meant). She is patron of Copenhagen International Fashion Fair, which means she is promoting Copenhagen as an international fashion spot.
So, she doesn't need to wear Danish designs only but she does wear them a lot and that way she is indeed promoting Danish fashion.

I personally think Maxima should follow Mary's example here because I see this as one of the main tasks of a cp - promoting your own country in every possible way. IMO Maxima really stands singular here, all the other cps try to wear designers of their own countries.

 

[Marengo]

I personally think Maxima should follow Mary's example here because I see this as one of the main tasks of a cp - promoting your own country in every possible way. IMO Maxima really stands singular here, all the other cps try to wear designers of their own countries.

I don't think that royalty should consider one of its main tasks to promote commericial activities, they are not a PR agency. Of course it can be done sometimes but as I said it is not and never has been one of the main tasks of royalty, and I don't think that any RF would like to change that.

 

[Verde Esmeralda]

I personally think Maxima should follow Mary's example here because I see this as one of the main tasks of a cp - promoting your own country in every possible way.

A Princess represents a country, or a kingdom. Promoting a country is a different thing, and there are Chambers of Commerce, for instance, in order to fullfil that task.

 

[Mandy]

Let's move away from the fashion industry! This thread is about sailing and birthday parties.

Thanks,

Mandy
Danish Forum Moderator

 

[Verde Esmeralda]

You're right Mandy!

I think I can resume my opinion like this: Let's let the poor guy sail, if he likes it! I'm sure it must be ten times funnier than a birthday party for which you have to fly two hours for!

 

[UserDane]

You're right Mandy!

I think I can resume my opinion like this: Let's let the poor guy sail, if he likes it! I'm sure it must be ten times funnier than a birthday party for which you have to fly two hours for!

Or we could rephrase it in accordance with actual facts: Let the poor guy fulfil the obligation he entered into more than a year ago - and which involved not only him but a lot of other people - if he likes it!

 

[princess olga]

Here's my 2 cents on this one.

At first glance, my thoughts were: wel geez, this guy is CP which means a big part of his job is schmoozing with other CPs and what does he do? He goes sailing!

Well, I adjusted my opinion on this one because as others have pointed out: this is not just some sailing event.

Rather, Frederik personally did a lot of 'corporate development' in ensuring the event taking place in Copenhagen. That means it's completely logical that he attended the event. He is after all as it seems, <the> person responsible for bringing the event to his country!

Plus, the other thing of course is that he would likely have attended Alex's b-day party if it had taken place at the original date. The fact the date had to be changed was beyond the control of Frederik, who already had a prior commitment - and stuck to it.

I'm not arguing CPs should push corporate events or anything, but in this case, the guy stuck with the commitment he'd made as the main organizer/champion of a big event. So I can certainly understand his sticking to that commitment in this case.

 

[princess olga]

Or we could rephrase it in accordance with actual facts: Let the poor guy fulfil the obligation he entered into more than a year ago - and which involved not only him but a lot of other people - if he likes it!

exactly, although whether he likes it or not may be irrelevant in this case: he just stuck to his commitment, that's probably all. I'm pretty sure Alex of all people would be the first to grok that.

 

[stellam]

Princess Olga you made a point that I was going to post as well. Since William's birthday is in April and I'm sure if he had a birthday bash then, Fred would have attended. Prince William and his wife changed it due to the birth of their daughter. By then Fred had already committed himself to the sailing event. As some have already stated if you commit yourself to something you stick to it.

Stellad

 

[Aurora810]

If Willem's party had been closer to his actual birthday, I still doubt that Fred would have attended. I'm not Danish I don't know how the people would respond to that. But lets remember it wasn't just Ariane that was born during this time frame of when Willem's actual birthday was. Fred's daughter Isabella was born on April 21st. And Felipe's daughter was born on April 29th. Had the party originally been in April it is almost certain both Fred and Felipe would have missed the birthday party.

I don't know but I can't imagine Fred leaving Mary with a 6 day old daughter and Christian to attend a birthday party. Like I said before I'm not Danish but I would think that would draw some criticism had that happened.

However, one thing I'm almost certain of is that if the party had been in April and Fred cancelled due to Isabella's birth, this thread would not exist. Because surely everyone would be understanding to that!

p.s this is only my opinion but I doubt the party was postponed due to only Ariane's birth it could also be likely that these other births played a small part in deciding to postpone the party.

 

[Drottning]

I don't think that Frederik's and Mary's absence from the party has any sort of hidden meaning to it. He had a previously scheduled event. Plain and simple. I am sure that Willem-Alexander understood. What was Frederik supposed to have done? Cancel his participation in a regatta he was playing a vital role in? And as for Mary not going, obviously supporting her husband was of more importance. Nothing wrong in that! Their will be plenty of more parties for them to go to.

 

[billie-jo]

i agree that he had too say in denmark.
billie-jo

 

[Henri M.]

A Princess represents a country, or a kingdom. Promoting a country is a different thing, and there are Chambers of Commerce, for instance, in order to fullfil that task.

On itself the Princess represents nothing of course. She is just married to a guy who happens to be the hereditary successor. In essence that is all.

The State of Denmark has not placed an advert with an application form to look for suitable candidates to represent Denmark. They have an excellent working diplomatic and consular service for that, with professionals working all over the globe. It is nice that the wife of the Crown Prince becomes a famous person, but that does not change the fact that she essentially is 'just' the wife, of course.

The same applies to Máxima, Mathilde, Letizia, Camilla, Mette-Marit and the whole rataplan. Because they, as spouse to the Heir, have the highest standing possible, it is -in general- seen as a honour when the lady in question is pleased to accept your invitation for an opening, a first-stone-laying, to visit an exhibition, etc. It gives extra cachet to the festive occasion. But, 'to represent the State'? No. Not exactly.

 

[Siepie]

I can understand Frederik not attending, I guess. But why wasn't Mary there then? She wasn't on that sailing boat right?

 

[JessRulz]

I can understand Frederik not attending, I guess. But why wasn't Mary there then? She wasn't on that sailing boat right?

Mary was there watching Frederik sail with Christian and Isabella

 

[Siepie]

Mary was there watching Frederik sail with Christian and Isabella

Well, actually I think she wasn't totally unable to skip that. She could have attended the birthday party. I know she breastfeeds Isabella, but she could have taken Isabella with her or leave her at home with a fridge full of bottles with milk. But maybe she thought it wasn't that important to attend and skip watching Frederik sailing for it. Who knows.

 

[Regina]

I don't see why some people are soo concerned with Frederik's absence. He had an important and already programmed regate in Denmark for that day. His presence here is much more important to him and to Denmark than attendind a private birthday party of Prince William Alexander.
I don't know why mary didn't go, maybe because she didn't want to come. Maybe she prefered to stay in Denmark supporting her husband, taking care of her children than to go to the Netherlands to eat a piece of cake and sing "happy birthday". What's the problem about that?

 

[Henri M.]

Anyway. I suspect there are no hard feelings with Prince Willem-Alexander and Princess Máxima. Maybe the Danes will spend a weekend wirh the Oranges on the private sail yacht. On on the Friesian lakes or something.

 

[Regina]

I look forward to see the Danish couple attending the festivities and the Enthronement ceremony.

Are you comparing a Enthronement ceremony to a private birthday party?...

 

[Henri M.]

to go to the Netherlands to eat a piece of cake and sing "happy birthday".

That is a quite limited description of the three day celebrations!


We can say the same about weddings, baptisms, jubilees, of course. Wat is the point to sit on bench number seven in Church and have a waltz and then go back home? Then all the royals and non-royals better no longer accept invitations. There will always be more substantial cases asking for their time.