What is your opinion of Frederik and Mary


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Australian said:
Hi Marengo
Well the interviews should be about her, she was new back then and people wanted to know about her, what else would she talk about? She talked about herself and her new postition which is obviously what these interviews were about. She can only answer the questions the interviewee asks of her. If she was talking about herself, then obviously the questions that she was given was regarding herself.

Usually it is the RF who controls interviews like these, and especially the topic of the interview (and often they know the questions before as well, and have control about how it is edited). So, if the interview was about herself, then the court and Mary found it fit to give interviews about herself (if they wouldn't have liked it they would not have allowed the interview to take place in the first place). That interviews should be about herself is something which is debatable, other courts have different opinions and most of them do not grant interviews like that, especially not on a frequent basis.
 
Marengo said:
Usually it is the RF who controls interviews like these, and especially the topic of the interview (and often they know the questions before as well, and have control about how it is edited). So, if the interview was about herself, then the court and Mary found it fit to give interviews about herself (if they wouldn't have liked it they would not have allowed the interview to take place in the first place). That interviews should be about herself is something which is debatable, other courts have different opinions and most of them do not grant interviews like that, especially not on a frequent basis.

yes, true, but if the court found it fit, then what's the problem? I do understand your point and it is a good point but taking some of the forums danish posters point of view, the Danes dont seem to mind these interviews. And this is the most important thing.
 
I didn't say there was a problem, but am just observing that the media policy of CP Mary is very different from those of the other european crownprincesses :)
 
Marengo said:
I didn't say there was a problem, but am just observing that the media policy of CP Mary is very different from those of the other european crownprincesses :)

maybe the danes are very proud of her and want the whole world to know about their crown princess :)
 
Marengo said:
I didn't say there was a problem, but am just observing that the media policy of CP Mary is very different from those of the other european crownprincesses :)

I think that's very true Marengo. The Danish Royal Family does give a lot of interviews. Although the Swedish Royal Family does too, the other royal families don't seem to follow that practice.

I believe anyone marrying into the DRF would be expected to give interviews.
 
Australian said:
maybe the danes are very proud of her and want the whole world to know about their crown princess :)

well, well...to show of like that! Tsk, we could all start call them 'parvenu' and 'nouveau riche', if it wasn't the oldest monarchy in Europe ;) But seriously, I get the impression the Danes are proud of their RF, and quite rightly so (Margrethe is just wonderful).
 
ysbel said:
I believe anyone marrying into the DRF would be expected to give interviews.

I agree on that Ysabel, and I think regardless of the woman Frederik would have married, she would have been (also by the court) encouraged to promote danish fashion anyway as well.
 
Marengo said:
I agree on that Ysabel, and I think regardless of the woman Frederik would have married, she would have been (also by the court) encouraged to promote danish fashion anyway as well.

We are in agreement lol:)
 
Harmony said:
I heard that it was not a matter of choice for Alex for being a mother only after 5 years -to put it in a nicer way. :)
Analytically, why would anyone put off children for so long - 5 years at the age of 30 years when the ovaries are ticking away heir or no heir. Career first ? Yes ...maybe for the first two years. Just my opinion

Just for the record Alexandra had Nikolai about 3 years after she married Joachim. They were married in November 1995 and Nikolai was born in 1999. She has stated she wanted to get used to her new role and all the other changes that came with it first. Once she felt settled she and Joachim started a family. She certainly had a choice and she chose to get used to her princess role and married life for the first two or so years, which is a perfectly normal thing to do.


Scout, thanks for taking the time to explain the Danish-context. I found your posts to be interesting, insightful and in line with some of the opinions given by Danish members on other royalty boards. I hope you don’t mind if I add my two cents on the Danish-context from an outsider’s perspective. I’ve mainly been reading this forum and this is my first long post, so please bear with me.

I’ve noticed it’s often been said by Danes that CP Frederik should marry a foreigner because Denmark is a relatively small country (I mean this in the best, non-offensive way:) ) and it would decrease the mystique of the royal family if the Crown Prince married the girl next door, plus all the problems of people from her pre-princess life (relatives, high school friends, colleagues etc) talking to the press. The irony is that in Australia CPss Mary would be the girl next door. Her education and work experience is pretty typical of someone from a middle class family who has a bachelor’s degree. It’s solid but not exceptional. In other words, if you kept everything about Mary the same, and simply changed the fact she grew up in Denmark rather than Australia, it’s very likely commentators would be having discussions about how Frederik marrying a typical Danish girl is going to alter the mystery of the royals etc etc. IMHO that is one of the reasons why opinions on Mary in the Danish-context and royal forum-context differed in the beginning, because most members are not Danish and the fact that Mary is a foreigner Crown Princess is not something that gets taken into account. So without that factor when members here found out more about Mary some weren’t very impressed, and that feeling may have carried over once she became crown princess, especially since some members disagreed with a few of her decisions.

Generally the media and public were pretty happy when the engagement was announced, Mary was really the first girl Frederik dated who fulfilled all the basic requirements: a foreigner with a university education and non-scandalous past, who was willing to follow all the visible (and invisible) rules of the DRF. I also think by the time Mary was revealed as Frederik’s girlfriend, the media wanted Frederik to get married. They wanted a royal wedding, a new princess and a cute baby to write about. Thus when Mary came along and she fitted all the basic requirements, the media accepted her, wrote (generally speaking) nice things about her, and perhaps were willing to overlook certain things they would not have if say F&M had been engaged when Frederik was 25 rather than 35.

It’s interesting to contrast the way Mary is perceived with the way Prince Henrik was perceived in the beginning. Henrik married Queen Margrethe in the late 1960s when the DRF’s popularity was lower than it is now and the government had a prime minister who was not pro-monarchy. When Mary became crown princess the DRF’s popularity was/is high and the government had/still has a prime minister who is pro-monarchy. Henrik was criticised for not embracing Danish culture and being “too French”. The main problem was because he never learnt to speak Danish properly but he was also criticised for driving a Renault (French manufactured car), preferring wine over beer, silk socks over woollen ones (yes, I’m being serious!). Fast forward to now and you have CPss Mary openly acknowledging her attachment to Australia on several occasions, going on a long and well publicised official visit to Australia, becoming patron of 1-2 Australian charities, giving a number of interviews to the Australian media and there are numerous articles about how she is “our Australian princess” etc. Yet the public reaction is how beautiful she looked in the Vogue interview and how wonderful it is that the Australian media/public likes her. I’m not going to pass judgement on whether those things should/shouldn’t have been done, but it’s interesting how Henrik gets criticised for driving a Renault but Mary does all the above and gets praised for it. My point: how a new royal is received in the beginning depends on the popularity of the monarchy and general political sentiment at the time. Whether a royal’s actions get criticised depends on how much the media and public likes you. In Mary’s case I think she was greatly helped by the fact she became crown princess at the height of the DRF’s popularity and that she was warmly embraced from the beginning.

For those of you kind enough to get to the end of this long post this is (finally!) the end. I guess this looks more at why CPss Mary is very popular in Denmark and really addresses some of the questions in the first post of this thread, rather than what bothers me about Mary or Frederik. To Scout, UserDane and all the other Danish members of this forum I hope you aren’t offended by any of my observations and that I don’t sound too ignorant of the Danish mentality and attitudes toward the monarchy.:) :) :)
 
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Emi, thanks. :)
Yours and Scout have provided us with some of the best and most neutral and well balanced posts anywhere in any forum or thread to explain the fascination for what has been coined with humor as the Cult of Mary. Interesting to say is one human being, the girl next door, has evolved in such short time from a person to a symbol. This would be a fascinating subject for a Master Degree dissertation on Sociology or Psychology in case we have any students in the forum thinking about what thesis or projects to write about in college.
 
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Toledo said:
Emi, thanks. :)
Yours and Scout have provided us with some of the best and most neutral and well balanced posts anywhere in any forum or thread to explain the fascination for what has been coined with humor as the Cult of Mary. Interesting to say is one human being, the girl next door, has evolved in such short time from a person to a symbol. This would be a fascinating subject for a Master Degree dissertation on Sociology or Psychology in case we have any students in the forum thinking about what thesis or projects to write about in college.

That would be cool, Toledo!

When I was in university, I was doing some research for a paper on popular culture and came across an abstract for an academic article that was written about the Wedding of Alexandra and Joachim, and it's impact on Danish culture. I should have tried to find that article- it would have been an interesting read. :)
 
Jamerican said:
That would be cool, Toledo!

When I was in university, I was doing some research for a paper on popular culture and came across an abstract for an academic article that was written about the Wedding of Alexandra and Joachim, and it's impact on Danish culture. I should have tried to find that article- it would have been an interesting read. :)

remember that say Never say never, Jamerican? ;)

Is never late for anyone to use this keyboard and start typing up a story, a thesis, a book, a play. Or your very own history book, use a publishing program to make it into book format and a photo editor program to embelish it with a nice cover and pictures. Practically everyone with a keyboard is a potential book writer or story teller. Sometimes I sit back with amazement at all the computer-based tools we take for granted and think, wow, if we only had this twenty years ago! One of the things I'm doing these past couple of weeks is making new covers for my very old books in the library that are falling apart. Why I do it? I don't know. Maybe I always wanted to design book covers. I do the same with Cds I burn, I take my time to design covers just for the fun of it.

But if you have the talent to write, go ahead an force yourself to do so. Just start with with a short story and make it ten pages or so. Next thing you know you follow the steps of the lady who wrote the short story Brokeback Mountain for a magazine!

Princess Mary and her story seems to me one of the most talked about and yet, less explored royal stories of the decade. As a writer (and we all are writers), I see the potential to write not about her but about what people see in her. That's the fascinating side I don't see explored, the symbol that has become Princess Mary for not one but two countries in separate parts of the planets. I see her symbolism so close to the political status on both countries that is worth exploring why one person causes such different reactions amongst people.

So, set time aside for yourself and start a fun thesis like project. Even if it's only for a hobby.
 
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Okay, I have been following this thread since it started but have never had the time to actually post a reply, so I'm going to do it now. There are a few things that I would like to say to everyone:

1. The Australian media has not always been extremely kind to Mary. For example, some of the things they said about Mary that aren't showing her as 'their golden girl' are:
  • They accused her of having post-natal depression after Christian was born when, during the state visit from Norway, in one photo she did not smile.
  • In the lead up to the christening, they said that she had multiple fights with Queen Margrethe over how the christening was going to be held.
  • The critised her when she was around 6-7-8 months pregnant for not having a large enough belly, and they used examples of 'better' pregnancy stomachs at her stage such as Princess Letizia, Madonna, Britney Spears and Catherine Zeta-Jones.
  • They critised her for working to hard in her third trimester.
  • Early in her pregnancy there was a full page article about how much money "she" had spent in 2004.
  • They also said that she had gotten pregnant via fertility treatment in London.
IMO, those things are not very nice things to say about someone who you repeated call 'Our Mary'.

2. None of us actually know Mary, so we aren't the right people to say what her personality is like, how she wants to be perceived by the media, etc. The only people who would know these things are members of the DRF, her father, step-mother, sisters, and some close friends of her's and Frederik's.

IMO none of our opinions, good or bad, really would matter to Mary or any of her family because she is loved by the people that actually matter: her husband, her baby son, her father & step-mother, her sisters and her brother and her in-laws. And it also helps her that the majority of the Danish public like her and accepted her with open arms when she married Fred.

Now I understand that everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and I am simply just adding my two cents :)
 
And a great point of view it is, worth more than two cents too. :)
 
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And I third that too:p
WOW Scout- you really have made yourself a popular little poppet- well done. I love reading your comments and the information from Denmark- so far all the Danish people I have met here have been wonderful.Keep up the good work :) I really think Mary is doing a fabulous job and she is more confident as time goes on- she put together the christening on her own (with a little help naturally ;) ) but she did a mighty fine job and she looked amazing . She will only continue to improve as she settles into her roles with aplomb.Of coure she will make mistakes as all humans do but I feel she is apt enough to master whatever is set before her and do it with grace and maturity.:)
 
Is it possible to "fourth" that as well.:D

I had not been on the Board for a little while and reading through I noticed on Thread #428 (Page 22) that someone praised me in mistake for your posts and I must say I felt very flattered. It is amazing how one letter in one word can can bring me undeserved praise LOL

I agree with what everyone else has said to you Scout with regards to your posts. It makes a really nice change to hear such positive words regarding CP Mary and to learn first hand so to speak how Danish people feel about their Princess from one of their own. Many thanks.

Well done and I look forward to reading more from you.

Regards
Scott
 
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Why dont we have threads like this for other princesses other than Mary? i have yet to come across (maybe there exists but i just cant find them) a thread that said "why dont you like .... or what bothers you about ......." for other princesses?
 
Thi said:
Why dont we have threads like this for other princesses other than Mary? i have yet to come across (maybe there exists but i just cant find them) a thread that said "why dont you like .... or what bothers you about ......." for other princesses?

There do exist similar threads for other royals.

The What bothers you about Camilla in the British forum is the original one. This one followed it. There is also one about Abdullah and Rania in the Jordanian forum.
 
Thi said:
Why dont we have threads like this for other princesses other than Mary? i have yet to come across (maybe there exists but i just cant find them) a thread that said "why dont you like .... or what bothers you about ......." for other princesses?

I know, starting a thread with a negative title on it gives the idea of what tone to expect inside, or where would the chat could escalate to. Imagine if instead of saying what bothers you of ______ and ____ ? you say where could ____ and _____ improve?
Same thing but different feel to it when you head into the thread to post something. But, to paraphrase our colleague above, is just my two cents worth of opinion. :)
 
Toledo said:
I know, starting a thread with a negative title on it gives the idea of what tone to expect inside, or where would the chat could escalate to. Imagine if instead of saying what bothers you of ______ and ____ ? you say where could ____ and _____ improve?
Same thing but different feel to it when you head into the thread to post something. But, to paraphrase our colleague above, is just my two cents worth of opinion. :)

And i second that opinion very strongly :)
 
Thanks everyone for your kind words! :)
I just thought that I should say a few facts to get the whole 'Mary is the Australian media's darling' straight and have some evidence on the 'for Mary' side. :)
 
Hello

I'm new to the forum, and just wanted to say hi :)

I'm married to a Dane who went to the same school as the two Prince's but never really asked him much about it, boarding school gave him the jitters :D Can't say I blame him :rolleyes:

Through my OH & his family I have seen the love that alot of the Dane's have for their royal family, it has been interesting to see an Australasian join the family, and also to see how the outside media treat the way the Danes 'enjoy' their royal family, even before Mary came along, the majority of the Danish people loved their Royal family, and when Mary joined the family, this continued.

In regards to what could annoy me about the couple, not much, simply because I personally don't know them, the media annoys me however :D She has one mammoth task ahead of her and it takes a strong person to accomplish it. With the current state of politics between the muslim world and Denmark right now, here lies some serious training from Queen Margrethe to Mary, best wishes to her, nothing like being thrown into the deep end.

Thanks for listening, it's great to be here!
 
Welcome to the Royal Forums maplecottage and happy posting!
 
Very interesting posts in this thread. I have often wondered why I am one the one hand quite fascinated by CP Mary and OTOH does not seem to warm to her. But here were excellent points. The way Mary always seem to pose for cameras eg. OTOH she seemed honestly moved by her wedding and she seem to really love her husband and her little boy. If indeed she is still shy and insecure in her new role, that would explain the impact of arrogance she has on some people (me included). There are really not many pics of her around where she looks private and relaxed. But especially on knowing the consequences a wrong step could have, isn't it normal that she tries to control the situation by controlling the pictures? And she was in the PR business and knows definately quite a lot about the mechanisms.

So I guess we have to wait for the "real" Mary to emerge from the image of the Crown Princess. But when I think of the way her family appears and about the fact that CP Frederik surely is quite used in deciding if a "sweetness" shown to him is genuine or not, I'm quite sure that we'll see a really nice and lovable woman emerge from behind the mask of the "Perfect Princess".
 
It is unfortunate the advisors/DRF tried to make her into a celebrity/fashion trendsetter - she is neither. If they had emphasized her sporty and multi-national background of Australian and Scottish she would have emerged as a special and unique individual. They missed a great opportunity to make here real.
 
grevinnan said:
It is unfortunate the advisors/DRF tried to make her into a celebrity/fashion trendsetter - she is neither.
I believe they didn't. From what I have read, it was demonstrated in this thread that actually it was not odd for a Danish princess to pose for a magazine or to give interview. If the meditation seems blow out of proportion, it is only because of the attitude of Media (Anglo-Saxon in particular), not because of Mary's or the DRF's attitude.
Beside, her role for the Danish fashion industry does not consist in setting trends, rather to promote an aspect of Danish culture, which she does wonderfully I think.
If they had emphasized her sporty and multinational background of Australian and Scottish she would have emerged as a special and unique individual. They missed a great opportunity to make here real.
I believe this side of her personality has been overexploited. The Australian girl-next-door-fairy-tale kind of stories. I also fail why that would make her special. Could you please elaborate on that aspect? :)
 
she works? it does not seem it.Mary works much less than than other princess like for example princess Letizia that is a woman very worker and profesional.Indeed I have seen Mary a few times seeing parades fashionable... she does not have anything better than to do?
 
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