What is your opinion of Frederik and Mary

[Mandy]

It must be an honour and a privelege to hold the position of Chief Confessor for Haakon and Mette-Marit. How else would you know if they have forgiven someone or if they need to forgive someone.

 

[hofburg]

It must be an honour and a privelege to hold the position of Chief Confessor for Haakon and Mette-Marit. How else would you know if they have forgiven someone or if they need to forgive someone.

I doubt whether there was anything to forgive ​

 

[Jamerican]

-I am pretty sure that at a date so close to the marriage of the respective heirs to the throne (the future Kings, not a royal butler), both Royal houses of Denmark and Spain had to deal with their own protocol, security, catering, planning and organisational nightmares (plus other problems I can't think of). I don't think they had the time or the energy to properly prepare for the Norway baptism.
- a baptism, whether you like it or not, is not as high profile as a wedding. It make sense to me that the Royal houses would skip the baptism to concentrate on the princes respective weddings, and their appearances on each other weddings (Felipe came to the danish one, Frederick came to the Spanish one). I just think it was a matter of prioritization, and for me, it a reason good enough

Felipe and Letitia didn't attend Ingrid Alexandra's baptism, but somehow managed to attend Fred and Mary's wedding one week to the day of their own. Also, didn't they attend one of the Jordanian princes weddings during or shortly after their honeymoon? Don't the Norwegian Crown Prince Couple attend most events? I'm not sure if there was anything to forgive on Haakon or Mette Marit's part, but personally I find the work ethic of The Norwegian and Spanish Crown Princely Couples far more admirable than Frederik and Mary's.

 

[Alexandria]

Felipe and Letitia didn't attend Ingrid Alexandra's baptism, but somehow managed to attend Fred and Mary's wedding one week to the day of their own. Also, didn't they attend one of the Jordanian princes weddings during or shortly after their honeymoon?

Felipe and Letizia attended the wedding of Prince Hamzah and Princess Noor during their honeymoon. Queen Sofia and Infanta Cristina also attended the ceremony.

Prince Joachim represented the Danish royal family.

 

[Gaia]

I am truly encouraged reading the defense of Mary by her fans/supporters. This young woman who in a normal setting would have been considered focused, healthy, a good friend, and from a loving family, is found to be lacking in competition with others as a royal. In all my reading I have found her to be the least suspect, yet she is constantly targeted?

We all have our belief filters firmly in place when it comes to what we envision a cv should look like for a royal princess, but I cannot understand how her character is more suspect than others. Her courtship was long, her dress was modest and her immediate family were quietly living their lives elsewhere.

If your favorite is another wouldn't it be healthier to spend time in the thread of your favorite selling her good points, rather than trying to post bile about someone you don't like. That is how I ended up liking Mary to begin with, it forced me to find out the story behind the ugly posts and lo and behold I was baffled at how it was retold.

It is gratifying that some hold great importance for the Christian rites, but my religious training taught me that judging others was not my place and that forgiving was my gift to give and often.

 

[Jamerican]

oh, and incidentally. Why is it that every single time a person critiques Mary,(or whomever) people jump all over that person, even if that critique is valid? I understand that people don't want the board to descend into a crown princess hating free for all, but is there no room for any critique? If a person says they love a person, and gushes about them, they don't get half the roasting that the others do.

 

[Jamerican]

I am truly encouraged reading the defense of Mary by her fans/supporters. This young woman who in a normal setting would have been considered focused, healthy, a good friend, and from a loving family, is found to be lacking in competition with others as a royal. In all my reading I have found her to be the least suspect, yet she is constantly targeted?

We all have our belief filters firmly in place when it comes to what we envision a cv should look like for a royal princess, but I cannot understand how her character is more suspect than others. Her courtship was long, her dress was modest and her immediate family were quietly living their lives elsewhere.

If your favorite is another wouldn't it be healthier to spend time in the thread of your favorite selling her good points, rather than trying to post bile about someone you don't like. That is how I ended up liking Mary to begin with, it forced me to find out the story behind the ugly posts and lo and behold I was baffled at how it was retold.

It is gratifying that some hold great importance for the Christian rites, but my religious training taught me that judging others was not my place and that forgiving was my gift to give and often.

Some of the critiques of Mary in this particular thread may be a little out there, but some have been pretty valid, just like some of the arguments presented in Mary's favor are pretty valid. A critique is not necessarily evil. I don't know why some people think it is.

I know they're are people out there who completely and utterly hate her. I don't. There are many things that she has done that is quite admirable (for example, not talking to the press during her courtship). But there are things that I find questionable, which I will not go into again. I think it is fair to voice them.

Gaia.. i just noticed that this is the 666th reply. Take that any which way you will

 

[ysbel]

I would be bothered if Mary and Fred missed a lot of important weddings, christenings, etc. of other royals but to miss one christening is not so terrible.

 

[Elspeth]

Hackles down, please. Let's lose the personal comments.

Elspeth

Royal Forums administrator

 

[tabbitha]

I think most people are now over or even beyond the Princess Mary fashion clothes horse thing, I think it's getting really old and stale now, and also tiresome

Isn't it normal for a woman to upstage her husband? IMO i think it is. When people see a famous couple together, i think it is normal for people to concentrate on what the woman is looking like and what she is wearing etc, so in fact, it is us as spectators and fans that is leading Mary to upstage her husband in our minds by only concentrating on her, and i think its perfectly normal with every famous couple.

Once again Australian you have shown that this obsession over this fashion horse stuff, has been flogged to death. All women upstage men- that's what happens in normal life too- don't tell me as women we don't want to look good not only for ourselves but for other men and women too- you'd be lying to yourself if you said NO. To be honest you can only give yourself so many compliments before it looks weird .IMO Mary looks great even if she wore a sack.When we look at fashion mags don't we go straight to the women's clothes???? I'm talking about women here now.I can't imagine that we would want to see mary in anything other than lovely clothes- designer or not.
I agree Mary is not out to get her hubby- as much as some of us would like to believe. i truly feel they love each other equally and actually compliment when wearing their day or evening clothes. They both look great.

 

[Meredith]

I just wonder what kind of urgent wedding details might F & M have had to about the wedding that couldn't be put off for a few hours?

And seeing as they are the Crown Princely couple, wouldn't the planners have agreed to wait a few hours? And how much time would've F & M have had to spend away from Denmark to attend Ingrid Alexandra's baptism? Three or four hours at the most, right? Especially since Norway and Denmark are geographically so close, it's not as if F & M had to fly from Australia to attend Ingrid's baptism.

A month before the wedding surely the couple (or Frederik alone) could've spared a few hours of their time. It's not as if it was even a week before their wedding.

 

[ysbel]

We don't know what prompted Fred and Mary not to go to Ingrid Alexandra's christening, and like I said, if they made a habit out of not attending other royals' important events, then it would be annoying.

I think people need to look at the whole picture. Fred and Mary ARE going to Sverre's christening next month and the Danish Royal Family recently hosted the Norwegian Royal Family in Denmark to celebrate Norway's centennial which was a bigger deal in Norway than in Denmark. I thought it was a very generous gesture.

At least Haakon doesn't think anything of it; he and Fred seemed to have a lot of fun together at the Torino Olympics.

We could speculate till the cows come home why Fred and Mary didn't go to this one christening but does it really matter as long as the relations and connections between the two royal families remain strong?

 

[Laviollette]

I am truly encouraged reading the defense of Mary by her fans/supporters. This young woman who in a normal setting would have been considered focused, healthy, a good friend, and from a loving family, is found to be lacking in competition with others as a royal. In all my reading I have found her to be the least suspect, yet she is constantly targeted?

We all have our belief filters firmly in place when it comes to what we envision a cv should look like for a royal princess, but I cannot understand how her character is more suspect than others. Her courtship was long, her dress was modest and her immediate family were quietly living their lives elsewhere.

If your favorite is another wouldn't it be healthier to spend time in the thread of your favorite selling her good points, rather than trying to post bile about someone you don't like. That is how I ended up liking Mary to begin with, it forced me to find out the story behind the ugly posts and lo and behold I was baffled at how it was retold.

It is gratifying that some hold great importance for the Christian rites, but my religious training taught me that judging others was not my place and that forgiving was my gift to give and often.

Thank you, Gaia. I don't understand the venom towards Mary either except that some believe she doesn't fit the classic blonde and/or beautiful cinderella that everyone envisions a princess to look like. That what some call her "plain" looks somehow translates into she's not a nice person or she's not a genuine person. I happen to think she is the prettiest of all of the princesses that I've seen. I love her clean cut, girl next door beauty. Her performance as CP of Denmark is just amazing and she has fulfilled her role with grace, dignity, style and humour without any pretentions, imo. I found the RF searching for info on Mary because I wanted to know what all the fuss was about. She's a natural princess and as far as I'm concerned is exactly what a modern princess is and should aspire to be.

 

[Charlotte1]

I would be bothered if Mary and Fred missed a lot of important weddings, christenings, etc. of other royals but to miss one christening is not so terrible.

I repectfully disagree, it was terrible.
To miss the one Frederik did was rude. He was a god-father which is an important role, it would have been different if they were invited as guests and missed Ingrid's christening. And christenings are more important than weddings to attend when you have been given an important role such as a god-parent. ( I also think the other no-show god-father Felipe was also rude by missing Ingrid's christening)

Interesting thread, fascinating how polarising Mary is, this thread is already 34 pages! The only other female royal that is equally as polarising is The Duchess of Cornwall!

 

[Warren]

I suppose we could go on for another fifty posts and argue they were very rude not to attend a christening some time ago, or disagree and say they weren't.

But unless anyone is intent on re-hashing their opinions in a tit-for-tat "yes they were, no they weren't" uninteresting dialogue, it really is time to move on.

In a polite and civil manner, of course.

Warren
Danish Forums moderator

 

[Laviollette]

...fascinating how polarising Mary is, this thread is already 34 pages!...

It only shows how popular CP Mary is. A lot of people apparently care about what she's doing and what she's wearing to either criticize or praise her. She has captured people hearts as a fairytale princess but with that comes a lot of people who say she's not so special. It's the same with anyone with her popularity be it celebrities, politicians, sports stars, etc. But in the end Mary has put Denmark and its royal family on the map in the same way that Princess Grace put MC on the map.

BTW, her medieval wedding dress is my 2nd favorite of all time - behind Grace of Monaco.

 

[Christo's Girl]

I wouldn't call her a fairytale princess. I think people find her interesting because she willing to place herself more in the public eye. For instance, the interview and photo layout she did for Australian Vogue really surprised me.

 

[Laviollette]

I wouldn't call her a fairytale princess. I think people find her interesting because she willing to place herself more in the public eye. For instance, the interview and photo layout she did for Australian Vogue really surprised me.

I would call her a fairytale princess in her fairytale wedding dress with her fairytale prince in their fairytale land.

 

[Jamerican]

Interesting thread, fascinating how polarising Mary is, this thread is already 34 pages! The only other female royal that is equally as polarising is The Duchess of Cornwall!

IMO, I think that it is because she is the one that most people here can identify with. Most people here (I think) are not daughters of counts, had a father who was a minister in an Argentine Dictatorship, or have had a baby and partied in the Norwegian party scene. She is the girl you could have gone to school with, the girl you might have gossiped with at the water cooler, the neighbour who might have let you borrow some milk. She is extraordinary because she is ordinary.

 

[Little_star]

oh, and incidentally. Why is it that every single time a person critiques Mary,(or whomever) people jump all over that person, even if that critique is valid? I understand that people don't want the board to descend into a crown princess hating free for all, but is there no room for any critique? If a person says they love a person, and gushes about them, they don't get half the roasting that the others do.

I completely agree.

 

[ricarda]

Felipe and Letitia didn't attend Ingrid Alexandra's baptism, but somehow managed to attend Fred and Mary's wedding one week to the day of their own. Also, didn't they attend one of the Jordanian princes weddings during or shortly after their honeymoon? Don't the Norwegian Crown Prince Couple attend most events? I'm not sure if there was anything to forgive on Haakon or Mette Marit's part, but personally I find the work ethic of The Norwegian and Spanish Crown Princely Couples far more admirable than Frederik and Mary's.

Frederik did not attend his godchild's baptism (for reasons I don't know) but he will attend Sverre Magnus' baptism,
maybe to make up for his missing Ingrid Alexandra's.
(He could have stayed at home like Willem-Alexander.)

Felipe missed his godchild's baptism and he will not attend this one either.
Attending the royal weddings in Denmark and Jordania does not make up for this, in my opinion.

I don't think that Mary or Letizia are to blame for not attending.
We don't even know if they were invited.

Moreover, I don't think attending royal weddings and baptisms has anything to do with work and therefore with work-ethic.
But I too applaude the Norwegian couple for showing up at most of these events
and especially at Christian's baptism, although they had two very good excuses to say: Sorry, we can't.
(the weather and their daughter's birthday)

 

[grevinnan]

If you are having an event and there is someone you definitively would like to attend, you arrange a mutually agreeable date. To just send out invitiations and then complain that someone is not attending is actully quite arrogant. (Although the complaints are perhaps just an issue with board posters and not with the royal's themselves.)

 

[Princess BellyFlop]

If you are having an event and there is someone you definitively would like to attend, you arrange a mutually agreeable date. To just send out invitiations and then complain that someone is not attending is actully quite arrogant. (Although the complaints are perhaps just an issue with board posters and not with the royal's themselves.)

You are right ... for a date involving 2 people. It might get more complicated with heads of different states.

 

[norwegianne]

If you are having an event and there is someone you definitively would like to attend, you arrange a mutually agreeable date. To just send out invitiations and then complain that someone is not attending is actully quite arrogant. (Although the complaints are perhaps just an issue with board posters and not with the royal's themselves.)

Neither Haakon or Mette-Marit have complained about it in public. Thus, it is hard to know whether or not they've complained about it at all.

It seems to mostly be an issue for online posters, as many issues are.

 

[Princess BellyFlop]

I can't believe that my original post (#625 a few pages back) got me so many rocks over the head. ouach. Because frankly my second sentence: «if two nice persons found in their heart to go to this baptism and showed warmth ...why can't I also give them a chance?» means the same as Ysbel wrote a few posts ago «At least Haakon doesn't think anything of it». It's just that in my hood we don't use «don't think anything of it». I actually find my wording nicer but less direct but I sure ain't gonna start a fatwa here.

You can love someone and defend this person but you don't have to kill people who don't share the same level of appreciation as you. I adore Queen Margrethe and don't like when people say she's a colorful loose cannon when time comes to chose a dress -» I prefer to remind them that she vividly assumes her artistic sense.

 

[Xandra]

There´s something that does bother me, and that´s the way Mary sulks when she is on a private trip and she sees photographers around. I know it´s unpleasant to be waylaid by photographers everywhere when it´s not a public event, but sweetheart, it´s part of marrying a prince. The other princesses, I´m sure, don´t like it too, but at least they don´t look so grim and sour like Mary (the latest pics at the ski resort is an example). My goodness, poor Laetiza even had them on her HONEYMOON! And she smiled, and smiled.
Mary and Fred disappeared for weeks on their honeymoon. They deserved the privacy for the honeymoon, but now, on a skiing holiday, it´s exaggerated to look so unhappy as if she had been photographed in the shower or somethiing.

 

[Larzen]

Felipe missed his godchild's baptism and he will not attend this one either.
Attending the royal weddings in Denmark and Jordania does not make up for this, in my opinion.

How do you know Prince Felipe is even invited to the christening of Prince Sverre Magnus? Frederik and Victoria is attending but they are from the neighbouring countries with whom there are extra close ties. Just like the neighbouring Grand Dukes of Luxembourg and The Dukes of Brabant attended Amalias christening without beeing godparents, Frederik and Haakon did not attend, does that mean they did not bother to show up for Amalia or does it mean they were simply not invited? There is no tradition in Norway to invite ALL royal houses to christenings.

 

[tabbitha]

Thank you, Gaia. I don't understand the venom towards Mary either except that some believe she doesn't fit the classic blonde and/or beautiful cinderella that everyone envisions a princess to look like. That what some call her "plain" looks somehow translates into she's not a nice person or she's not a genuine person. I happen to think she is the prettiest of all of the princesses that I've seen. I love her clean cut, girl next door beauty. Her performance as CP of Denmark is just amazing and she has fulfilled her role with grace, dignity, style and humour without any pretentions, imo. I found the RF searching for info on Mary because I wanted to know what all the fuss was about. She's a natural princess and as far as I'm concerned is exactly what a modern princess is and should aspire to be.

Well said and I agree with all you say apart from the idea of a beautiful person having to be blonde are things of the past-well to me anyway- Think of Charlotte Casiraghi and i think of a beautiful raven haired princess or her mother Princess Caroline & Brooke Sheilds -sorry to be off topic slightly -Great post nonetheless. I like that Mary has dark hair and she has an interesting look about her.

 

[ricarda]

How do you know Prince Felipe is even invited to the christening of Prince Sverre Magnus? Frederik and Victoria is attending but they are from the neighbouring countries with whom there are extra close ties. Just like the neighbouring Grand Dukes of Luxembourg and The Dukes of Brabant attended Amalias christening without beeing godparents, Frederik and Haakon did not attend, does that mean they did not bother to show up for Amalia or does it mean they were simply not invited? There is no tradition in Norway to invite ALL royal houses to christenings.

I don't know it. But since Felipe is supposed to be such a good friend of Haakon I would believe he is invited.

I was responding to a person who accused Frederik of having no work ethic because he did not attend his godchild's baptism but found excuses for Felipe who also did not attend his godchild's baptism.

I was simply stating facts and my personal opinion that those excuses don't work for me.
Either you critizise both crownprinces or you excuse both of them.

And now - knowing that Mary is not godmother and Queen Margrethe will attend the baptism, so there is actually no obligation for Frederik to attend - I definitely say, he is making up for his missing.

 

[ricarda]

There´s something that does bother me, and that´s the way Mary sulks when she is on a private trip and she sees photographers around. I know it´s unpleasant to be waylaid by photographers everywhere when it´s not a public event, but sweetheart, it´s part of marrying a prince. The other princesses, I´m sure, don´t like it too, but at least they don´t look so grim and sour like Mary (the latest pics at the ski resort is an example). My goodness, poor Laetiza even had them on her HONEYMOON! And she smiled, and smiled.

1. I don't think Mary looks grim and sour at these pics, although she is not smiling.
2. I have seen pictures of Letizia looking grim and sour even when she was at an official function. She is not always smiling.

This said to put the record straight not to put Letizia down.