What is your opinion of Frederik and Mary

[crisiñaki]

I'd still follow the DRF 'cuz I like the history and the genealogy of that house, King Frederik IX and Queen Ingrid are amongst my favorite royals

[JessRulz]

Originally Posted by ysbel

For you who watch the Danish Royal Family in Australia, would you still follow the family if Frederik and Mary divorced and both of them remarried to other people (lets say for argument's sake that Fred's second wife would not be Australian or from New Zealand and Mary married a fellow commoner Australian and retired from public view)

I would still follow the Danish royals if (a big if IMO) Mary & Fred divorced and remarried other people. Why? Because I have been introduced to a whole new type of royalty: the down-to-earth kind, that being the Danish royals, the Dutch, the Norwegian, etc. Up until Mary married Fred, the only royalty I knew of was the British royals and the royals from Monaco, both wildly different from the Danish RF. These royal families are addictive because they behave like us, like human beings. And I like Queen Margrethe as well, to me she is excentric, and I like it!

[crisscross1]

I would still follow the DRF if, (and this is a BIG if) Fredrick and Mary were to divorce because little Christian and the new baby, despite the heritage they are born into, will always be Mary's children too and as such will be a huge part of why I like this royal family so much. It seems to me that if you met them in a pub and started a conversation with them, you would find them as easy going as any other young family.
I would love to bump into them and have a beer.

[Vanesa]

I like them. They are simple and seems to be open to "the public"...But for me is a little better that I don't feel they are "exactly" like me, or all the magic thing about them will be lost. They are Royals. And is just for this they have this Forum devoted to them. If they have been like you and me, we should be not speaking of them, here in a message board. I'm sure you don't care to discuss a couple, friend of mine who I use to go to drink beer with. But you really cares to discuss Prince Frederick and Princess Mary. This makes all the difference.

Vanesa.

[Aurora810]

I'm in the minority at least on this page of the thread maybe in other pages it states other things. But I for one do not think of the Danish RF as simple or even down to earth. I mean maybe they are but they are a royal family and they are not constantly letting us in to the palace and letting us see them in real life situations. I think they are mysterious and similar to other royal families. We don't really know what they are really and truly like. Pics and appearances are carefully scheduled and shown to represent the family in a good way not neccesarilly in a natural way. Personally I think they are a little showy at times and I also think much like Beatrix and Elizabeth, Margarethe keeps the standards high. So saying they are simple I can not agree.

I understand the history in the Danish RF and therefore I follow them a bit but not as much as other RF's. I do like Mary's fashion sense. But I haven't been impressed with Fred at all. However, I did recently do some research on his educational experiences and I now know that he has definitely spent more time in a classroom preparing for his future than some other royals. But in recent months/year he hasn't done much that has made me really like him any more or less. However, in Fred's defense I can certainly see that he has a position for life I mean crown prince and then someday king so the attention is never going away from him. So it does make sense that there would be times when he would essentially want or need a break from the rigid very royal schedule of appearances which seems to be happening. Hence Mary seeming to be doing more public appearances than him in recent months.

To sum it all up I wouldn't say I dislike Fred and Mary. But for some reason it has taken me a very long time to warm up to them. I'm still not completely "gaga" over them. I think I pay attention to them more for curiousity reasons then any other reason. I just haven't discovered any real connection to them like I have with other royals. However that's what is so great about having many different royal families to follow.

[JessRulz]

Originally Posted by Aurora810

they are not constantly letting us in to the palace

Do you mean like tours of the palaces/residences? Or do you mean actually seeing them living inside the palaces?

I agree with you on your point of Margrethe keeping the standards high, which I think is good for a monarch to do. I mean, if her expectations of her family were low, we would hardly see any of them!

[Aurora810]

Originally Posted by JessRulz

Do you mean like tours of the palaces/residences? Or do you mean actually seeing them living inside the palaces?

Yes, I mean in actual living situations. Not that I would expect them to or anything. I just think it's hard to say that people are down to earth when you don't actually know them. Yes, it appears they are possibly. Especially since both Fred and Joachim married common girls. But we just don't know for sure.

And also I don't mean standards being kept so high that it makes it possible for us to see them more. I mean standards as in the way they dress and act in public. For example wearing hats to certain events. Dressing in certain wear at certain functions. Acting and walking in certain ways. For example I once saw some pics of the RF walking into a church service in honor of the tsunami victims. Anyways, the thing that struck me as a high standard was that Fred and Mary didn't walk in together like a normal married couple. They instead walked in a line right behind each other. First the Queen her consort, then Fred and Mary followed behind Fred. Typically and I think maybe in the Norwegian RF one would see Haakon and M-M walking in similar to how other regular married couples would walk in, side by side and holding hands possibly. Here are also some examples of this service so you can see what I mean.

http://www.theroyalforums.com/forums...5&d=1104692554 (originally posted by Julia)

http://www.theroyalforums.com/forums...9&d=1104761408 (originally posted by Anna_R)

In my opinion it's these rather small but at the same time large differences between a royal family and a typical/simple family. But that is what I really do like the fact that the standards are a little higher. But at the same time I can't say that I don't like it when the standards aren't as high either. I love the Norwegian RF but I believe there is a much simple approach with them. After all Martha Louise wrote that children's book about how they don't wear crowns because they want to fit in with the regular people more. I wouldn't want every country to be the exact same but the higher standards seems to fit well with Denmark.

[crisscross1]

Originally Posted by Aurora810

I just think it's hard to say that people are down to earth when you don't actually know them. Yes, it appears they are possibly. Especially since both Fred and Joachim married common girls. But we just don't know for sure.
.

I think that I can say with a certain amount of evidence from the past that the family are down to earth. They are seen in public doing more normal things than say, Queen Elizabeth, Princess Anne or other members of the British Royal family. On their recent trip to Tasmania they were seen shopping, walking with dogs and babies, heck, Fred even opened the front door when someone knocked. Mary took a regular flight to Australia and a taxi to her distination. In their homeland they visit her father and stepmother in the car parking on the street and unloading strollers and nappy bags just like any other young family, that to me seems to suggest that, if you met them in a pub, like Fred did Mary, they would be quite happy to chat. That is what I, personally, find so appealing about them. IMO

[Aurora810]

Originally Posted by crisscross1

I think that I can say with a certain amount of evidence from the past that the family are down to earth. They are seen in public doing more normal things than say, Queen Elizabeth, Princess Anne or other members of the British Royal family. On their recent trip to Tasmania they were seen shopping, walking with dogs and babies, heck, Fred even opened the front door when someone knocked. Mary took a regular flight to Australia and a taxi to her distination. In their homeland they visit her father and stepmother in the car parking on the street and unloading strollers and nappy bags just like any other young family, that to me seems to suggest that, if you met them in a pub, like Fred did Mary, they would be quite happy to chat. That is what I, personally, find so appealing about them. IMO

Well that's your opinion. But as for me I'm not sure because I don't know them personally. It's easy to appear down to earth and do "normal" things when people are watching. That is one thing about all RF's they really know how to show themselves as normal which is great. But my point is that I would never go that far as to say that about anyone without sitting down and really talking to them. There's people in this world that do all the things that you just listed but when you sit down with them they are not down to earth they think it's all about them. They think they are all that and a bag of chips. We don't know what goes on behind closed doors!

[Aurora810]

oh and another thing. The trip to Tasmania was meant for them to be in privacy to have time away from the limelight. They should do normal things and do things in a very unassuming manner. It wasn't a state sponsered trip. It wasn't official. Can you imagine the negative headlilnes if Mary had been picked up at the airport in a limo. RF's are smart they know how to appear normal enough but at the same time not too normal. Because if they are too normal the ohh and aww of royalty ceases to exist.

[crisscross1]

Originally Posted by Aurora810

Well that's your opinion. But as for me I'm not sure because I don't know them personally. It's easy to appear down to earth and do "normal" things when people are watching. That is one thing about all RF's they really know how to show themselves as normal which is great. But my point is that I would never go that far as to say that about anyone without sitting down and really talking to them. There's people in this world that do all the things that you just listed but when you sit down with them they are not down to earth they think it's all about them. They think they are all that and a bag of chips. We don't know what goes on behind closed doors!

I don't know what 'being all that and a bag of chips' has to do with being down to earth. You are talking about their personailty. Sure there are people who are boring, interesting, intelligent, egotistic, shy, that is their personalities. I am saying that if I met Fred and Mary in a pub, they give the impression they would take the time to stop and say hello. I might leave the pub and think what crashing bores they were or how incredibly self centered they were, but I would still have had the opportunity to meet them in that normal 'down to earth' setting.
The Prime Minister of Australia, who seems to be 'very down to earth' is quite often seen jogging on a nice morning. People often stop him to say hello and talk about things in general. Apparently he has a warm and kind personality.
That's my point.

[crisscross1]

Originally Posted by Aurora810

oh and another thing. The trip to Tasmania was meant for them to be in privacy to have time away from the limelight. They should do normal things and do things in a very unassuming manner. It wasn't a state sponsered trip. It wasn't official. Can you imagine the negative headlilnes if Mary had been picked up at the airport in a limo. RF's are smart they know how to appear normal enough but at the same time not too normal. Because if they are too normal the ohh and aww of royalty ceases to exist.

Seriously, I think you are missing the point.
Have a Happy Easter.

[Aurora810]

See we are two different people and in my mind "down to earth" is a phrase that you use to describe someone that you know personally. I would never say that about a celeb or royal. I might say hey I heard from people that know Tiger Woods that he is really down to earth I might also say that based on blank Mary seems down to earth. But I would never say that they are definitely down to earth people. My point is that we just don't know for sure. We are judging them by pictures, articles, and short interviews. You can't judge a person accurately by that. This has nothing to do with anything but I often think to myself if I was ever able to meet a few of these royals and get to know them on a personal level I think I might be really shocked. Chances are that the ones I judge to be the most natural, compassionate, and easygoing. The ones I like the most I might not like at all in person. And instead the ones that I was unsure of based on their pics and interviews might actually be the ones I like the most.

[JessRulz]

Originally Posted by Aurora810

For example I once saw some pics of the RF walking into a church service in honor of the tsunami victims. Anyways, the thing that struck me as a high standard was that Fred and Mary didn't walk in together like a normal married couple. They instead walked in a line right behind each other. First the Queen her consort, then Fred and Mary followed behind Fred ... Here are also some examples of this service so you can see what I mean.

http://www.theroyalforums.com/forums...5&d=1104692554 (originally posted by Julia)

http://www.theroyalforums.com/forums...9&d=1104761408 (originally posted by Anna_R)

That possibly could have been because they walked in beside bishops. The aisles aren't wide enough to have more than two people walk side by side, and in this instance, F&M walked beside bishops instead of side by side with each other. But at the reburial of Empress Maria Fydnorovna (spelling?), Mary & Fred did walk in together at the service in Denmark

[Aurora810]

Originally Posted by crisscross1

Seriously, I think you are missing the point.
Have a Happy Easter.

No I'm not missing the point don't judge that post. Look at the time I wrote it I wrote it before you made your next post back to me. That post was really just an add on to my previous post.

It's all about perception. You have your perception of Fred and Mary. And I have mine. I'm new to this royalty thing. I'm not that familiar with everyone. I'm still learning. And I'll admit I have been real slow to warm up to Fred and Mary. Not sure why! But I don't see some of the warmth in pics of them interacting with the people that I see with other royals. But that's just my perception! I very well might be wrong they might be behind closed doors some of the warmest and friendliest people ever and those that I've judged to be warm are in reality not that warm. Do you see what I'm saying? It's all about perception. But make no mistake about it the RF's are very keen to how they are perceived. I think I judge things that they do a little different then you also. But that's expected we are two different people from different places. It's okay to agree to disagree.

[Aurora810]

Originally Posted by JessRulz

That possibly could have been because they walked in beside bishops. The aisles aren't wide enough to have more than two people walk side by side, and in this instance, F&M walked beside bishops instead of side by side with each other. But at the reburial of Empress Maria Fydnorovna (spelling?), Mary & Fred did walk in together at the service in Denmark

I doubt it. The whole mood of the service was just different then that of other things. I didn't mean it as a bad thing I just happened to notice it and thought it was a good way to show an example of higher standards. But another example of higher standards is the use of Fred's uniform. You don't see other princes in their uniforms as much as Fred. I think!