Prince Joachim and Marie Cavallier

[Katie]

A little collage I have made:

[ysbel]

Originally Posted by norwegianne

The Danish royal family has a tendency to use Billed-Bladet and B.T when they're being interviewed. Princess Elisabeth's 70th anniversary last year was marked with an interview in Billed Bladet and Prince Henrik's temper tantrum was ignited by an interview in B.T.

The editor of Billed Bladet recently was knighted by the Queen.

At this stage in the relationship, I'm not sure if it is right to go to the more serious Jyllandsposten/Politiken.

Thanks norwegianne. That makes more sense now.

Like others I was struck with Marie's resemblance to Mary. Its unusual for brothers to be attracted to the same type of girl although they may be very different once you get to know them.

[Warren]

Originally Posted by ysbel

Like others I was struck with Marie's resemblance to Mary. Its unusual...

OK, one of them has to go blonde. Which one?

[ysbel]

Originally Posted by Warren

OK, one of them has to go blonde. Which one?

LOL Warren Come to think of it I don't think Joachim or Frederik have ever dated blondes.

At least its not as unusual as guys marrying girls that look like them. I've seen some husband and wife teams that look like brother and sister. Its always a little jarring.

[purple_platinum]

another set of photos.. this time by Thomas Willman from POLFOTO via DPA

Marie Cavallier, with her dog Apple in Geneva, Switzerland, photo on 16.03.2006.
By newspaper interview, Marie Cavallier, 30, announce herself as a new girlfriend of the Danish Prince Joachim, 36. She loves him much, said her to the Copenhagen magazine Billed Bladet. She is living in Geneva. In the last months of Denmark had several times brought media over the new connection after one year of a divorce from princess Alexandra, to report, for which there was however no confirmation from first hand.

[norwegianne]

It does seem a bit like the photographers are hanging around outside her apartment, waiting for the time when she has to walk her dog... Considering that Billed Bladet were so considerate that they also published a picture of her building, I wouldn't at all be surprised.

[fromEU]

Originally Posted by Alexandria

I don't know if the Danish royal family is behind everything surrounding Marie. Perhaps with Joachim's consent Marie spoke to the press, but these paparazzi shots of her walking her dog or out and about might not have been part of the Danish royal court's plans. But once you give (official) acknowledgement to someone being part of a royal's life, it seems sort of an open field for the media to cover them.

It might also be part of the Danish royal court's plans to guage the public feeling/sentiment on a Joachim and Marie marriage. Alexandra is very well loved and appreciated in Denmark and the divorce came as a surprise to many, so perhaps the Danish royal court is trying to see how well Marie will be perceived by the public.

And with so many comparisons (here alone) between the physical resemblance between Mary and Marie, perhaps the Danish court is trying to guage if that's a good thing or a bad thing, or if it's nothing at all. The media and public perception is a big part of royal families today, and the Danish royal family has such high approval ratings that I'm sure they would want to keep it that high and wouldn't want public opinon of them to be jeopardized.

The Danish royal family is not behind anyhting of this. Marie says in one of the interviews that she has not met any in the family. The court spokeswoman said to Berlingske Tidende, that she knows nothing about the relationship other than what she has read in the press. So the court is not behind it either. I think this is Maries own doing, possible with an okay from Joachim. They have possible agreed that she should give the press a little something to satisfy them when they find her.

[norwegianne]

Originally Posted by fromEU

The Danish royal family is not behind anyhting of this. Marie says in one of the interviews that she has not met any in the family. The court spokeswoman said to Berlingske Tidende, that she knows nothing about the relationship other than what she has read in the press. So the court is not behind it either. I think this is Maries own doing, possible with an okay from Joachim. They have possible agreed that she should give the press a little something to satisfy them when they find her.

Berlingske also mentions that this openness is possibly due to the fact that the borders around what can and cannot be discussed has moved a lot since Joachim and Alexandra's divorce.

I think it also might be something Joachim learned from Mary and Frederik, when the press found Mary she said no comment, but that also meant that she was hounded by the press.

If Marie and Joachim goes with a more open route, and establish how "boring and normal" their relationship is, there should be little sense in the press hounding Marie. At least in my opinion. They get their pictures now, and interviews, and so there is not much more to do.

It's also a reflection, I think, on how quiet it really is around the Danish royal family now - the press can't begin to look at Mary's stomach yet for the next baby, so they have to have something to blow up:p

[Empress]

Originally Posted by purple_platinum

another set of photos..

I tell you what, if she is taking it upon herself to announce things and to pose at such an early stage, my opinion of her is not too high, and I am not sure she is princess material. But again, that is just my opinion. I think royals and those that they date should be discreet, classy and somport themselves in a manner becoming such a station in life!

[norwegianne]

I wonder what language the interview was conducted in.

[Alexandria]

Originally Posted by fromEU

I think this is Maries own doing, possible with an okay from Joachim. They have possible agreed that she should give the press a little something to satisfy them when they find her.

Wouldn't Joachim have to get the okay from the royal court to allow Marie to speak to the press though?

This seems like a "risky" and potentially bad pattern for Joachim to allow/give permission for his girlfriend to speak to the media. They have been dating for six months and he hasn't been divorced for that long. I know that he is happy and in love now, but who knows if this relationship will last (I don't wish either of them sadness, but I'm just saying). I would personally error on the side of caution and when (if) there is an engagement, then Marie can speak to the press as much as she pleases.

Without knowing anything about Marie's personality, I much prefer the route Mary took -- she laid low despite the media attention and the paparazzi hounding her. She smiled and was polite when they caught her out and about in her private life but said nothing other than the polite necessities. And when things were official, then she spoke to the media. To me, this bodes a better example than the route Marie's taking.

And in Joachim's case, as opposed to Frederik and Mary's case, things need to be handled with much greater care. He has an ex-wife with whom he needs to maintain decent relations with for the sake of their children and there's no need to have his new girlfriend give an interview about how in love she is with him, and he has two young sons who are impressionable and have feelings and don't necessarily need to meet everyone their father dates unless things are serious with them.

[Princejohnny25]

Thats a very good question. If it was conducted in Danish then that means she must be learning danish unless she knew it since she was a child which I doubt. If she is learning Danish then that means the relationship is pretty serious.

[norwegianne]

I think it was stated by the Danish press around Christian's birth, that they (the press) weren't very impressed with the knowledge that the Palace spokesperson had about it all (almost minimum), or the way she was handling the whole debacle. I wonder if we're getting into something similar here?

Learned people that Berlingske talked with said that it would be extremely strange if Joachim hadn't talked to someone in the royal family before going ahead with this. Not necessarily the spokesperson, though. She seems pretty out of the loop on everything.

[Laviollette]

photo by Jeppe Michael Jensen



http://www.berlingske.dk/grid/indlan...kel:aid=710872

[Alexandria]

There is definitely something very charismatic about Marie. She has a very big and welcoming smile and eyes that light up when she smiles, especially in the above picture Laviolette has posted by Jeppe Michael Jensen.

An observation: It's surprising that in this thread there has been a lot of discussion and comparison of Marie to Mary, and even a bit to Margrethe, but hardly any comparison of Marie to Alexandra. I know that they don't resemeble each other much but there have been comments about Marie's demeanor or her energy in comparison to Margrethe's and Mary's.

It's interesting that post-divorce both Joachim and Alexandra have chosen very different partners. They obviously don't have a "type!"

[ysbel]

It's ironic that if Mary had chosen to change her name upon marrying Frederik, it probably would have been Marie.

I don't know what to make of it. For Marie to talk about babies if they're not serious would make most men run away as fast as possible. If he stays with her, Joachim must be the most patient and understanding man on earth.

I still find it hard to believe that Joachim or anyone else in the DRF would have just said OK, go talk to Billed Bladet without any advice at all. If they did, that was incredibly unfair.

[soCal girl]

As other posters have stated; Marie does seem like a sweet girl. Maybe a little off to go off chattering to the press about babies but she still looks like a nice girl. I hope she knows not to do this kind of thing in the future, it doesn't look good without a ring on the finger, she should know now that she's put herself out there that she's probably going to be judged like crazy and possibly even hounded. I think Marie looks more like Kate Middleton now, except that Marie smiles a lot more!