What an abomination of an article! Talk about people with vested interests distorting things to fit their preconceived ideas about royalty! Many reporters have been deliberately misleading in the past too, pretending the costs are all about personal spending.
The stylist is not an employee. She has her own business and Mary is one of her clients, that's all.
The reality is, the Danish Royals' apenage has to cover not just domestic household costs, but the salaries and other costs of all the staff involved in their professional lives too. The Crown Prince Couple's Court is like a small business. As DRW pointed out recently, it's NOT a celebrity setup, it runs more like the West Wing.
Here are just a few example's of the way Frederik and Mary contribute. Through their involvement with their patronages and foundations they are engaged in causes addressing the needs of marginalized people, migrant groups, abused women, youths in need of social and psychological support. Mary's foundation achieved a lot of recognition in the 2008. In fact today it has won yet another award. If you take the time to look into Frederik's contribution in the areas of climate and environment and promotion of danish trade, it's quite impressive. There was a lot of official travel in 2008, to promote Danish enterprise. Frederik invited a team of Danish business people to join him in Mongolia to promote Danish green technology there. Mary was in London with the Danish trade delegation 'Creative Nation'. All this costs them money and it all brings positive outcomes for the Danish economy. Mary and Frederik also made Official Visits in Iceland, Bulgaria, Thailand and there was a mission to Uganda with the Danish Refugee Council. These are not holidays. They are officially there as representatives for Denmark. The schedules are usually packed very tight on these visits.There is no down time. It's goodwill and diplomacy on behalf of Denmark. So no, they really don't just sail away time.
The annual report also factors in the costs of depreciation in the value of assets such as cars, plus computers and other office equipment for all the staff. There is also the fact that the couple had to renovate their first home, the Chancellery House. Even though the State owns the building, and maintains the exterior, the interior renovation is at the royals expense.
Similarly, one of the four palaces at Amalienborg is being renovated now, as Frederik and Mary's official residence when they are King and Queen of Denmark. Frederik and Mary don't have ownership of it, the State does, but the Crown Prince Couple must renovate it to a standard fitting for their official residence when they are King and Queen of Denmark.
Palaces and Properties Agency covers the structural aspects of the restoration - the floors were rotted and needed replacing, wall and roof repairs were necessary and the plumbing had not been updated since the 1930's when the then Crown Prince Frederik (later King F IX) and Crown Princess Ingrid were moving in. A good proportion of the expense of refurbishing is born by Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary themselves.
Also, any costs above budget in the annual financial report are covered by the couple themselves. It is no extra drain on the public purse.
If the writer is concerned about foreign dignitaries visiting Australia, I suggest she compares with the amount spent on other royals and dignitaries visiting in the same time period - or the cost of certain Presidential visits. She may just be surprised.
If Carson hopes to gain any respect as a journalist she needs to look beyond stereotypes to see what is really going on, and what a significant contribution Mary and Frederik make to their country in return for the allowance.
I could go on ...
Thanks Lilla for your perspective.