What is your opinion of Frederik and Mary

[Laviollette]

You are welcome to it.

I don't make disparaging remarks so get your facts straight. But this thread is all about that, period.

 

[Australian]

Yes but my point is, Laviollette, that certain posters have joined this board and started comparing Letizia and Mary and nothing else, i would understand if there was a thread called "Letizia v Mary" but there simply isn't. So that is my point.

 

[capricorninin]

The above examples are just few of those who really are not getting the point. Go on make the comparisons, the disparaging remarks but are you interested in understanding what exactly is bothering you that just stems from this couple's behavior. And why are these same questions being answered differently by others? The idea is to find if the things which are polarizing people really even worth the attention. How much of an impact is it really going to make after a decade or so. People change, all of us and the fact that judgement on this couple is being based on one moment in time is unfair to these two.

Maxima's social skills are something to be envied, but when you see a picture of her blowing a gum in a high profilic event as Turin Olympics, it is a contrast to royal behavior. And Letizia's career is very inspiring in itself for us modern woman, but really what is it to do with her job as rearing the heir to Spain's throne or when her royal duty consists of following her husband. As for Frederick some of us do find him good looking and for smartness, it would be such a shame for someone as brilliant as Einstein to be left running a monarchy instead of devoting his time for the goodness of humanity.

I am not trying to offend any of you. Sometimes I have the same problem, of categorising people. But the loss is all mine as I end up not appreciating those good qualities which I lack.

 

[capricorninin]

Sorry for my brief comment, I was trying to talk about your stand towards your comment. Different people, different perceptions.

 

[Idriel]

Though Mary may well indeed be a nice girl , i think she is overrated.. She is pretty but plain.. very plain... nothing that makes me go "wow"... Princess Letizia is extremely beautiful , smart , and has a certain charisma about her.. she is truly a one of a kind..

What is your point here? Mary is plain, so she is a bad CP, Letizia is beautiful, so she is a good CP?
Seriously, have you read the title of this thread?
I don't want to be aggressive or nasty but this is not a teenybopper thread about who you would take on a date.
Please do make valid points!!
This thread was very interesting until only few weeks ago, why do the conversation is heading so low now?

 

[Australian]

I know! I agree with you Idiel, lets make a move to make it more mature again. But then again, I don't really agree with the idea of this thread.

What bothers me about Frederik and Mary is that maybe the press try and make them look like a perfect couple when possibly they could be just a normal couple as any. I think the press ahs a lot to do with how people are perceived which could bother famous couples, ie Frederik and Mary. What if they dont want to be portrayed as that? They dont have a choice.

 

[Lena]

2 days at the Olympics and 2 days in northern Germany with more or less meaningless duties...good, that Frederik has the remaining February off!! No one wants him to burn out

 

[linda85]

Lena,

You gave me a good chuckle with that "No one wants him to burn out "
comment. Love it!!
Linda 85

 

[Saragli]

They really havent been doing much but I guess in their monarchy it is not required.

 

[UserDane]

2 days at the Olympics and 2 days in northern Germany with more or less meaningless duties...good, that Frederik has the remaining February off!! No one wants him to burn out

Do you seriously believe that royals only carry out duties in front of a camera??

​

 

[ricarda]

meaningless duties?
I don't think an official visit to the neighbour-country - and especially a part of the country where 10% of the population are Danes and a city which is an important economy-partner - is meaningless.
Subjects like border policy and the increasing cooperation between Northern Germany and Denmark were discussed.

About the purpose of their visit to Hamburg
http://www.abendblatt.de/daten/2006/02/11/532685.html

And Frederik will be regent from 25th of February to 2nd of March.
More work for him.

But nevertheless I don't think he will burn out.

 

[Lena]

Do you seriously believe that royals only carry out duties in front of a camera??



​

I´ve waited for that...now I just need additionally the
"He is a young father, who wants to care for his baby son"-comment
For what should Frederik prepare, when he doesn´t perform then duties?? And when we talk about office work...what should then much harder working and more known Felipe and Letizia say? They have a lot of duties and surely a lot requests for duties etc. Not at least because they seem to give positive answers on requests
I think the danish court informs us pretty well, about his duties. In the calendar they mentioned Mary´s birthday and for some months everyday, he acts as regent (which usually doesn´t mean much) and they made a 3 day event of Sverre´s baptism, while it is an one day event in the norwegian calendar.
But good (for him) to see, that the Danes swallow it. Frederik is their prince and not mine. If so I would write the one or another reader´s letter to danish newspapers

 

[ricarda]

I´ve waited for that...now I just need additionally the
"He is a young father, who wants to care for his baby son"-comment
For what should Frederik prepare, when he doesn´t perform then duties?? And when we talk about office work...what should then much harder working and more known Felipe and Letizia say? They have a lot of duties and surely a lot requests for duties etc. Not at least because they seem to give positive answers on requests

Well, let's see:
Spain:
504.782 km² 43.094 km²
40.217.500 inhabitants
(5.1 mill. in Madrid only)

Denmark:
43.094 km²
5.384.400

Yes, I am sure Felipe and Letizia have more requests and more duties, simply because Spain is a much bigger country.
In Denmark 7 members of the family are out doing their duties and there is a saying that you can't escape the royals wherever you are. In Spain it's the king and queen and the cps, Elena and Cristina are not doing much.
As - I think - scout said: in Denmark the danger of an overkill is much bigger than being accused of not working enough.

 

[UserDane]

I´ve waited for that...now I just need additionally the
"He is a young father, who wants to care for his baby son"-comment

Sorry to disappoint you then....

I think the danish court informs us pretty well, about his duties. In the calendar they mentioned Mary´s birthday and for some months everyday, he acts as regent (which usually doesn´t mean much) and they made a 3 day event of Sverre´s baptism, while it is an one day event in the norwegian calendar.
But good (for him) to see, that the Danes swallow it. Frederik is their prince and not mine. If so I would write the one or another reader´s letter to danish newspapers

The court's calendar is often strange, IMO. Sometimes the magazines here have mentioned that Frederik or Joachim have been out in field manouvres with the regiments they are connected to, but the calendar doesn't mention it. They usually make a note of birthdays in the royal family and that includes Mary.
As to the Norwegian baptism the three days just indicate that F&M might spend some more time in Norway, perhaps with H & MM?? No big deal, at least nothing that needs to be 'swallowed'.
Do feel free to write the Danish newspapers - no one will stop you.


​

 

[Lena]

Well, let's see:
Spain:
504.782 km² 43.094 km²
40.217.500 inhabitants
(5.1 mill. in Madrid only)

Denmark:
43.094 km²
5.384.400

Yes, I am sure Felipe and Letizia have more requests and more duties, simply because Spain is a much bigger country.
In Denmark 7 members of the family are out doing their duties and there is a saying that you can't escape the royals wherever you are. In Spain it's the king and queen and the cps, Elena and Cristina are not doing much.
As - I think - scout said: in Denmark the danger of an overkill is much bigger than being accused of not working enough.

I know the figures, thanks
But what speaks against engaging for foreign countries (I feel an itch to say Iran ) , such as princess Alexandra does it? Or what speaks against a real field, where he would get engaged until he becomes king?? E.g. he could work for the IOC, WHO, Unicef, the WTO etc. pp.
I might be wrong...but this comment of scout could say (me) a lot about the Danes in general

 

[ricarda]

The court's calendar is often strange, IMO. Sometimes the magazines here have mentioned that Frederik or Joachim have been out in field manouvres with the regiments they are connected to, but the calendar doesn't mention it. They usually make a note of birthdays in the royal family and that includes Mary.

Yes, and there have been official duties that are not listed.
Like for example the funeral of the Austrian president.
Others are listed twice (on the website of the family).

I personally think the person who is in charge for the updating of this calendar should be fired.

 

[ricarda]

I know the figures, thanks
But what speaks against engaging for foreign countries (I feel an itch to say Iran ) , such as princess Alexandra does it? Or what speaks against a real field, where he would get engaged until he becomes king?? E.g. he could work for the IOC, WHO, Unicef, the WTO etc. pp.
I might be wrong...but this comment of scout could say (me) a lot about the Danes in general

I don't really know why they do things the way they do them.
But if I compare Frederik with Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands (another small country but with larger population) I don't think he works that much less.
Frederik is patron of Save the Children Denmark and other organizations. He is very much engaged with Greenland (important for Denmark), design, art and sport (ISAF for example).

I also think that being engaged with humanitarian organizations in the way Alexandra and Joachim are is traditionally more a thing for the less important members of the royal family.

 

[Mandy]

Several post have moved into here from this thread because members are not playing by the rules.

This the final warning.

This is the only thread where members can discuss what bothers them about Frederik and Mary. This thread is not a comparison between Frederik and the other princes. It is not a comparison between Mary and the other princesses. It is not a comparison between Denmark and the countries.

Mandy
Royal Forums Administrator

 

[Lena]

He was just doing this in Germany and you called it meaningless.

So now back to the topic of this thread.
But if you like you can start a thread "What bothers me about Frederik".

I don´t think that Mary and Frederik going to this fat cat dinner helped much to improve the relations between an ordinary Dane and an ordinary german.

 

[Saragli]

Well it doesnt say much on the offical calendar and no one hears about anything else they do. So pretty much they dont do much.

 

[Saragli]

Does anybody know the official number of engagments the couple undertook in 2005? A state visit is importent but somebody doesnt need to take a whole month off to be good and ready for it.

 

[Alexandria]

Does anybody know the official number of engagments the couple undertook in 2005? A state visit is importent but somebody doesnt need to take a whole month off to be good and ready for it.

I know it's going to sound tired and like a broken record, but it's important to emphasize that in different royal courts what constitutes as a royal duty that would be written in the official calendar varies.

Some royal courts would count attendance at the Torino games as an official duty -- if someone is there for three days, that counts as three days of work, while for other royal courts those three days would count as only one act. And in some courts, it doesn't count as an act at all.

So to ask for the official number of days that Frederik's been working isn't really representative of how many days Frederik's been working.

For example, in the Danish court it could be cited that Frederik has attended 15 official functions but in the Dutch court those same duties might be counted as 22 for Willem and in the Norwegian court it might only count as 10.

I think such comparisons are as unhelpful as comparing Crown Princesses. I don't think there is any fair "formula" to assess how much more hard working Frederik is than any other Crown Prince. At the end of the day, what matters ultimately is if the Danish people are happy with Frederik's workload and if the Norwegian people are happy with Haakon's workload and so forth.

 

[Saragli]

I see. The people are happy with them, thats what I ment when I said there monarchy must not require a lot of work. I think there rather lazy but if there good enough for the majority of danes then there good enough for me.

 

[Alexandria]

I see. The people are happy with them, thats what I ment when I said there monarchy must not require a lot of work. I think there rather lazy but if there good enough for the majority of danes then there good enough for me.

I'm not saying that I think they're lazy. But I agree on the other point: If the Danes are happy with their royal representation then who am I sitting at my desk in Canada to raise a red flag?

In other monarchies the work load might lead to an outcry but in Denmark they seem happy so who's the rest of the world to cast judgement, right?

 

[ricarda]

I don´t think that Mary and Frederik going to this fat cat dinner helped much to improve the relations between an ordinary Dane and an ordinary german.

State visits/official visits are important for the political, economical, cultural relation between two states not between private persons, ordinary or not.
The fat cats of this dinner were politicians, diplomats, bankers, businessmen.
(a guestlist http://www.abendblatt.de/daten/2006/02/18/535127.html?s=4)
The mayor held a speech in which he declared Hamburgs solidarity with Denmark...and so on.
Of course this trip and this feast helped to improve the relation between Denmark and Germany.
And btw, the couple also met ordinary Germans.

 

[Marengo]

2 days at the Olympics and 2 days in northern Germany with more or less meaningless duties...good, that Frederik has the remaining February off!! No one wants him to burn out

What duties of Frederik, or any other crownprince(ss) would you consider as meaninfull then? I think most royals perform duties like these, without a clear result.
Though I agree with your pointy remark about the number of Frederiks appearances

 

[Ethel]

I truly don't understand why Mary and Frederik and always the object of criticism. I haven't seen any other Crown Princely Couple being attacked the way they are. The fact that they are always being compared to other couples is also very disgusting, people definitely do that when they can't get their points straight, that's very low.

I live in a country where nobody knows about Mary, because of the language and our heritage we listen a lot more about Felipe and Letizia, I personally don't follow what they do therefore I don't criticize since I don't know them. That's the problem with many people posting on this thread, they have read or heard something wrong about M&F and then come and splash it over as it were a fact.

Yes, I really do like Mary and Fred, I believe they are beautiful couple and their story is a fairytale. I understand that not everybody has to like them, but if you don't, make a valid arguement, based on facts, stop those cheap comments on how other princesses may be better.

Just my 2 cents...

 

[hofburg]

You know what I seriously don't understand about that? How come they are so, so very popular?! Is it because all the star-struck Aussie readers of Hello are voting as if their lives depended on it?

Seriously, when I think about what I know about Frederik as a person, it really is not much.

1. Is he smart? Dunno. The one interview with him I read had only one interesting thing to say, which was that he as a child felt distant from his parents. But that was it. Not someone with an interesting vision, imho.

2. Is he good looking? Mwah. He's ok looking but certainly not better looking than the other princes in the poll, Haakon and Felipe of Spain.

3. Mary.
Is she prettier, smarter, nicer or otherwise more special than, say, Letizia of Spain or Maxima of the Netherlands? What are Mary's redeeming qualities? She's not artistic and eccentric like Margarethe, she's not of the exotic beauty of her ex sister in law. Heck, she doesn't even work as hard (ok, not yet) as Alexandra.

I know liking someone (especially having only the media as a source) is in the eye of the beholder, but come on, what on the planet is just so special about this prettyfied girl-next-door over an obivously smart girl like Letizia, or an obviously gregarious and social girl like Maxima?

Why oh why, is really my question, is Mary so lionized? I'm mystified... I take it I must have some perhaps obvious blind spot when it comes to this, in my view, average-on-all-fronts couple.

The only reason I see for liking her is, weirdly, her father: he seems to be a down to earth kind of guy, a bit no nonsense. Maybe she is like him and is down to earth and that's what people like about her?

Personally, I think the make a lovely couple. They just exude happiness and people relate to that.

 

[Polioliau]

Most Aussies couldn't care less about Mary

Is it because all the star-struck Aussie readers of Hello are voting as if their lives depended on it?...........

FYI, Hello is sold in Australia but is not an Australian edition, it is the English copy which is available and 99% of the people who buy the magazine are English people who have moved here and who can't live without their English gossip!

Australians are mostly not interested at all in what ANY royalty are doing, never mind the specifics of Mary and Frederick, but the magazines get themselves in a frenzy all the same, and it is good for the sales to be seen to have a new story about Mary. Mostly it is about the British RF all the time so sometimes the stories vary a little bit.

Royalty has no bearing on life in Australia. Mary comes across as a snob. It was her choice to move to Denmark and she should have thought about all the consequences before she did. It was just sickening to see how she was when she came back here last year.

 

[Toledo]

I'm lost here trying to make sense of some posts, some negative posts that is.

The events scheduled for one set of royals cannot be equated in importance to another set of royals someplace else. Every country, big and small, has a different need from their royal families. And if some people, some new people, have a bone to pick with a particular royal then why bother to come in here and speak ill about her like if your lives depended on it? Is coming in here some sort of needed Catharsis that makes you feel better?

I'm sorry to inform you negative guys that we, who either like monarchies or are just royal watchers, don't need your opinion to validate our lives.