Reviewing the working lives of other current and former crown princes and princesses it appears Frederik is living a different kind of existence. Must be nice to be first in line to the throne and have the kind of time to train and compete to the extent he is doing. Unless he is planning on declining the role of the next reigning monarch and concentrate on being professional athlete.
It is IMO mainly down to poor communication.
The media and the public interest focus mainly on the female members of the DRF. You know, dresses, hair, bags and stylish photos sell better than men in suits.
When the media, and the public, focus on male royals, is when they do something unusual, preferably manly like sports. Frederik has done a lot of that in recent years and got a lot of press, and indeed admiration, on that account.
Unfortunately that has overshadowed the other things Frederik is doing. Like the environment, IOC, commerce and so on, because it's boring. I.e. men in suits meeting other men in suits outside conference rooms.
That means that only those who read business papers and these threads really get to know what he is otherwise up to.
Frederik is great when it comes to personal interaction but he is a poor communicator. He is a sincere speaker, but a bad orator and that's the main problem. He doesn't get his message across in a way that is clear to the general public. So he has problems holding on to the audience.
Mary in contrast is great at communicating, it has after all been something she has done professionally.
Joachim too, because he is a natural talent when it comes to speaking.
Even our Marie is better, because she lets her feelings come across.
The recent trip to Nepal is an interesting example. I have over the years translated many interviews from such trips with practically all members of the DRF.
With Joachim and Mary, the interviews are crammed with facts about the area and the topic they are visiting.
With Marie, you can hear her cry and hear the horror in her voice when she tells about what happens. She is not the most eloquent but she gets her message across through her personal feelings.
The interview with Frederik was interesting in the way that we got to know how Frederik, the man, approach such a visit - and we got to know that he is learning from Mary - but it wasn't much hard facts about Nepal that we got from him. - The facts, the figures, what is being done, what can be done, that didn't take up much space in the interview.
Fortunately the press did do their job and did some research, so there was in fact a lot of facts from the visit, - but not by Frederik.
You were left with no doubt that he was sincere and committed to helping Red Cross - but he had IMO problems getting that message across.
But returning to what Frederik is doing, we should also consider that he is now vice-president of the "DRF-company" on a day to day basis alongside QMII. And that means quite a few hours at the office dealing with all sorts of trivial matters.
thanks Muhler. 
worth could definitely be a factor. That Fred loves them both and is not ashamed to show them means it would be a no-brainer.
