General News about Frederik, Mary and Family 5: December 2009 - July 2010

[Lumutqueen]

Originally Posted by sjetajiem

So now after a dutch Mabel-gate we now have a danish Donaldson-gate.
I suppose there will be a parliamentary inquiry about the relations of the danish CP.

I don't think it will be that serious, a parliamentary inquiry would be useless.
It would be Parliament telling the Crown Princess who she could be friends with, ridiculous.

And it wouldn't be a donaldson gate, due to Mary's change in name.

[sjetajiem]

The friendship with a convicted cocaïne user and the behaviour a member of her charity organization being suspected of possessing child-porno shows a lack of judgement from the side of the CP.
I think this is a major blunder and should at least be investigated in Parliament

[Lumutqueen]

Originally Posted by sjetajiem

The friendship with a convicted cocaïne user and the behaviour a member of her charity organization being suspected of possessing child-porno shows a lack of judgement from the side of the CP.
I think this is a major blunder and should at least be investigated in Parliament

What are they going to investigate her for?
Going to dinner with a large group of friends which happened to include Rigmor.
This member of her charity organization, where have you heard this? Cause that was not mentioned in the story.

As Freye said before

A large group of people were invited according to Mary's friend Ellen Hillengsø who was also there.
Ms Zobel also happened to be one of the people at the party.
That does not make them close friends.

She is NOT part of Mary and Frederik's inner circle.

[sjetajiem]

I think that someone holding a position as future Queen should be spotless!!
People should be confident that their Head of State and his family are not involved in any form of drugs or child-porno.
When crownprince Frederik became engaged to Mary Donaldson there was never anything about an investigation or a permission from the Parliament about the marriage.
In our democracy (Holland) there will always be a parliamentary investigation about blunders made by Royals or Politicians

[Lumutqueen]

Originally Posted by sjetajiem

I think that someone holding a position as future Queen should be spotless!!
People should be confident that their Head of State and his family are not involved in any form of drugs or child-porno.
When crownprince Frederik became engaged to Mary Donaldson there was never anything about an investigation or a permission from the Parliament about the marriage.

You still have yet to explain about this Child Pornography comment.

You hold a ridiculously high account of people then. Mary is human, she is bound to make mistakes.
However this is not one of them.
Mary will not be the head of state, her husband will.
On October 8th 2003, Parliament gave their permission for the couple to Mary, why should they've been an investigation?

[sjetajiem]

Reading the article in the australian Daily Telegraph I strongly get the impression that there is a stronger connection between the child pornograph user and Mary. They know each other better.
Mary will not be the head of state but she is the consort and receives tax-payers money for her maintenance.
People has the right to demand clearness and spotlessness from those receiving tax-payers money

[greenways]

Saw tabloid claims that the Queen told Mary off - how can we know what was said and how it was said? If they had a chat about mixing with certain people, it surely would have been a discreet disussion!

[UserDane]

Originally Posted by sjetajiem

I think that someone holding a position as future Queen should be spotless!!
People should be confident that their Head of State and his family are not involved in any form of drugs or child-porno.
When crownprince Frederik became engaged to Mary Donaldson there was never anything about an investigation or a permission from the Parliament about the marriage.
In our democracy (Holland) there will always be a parliamentary investigation about blunders made by Royals or Politicians

Firstly, I don't know what that child pornography you keep referring to is about. Have you heard something the Danes haven't??

Secondly, just because things are not done in Denmark the way you are used to seeing them done in Holland, does not mean that nothing is investigated or permitted. The queen gave her permission to the marriage. Do you seriously believe she would do that without a prior detailed checkup of the prospective daughter in law? And do you seriously believe that the queen would get away with permitting the marriage if Parliament had been against it?

Yes, Holland is a democracy, but, surprise, other countries can actually be democraties as well - even if they do things a bit differently than in Holland!

[Madame Royale]

I believe this may shed some light on the above's judgement. Note it's in the Entertainment section!

In a further blow, a central member of Mary's charity was charged with a string of offences relating to the imprisonment and assault of an escort worker at his luxury villa.
The financier allegedly held the woman against her will for up to six hours last weekend after she saw child pornography on his computer.

Crown Princess Mary 'scolded' over drug-bust friend Rigmor Zobel | News.com.au (Note: This is the exact same article posted on the Daily Telegraphs web page)

If true, then the man in question will be dealt with in accordance to the law. Secondly, if he hasn't resigned willingly, I'm certain his got no choice in the matter. Thirdly, I see not how this can reflect upon the Crown Princess. What someone has on their private computer at home is of no knoweldge to anyone else unless it's accidentily found. And lets be realistic, it may be just as possible for any of us to know someone with a perverted nature but we're hardly going to know it are we? Like it's something they want to make public knowledge.

This is a very unfortunate set of circumstances that suround the Crown Princess and her good name!

[sgl]

I've always been a fan of the Danish royal family; however, this article is rather disturbing. IF this allegation against the man involved in Mary's charity proves to be true, then Mary needs to take every step possible to distance herself from this person (and hopefully she will, as this is a very serious crime). I would like to know where the writers of this article got their information.

[Madame Royale]

I too would like to know the source of their information. It would certainly be a most serious crime and without a doubt in my mind, I believe the Crown Princess would be entirely dismayed and repulsed to learn of the allegations. I don't think distancing would be problem, nor would their be a single hesitation in doing so.

I'm sure the most stringent of police checks will henceforth play an essential role for anyone even minutely associated with the DRF in an official working capacity. Infcat, I'm sure they are likely to even already take place in many instances, but sometimes you get someone who falls between the cracks which is very unfortunate. Again, that has nothing to do with the Crown Princess and is in no way her fault.

[DesireeR]

I'm a longtime lurker, first time poster. I love, love Mary and her great style. However, I feel compelled to chip in to the debate going on here. Someone said Queen M. reprimanded Mary for associating with this cocaine user/dealer and for bringing the Danish Royal Family's name into ill repute. Another Forum member said: how can we know the private conversations between the Queen and Mary? Well, we need to be aware of the facts here. The Danish Royal Family's own press secretary issued a statement that SAID the Queen had reprimanded Mary for her bad behaviour. So this is not speculation. The press secretary told the media this in a statement! Don't you think it is quite surprising and harsh for the Queen to so publicly berate Mary in this way! Poor Mary, she looked so nervous at the next public event following this embarassing statement by her mother-in-law. It is not speculation. It is fact.

[dee4855]

<<remove comment-JessRulz>> We see the tabloids stated as the Queen telling Mary off. An article from the entertainment section. I will always give Mary the benefit of the doubt before I believe any of the garbage being thrown about. It all started with her going out to a goodbye dinner with friends and it has just exploded into child porn. I just know in the years Mary has been in the DRF she has never been anything but the perfect CP. I do not in anyway ever see her doing anything to embarass the Queen or Frederik. I am sure she has distanced herself so far away from all of it. I am also sure Frederik has had some very harsh words for friends and former friends for ever getting Mary into this mess by just going out for dinner. It would be nice if sources were posted. That does not seem to be the case with this one. I guess I am just shocked how people might believe Mary could ever do something like this.

[DesireeR]

Originally Posted by dee4855

We see the tabloids stated as the Queen telling Mary off.

Dee, I don't wish to upset you but this is not just a tabloid story. The Danish Royal Family's own press secretary - I believe her name is Lene Ballaby - told the press that Queen Margrethe reprimanded Mary. This is not something that "tabloids" made up.

[dee4855]

Originally Posted by DesireeR

Dee, I don't wish to upset you but this is not just a tabloid story. The Danish Royal Family's own press secretary - I believe her name is Lene Ballaby - told the press that Queen Margrethe reprimanded Mary. This is not something that "tabloids" made up.

Do you have a source for the Queen and her dressing down of Mary please.

[DesireeR]

Dee, here is one of many articles that are all across the papers and television news in Australia: Mary faces mum-in-law fury Today's News - The Mercury - The Voice of Tasmania

You will see in this article the careful words chosen by Lene (the Danish Royal Family press secretary).

This article also reports on the person from Mary's charity board who has been caught with child pornography. But more than that, when he was caught with the child pornography he held the woman hostage who discovered it. Good grief, the facts in this story keep getting more serious.

How could both of these things happen to Mary in just one week? And while Fred was out of town in Miami? Poor Mary.

I should also add that it is HIGHLY unusal for the press in Tasmania - Mary's home state - to print negative articles about Mary. You can bet that they researched this article thoroughly before publishing it becasue they are loath to say anything negative about their favourite princess. This article was not in the "Entertainment" section - it was very prominently on the front page of the Sunday paper!

[Madame Royale]

Originally Posted by DesireeR

Dee, I don't wish to upset you but this is not just a tabloid story. The Danish Royal Family's own press secretary - I believe her name is Lene Ballaby - told the press that Queen Margrethe reprimanded Mary. This is not something that "tabloids" made up.

To publically announce that the Queen has reprimanded the Crown Princess (I haven't seen the press release but would be interested to do so) is rediculous. That a respective 38 year old lady is said to have been reprimanded is incredibly embarrassing and at NO point should have any press realease stated that Mary had been subject to any such treatment. Again, I'd very much be interested to see the exact wording of this "press release" of sorts.

All that would have needed to have been said was...

A) The Crown Princess attended a private dinner at which Mrs. Rigmor Zobel was also present.
B) The Crown Princess had been invited at the invitation of the party's hosts, whom the Crown Princess is of a personal association.
C) There are no personal or working affiliations between the Crown Princess and Mrs. Rigmor Zobel.

Generally the royals of course must be aware of who they deal with," royal spokeswoman Lene Balleby briefed reporters.

Where does the above insist the Queen rebuked the Crown Princess?

A "furious" Queen Margrethe issued a stern warning to Mary over the affair, the magazine Se Og Hor reported.

. . .

You can bet that they researched this article thoroughly

You can bet they didn't. It would have been picked up on the "wire" from Europe.

[camelot23ca]

There is only one quote in the above article that comes from anyone officially associated with the Danish Royal Family, and it in no way suggests that the Queen is upset with Crown Princess Mary. It is a very general statement saying that of course the DRF need to be careful who they associate with, which is about as non commital and self evident a statement as you can get - it's like saying water is wet. The part about Queen Margrethe being furious comes from an editor at Se og Hor magazine, which hardly has a history of accuracy in its reporting on the royal family.

[grevinnan]

Originally Posted by sjetajiem

Reading the article in the australian Daily Telegraph I strongly get the impression that there is a stronger connection between the child pornograph user and Mary. They know each other better.
Mary will not be the head of state but she is the consort and receives tax-payers money for her maintenance.
People has the right to demand clearness and spotlessness from those receiving tax-payers money

If we are expecting spotless royals they will all have to step down. I doubt even Mother Theresa passed that test.

[Katrianna]

Se og Hor is a tabloid magazine and whenever a story from it is brought up, I take it with a large grain of salt. I can only say that perhaps the hosts of the dinner should have used discretion when they made out the guest list. It's quite possible the Princess may have not known Ms. Zobel was attending and it was up to the hosts to inform her. If the Princess was aware of Ms. Zobel attending, she should have used more discretion on her part.
Yes, it was a private party, but was held in a public place and the press had full view of the guests and let's face, the press is always hungry for some sort of dust up. Mary has always been very careful to avoid controversy and this is a major reason for the press furor.
As for the man employed by one of HRH's charities, Mary didn't hire this person, the charity did and it's up to them and law enforcement to deal with this incident, not Mary. An inquiry into the Princess's actions? Oh, please!