Frederik and Mary's Introduction and Courtship

[ashelen]

Originally Posted by auntie

I was just reacting to a post that implied that after the initial meeting Fred flew back to Sydney to meet her again, and that's how their relationship began, which according to Mary, after the night they met they first exchanged emails, communicated for a year or so and then commenced their relationship to a more personal romantic level, that was a very smart or well guided step to take as they got to know each other before they got involved. A step everyone should take, royal or common!

I met myhusband by chance, just friends, we wrote eachtoehr for a year, after the letters arrive with rose petals inside, after phone calls, after presents, I was in southamerica, he in europe and aftr a year of letters i decide i would visit him in France 16 months later we were married in england in a castle! so without him being a prince, it was real fantasy romance like probably mary and fred!

[BurberryBrit]

Originally Posted by auntie

I was just reacting to a post that implied that after the initial meeting Fred flew back to Sydney to meet her again, and that's how their relationship began, which according to Mary, after the night they met they first exchanged emails, communicated for a year or so and then commenced their relationship to a more personal romantic level, that was a very smart or well guided step to take as they got to know each other before they got involved. A step everyone should take, royal or common!

In her interview she stated that she and Fred were in contact via e-mail AND he came to Sydney very soon after their initial meeting on "business." It was NOT after a year of e-mails until the saw each other again so you are incorrect. It was within the space of a few weeks. From the interview with Mary by Ninka:

"We drove to a bar called "Slip-Inn", and it was there we met, then. It was a party of some Australians and two nephews of the Spanish king, plus Crown Prince Frederik and Prince Joachim, Prince Nikolaus of Greece and Princess Märta-Louise. I didn't new who they were. Half an hour later one my flatmates came up to me and asked" Do you know these people are prince this and princess that?". Of course we have Queen Elisabeth as head of state, but in many ways we are a kind of republic, we dodn't have royals in Australia, so it was kind of unusual to run into that kind of people. But aside from that it was quite ordinary. Frederik and I began to converse, and we simply didn't stop talking. And that was IT! A very long conversation, which continued over a year or rather 14 month. Next day he and his brother travelled to Melbourne. But a week later I met with him and his friends to a dinner. After that he travelled Australia for six weeks. When he came back we met again, but he was called back at home, because his grandmother was seriously ill. He was very affected by this and wanted to leave as quickly as possibly. We got one and a half day together, then, where we had hoped for a week to learn each other a little better."

As you can see, Mary and Fred did NOT go without seeing each other for a year while they wrote letters. They saw each other a week and then again soon after the first meeting.

[Fashionista100]

Why are we always so negative about other women? I would have left my country to live with someone who I was in love with. And we act like Fred was stupid or something. There is no lying or being stealthy on Mary or anyone elses part. Fine you don't like her. But why do people accuse Mary of such horrible things?

[dee4855]

I feel it is a true love match. They did not jump right into a marriage.

[auntie]

Originally Posted by BurberryBrit

In her interview she stated that she and Fred were in contact via e-mail AND he came to Sydney very soon after their initial meeting on "business." It was NOT after a year of e-mails until the saw each other again so you are incorrect. It was within the space of a few weeks. From the interview with Mary by Ninka:


As you can see, Mary and Fred did NOT go without seeing each other for a year while they wrote letters. They saw each other a week and then again soon after the first meeting.

Sorry for the mistake, yes they did see each other soon after that, but still on a friendly basis, Mary said on the documentary b4 her wedding that they were on friendly terms for a year or so, and got to know each other better, Mainly communicating by email untill their relationship took a different turn. The CP is doing a fabulous job and they look terribly happy, but why do some people just idolize her being a saint like Diana Princess of Wales, she is human like the rest of us and took to the situation very well!

[ricarda]

Who is idolizing Mary as being a saint?
And who thinks Diana was a saint?

[BurberryBrit]

Originally Posted by auntie

Sorry for the mistake, yes they did see each other soon after that, but still on a friendly basis, Mary said on the documentary b4 her wedding that they were on friendly terms for a year or so, and got to know each other better, Mainly communicating by email untill their relationship took a different turn. The CP is doing a fabulous job and they look terribly happy, but why do some people just idolize her being a saint like Diana Princess of Wales, she is human like the rest of us and took to the situation very well!

Nothing that I posted referred to Mary as a saint. I'm not sure where that's coming from. I simply clarified that Mary was not in a position to trap Fred. Not only was she middle class (compared to some of his former girlfriends) but she was from a completely different culture and world. Fred's interest was obviously piqued which was why he came back so soon to see Mary. That's the only *baiting* that took place: Fred wooing Mary.

[Helen88]

Originally Posted by BurberryBrit

Mary didn't come from money, nobility or aristocracy. She certainly didn't have friends on the inside telling her how to act or what to do.

The thing I wonder about is how she met him in the first place then. I know they met at a party but Mary was friends was the person who was friends with the Royals?

P.S.: Sorry, I hope this is not too off topic!

[BurberryBrit]

Originally Posted by Helen88

The thing I wonder about is how she met him in the first place then. I know they met at a party but Mary was friends was the person who was friends with the Royals?

P.S.: Sorry, I hope this is not too off topic!

The night Mary met Fred, she was going to another party. But a friend of Mary's was invited to the Slip Inn by Bettina (I think). Bettina's sister was a friend of Juan Carlos' nephew. Instead of going with her original plans, she at the last moment went to the Slip Inn.

From the ninka interview:
"And how did I meet him, then? Yes, I lived together with four others in a big house. It was at the time of the Olympic games in Sidney, and one of my flatmates had been invited to take a few friends along to a bar to meet some spaniards, who participated in the games. As it happens, that evening I was in fact going to a kind of goodbye party at a friends place a couple of houses down the street, but when the taxi arrived I thought: "No, I change my mind and take with you!". A sudden decision taken in a split second. I think perhaps because I was the one who had lived in the house longest, and because it was the first time we were going out together."

[auntie]

Originally Posted by BurberryBrit

Nothing that I posted referred to Mary as a saint. I'm not sure where that's coming from. I simply clarified that Mary was not in a position to trap Fred. Not only was she middle class (compared to some of his former girlfriends) but she was from a completely different culture and world. Fred's interest was obviously piqued which was why he came back so soon to see Mary. That's the only *baiting* that took place: Fred wooing Mary.

You didn't imply that Mary was a saint, but there is a tendency of the CP's fans to avidly and ferociously protect her when anyone on this forums implies she might not be as perfect as she tries to behave. I, for one admire her, she works hard and seems to be a quality type of person, intelligent and well mannered. On the other hand I don't for one moment doubt that if Fred wasn't in the social and financial position he was it's highly unlikely she would have pursued the relationship after Sydney.

[BurberryBrit]

Originally Posted by auntie

You didn't imply that Mary was a saint, but there is a tendency of the CP's fans to avidly and ferociously protect her when anyone on this forums implies she might not be as perfect as she tries to behave. I, for one admire her, she works hard and seems to be a quality type of person, intelligent and well mannered. On the other hand I don't for one moment doubt that if Fred wasn't in the social and financial position he was it's highly unlikely she would have pursued the relationship after Sydney.

And it's possible she may have. Many have done crazy things for love. Having a long distance relationship with someone from another county is the least, I'm sure.

[MARG]

Originally Posted by BurberryBrit

And it's possible she may have. Many have done crazy things for love. Having a long distance relationship with someone from another county is the least, I'm sure.

I agree, they sparked an interest in each other. I think that Mary would have been less inclined to marry "Fred" the prince as opposed to "Fred" the man. I think he had to work at it, or, to use his words, to "woo her". It is one thing to marry a man for wealth and position, but I should think that the "baggage" that came with CP "Fred" would be enough to put most people off. And, as Mary said, downunder Royalty is the BRF and they are a long way away. She wouldn't have overlooked the salutary lesson of the marriage debacle of Diana, Princess of Wales. And she did not marry out of her cultureal and socio-economic background!

[Jo of Palatine]

Originally Posted by auntie

On the other hand I don't for one moment doubt that if Fred wasn't in the social and financial position he was it's highly unlikely she would have pursued the relationship after Sydney.

How can you be so sure about that, I wonder? We know that they met and we know that they ended up married. That's facts. But how can anyone be sure that under different circumstances she would not have wanted him? He is a good looking guy, charming and surely he gives her the love she needs. These are characteristics that make many, many men likeable and marriageable all around the world - men who are no princes but definately no frogs either, men that end up married as well as the Crown prince of Denmark.

Originally Posted by BurberryBrit

When he came back we met again, but he was called back at home, because his grandmother was seriously ill. He was very affected by this and wanted to leave as quickly as possibly.

That's BTW exactly what happened with Charles and Diana. They met when Charles was trying to come to terms with the loss of his uncle Lord Mountbatten who had been murdered and Diana offered him much needed emotional support. They became friends through this and he decided Diana was the one to marry.

Same with Frederick. He mourned his grandmother and Mary supported him through phone calls, emails and later on meeting him again. Both Charles and Frederick met their wifes in a situation where they opened up and let them be consoled, then deciding that this girl was Miss Right. It's very understandible, IMHO. Though it seems Frederick really found a deep friendship as well as love while Charles had not been so lucky.

[rosalee]

Did Frederick ever say what it is about Mary which drew him in, initially?

[Currier]

Yes, rosalee, in Frederik's speech to Mary on their wedding day, he is quoted as saying," I had only been in Australia two days before our fates were sealed, even though neither of us was aware of it. But your radiance shone clearly for me from our first meeting. Since then I have been blinded and totally dependent on it." I take that to mean her smile, her gorgeous eyes, her charming manner, etc.

[Camm2]

I long for the simpler days when an Aussie sheila would conk someone she was interested in over the head with a cricket bat and drag him back to her lair.

[Odette]

Originally Posted by Camm2

I long for the simpler days when an Aussie sheila would conk someone she was interested in over the head with a cricket bat and drag him back to her lair.

That would have made for huge headlines across the world...........LOL
Mary conks Fred over the head with a cricket bat and drags him back to her lair.........

[janine1984]

Sydney lass plays lady in waiting - theage.com.au

Joining the discussion were a couple of flirtatious Australian women, who started debating whether hairy or hairless was sexier. One was Beatrice Tarnawski, whose sister was a friend of the nephew of the king of Spain. Ms Tarnawski happened to invite her friend Andrew Miles and his flatmate along for a beer and pizza on that first night of the Games.
The flatmate was Mary Donaldson, a vivacious brown- eyed former law student from Tasmania who had spent the past seven years living in Sydney's eastern suburbs.
It was Ms Tarnawski who got the discussion going, and at one point all the women in the group were rubbing their common hands over the very princely torsos to compare which was the more sensual.

"All the girls around the table were discussing what is best, the man with a hairy chest or a man without hair, and the princes were wearing open shirts," said Ms Tarnawski.
"We were allowed to touch Prince Frederik and Prince Nikolaos. I liked Prince Frederik best because he was so smooth. Prince Nikolaos had a lot of hair and that really wasn't my type."
Ms Donaldson, too:-), liked the hairless Crown Prince Frederik and they partied on into the night. But it was the common interests of the prince and Ms Donaldson, particularly horses and a sense of sporting adventure, that drew them together.

[Muhler]

I have been unable to find such a thread anywhere, so here we go.

This is a story about Mary and Frederik on a private holiday, before their relationship let alone engagement, was known.

Billed Bladet #13, 2007-03-29.

Mary og Frederiks hemmelige paradis – Mary and Frederik’s secret paradise.

- “Your Crown Prince and his girlfriend were here before they were officially engaged”, says Buddy.
He is sitting under the sign with “Buddy’s rest”, wearing dark blue jeans, pink and newly-ironed shirt and a light cowboy-hat. The big square-built man is half aborigini (?) and an institution here – some would use the expression an attraction. Buddy Tyson was a rodeo-champion at El Questro in the 60’s, until the unlucky combination of accidents and too far to the hospital ended the fun. Later he worked as a cowboy and bull-catcher at El Questro, but he has also done his bit of turning the old cattle-station into a dazzling holiday hotel in the super-luxury-class.
We hang out at the end of the day each with a can of beer outside the store and bar The Swinging Arm at El Questro Station Township – a small blessed place in the vast outback of Western Australia.
- “Yep”, says the park-ranger Pete Brown.
- “I drove Fred and Mary from our little landing-strip out to the Homestead. None of us had any idea who they were – that happened only months later, when one saw a picture of them in a magazine. He signed himself in as Fred Jensen”, grins Buddy.

- “We were aware they were something special, because they constantly dragged two expressionless men around. The men clearly were uncomfortable the day Frederik and Mary went for a helicopter-ride and they couldn’t be in the same helicopter. They demanded a helicopter more at the disposal of the bodyguards, but we couldn’t get that….”.
- “That was in the last week of October 2002 and we were starting to shut down for the season…. On one of the days Fred and Mary were here, a thunderstorm swept across, a lightning ignited some shrubbery nearby and started a minor bushfire, which kept an eye on. Normally that sort of fires extinguish themselves, but after a couple of days it got closer to Homestead and we called them and warned them. When we got there ourselves the staff was in full swing – even the Crown Prince walked around with a garden-hose, from which only a measly squirt of water came out. But we managed to extinguish the fire….”.
The seed to El Questro was laid when a couple of men back in 1903 made a shed of boards and called it Spurling’s Pocket. Just three years later the handed over the humble cattle-station to others who again after three years couldn’t pay the mortgages. To breed cattle in the arid and sparsely vegetation of the wasteland was a tough and uncertain business and the cattle-station changed owners many times throughout the years. Neighbouring areas as Wild Dog and Moonlight Valley was added to Spurling’s Pocket.
Only in 1958 did the estate get the name El Questro. The Spanish-sounding name makes no sense, but it’s said that the owner – inspired by western-magazines – invented the name in a state of intoxication.
El Questro kept changing owners until a young enthusiastic married couple in 1991 took over the derelict buildings and began the creation of a dream of offering paying guests a comfortable oasis in the middle of the nature sceneries of the wilderness.
El Questro’s derelict main-building Homestead was located not near the cattle-station but three kilometres at the end of the dirt-road – on the outermost cliff-edge of Chamberlain Gorge with a picturesque view over the gorge where the rivers Pentecost and Chamberlain meet.
The new owners drew and build a new Homestead and a new wing was added with six suites, where excessive spoiling was part of the package for the guests.
Last but not least they made roads to the spectacular sceneries of nature. Tourists began to hear about El Questro Wilderness Park at one million acres. Some drove there, others flew.
In the spring of 2005 the sold their beloved El Questro to one of Australia’s largest tour and hotel-operators, Voyages, who specialises in remote luxurious holiday resorts.
Homestead is today the pearl of El Questro. On three sides surrounded by well-cared green lawns with exotic trees – the fourth lined by the gorge where Chamberlain River throughout millions of years have sanded it’s way down to the bedrock.

The prominent guests fly here – from Sydney, Melbourne, Darwin and Perth. Here they are received by the host-couple Laurie and Al, who with the help from eight employees nurse and spoil the guests.
The main-building is a big square communal-building without interior walls and with a network of visible rafts holding the roof. The huge room with panorama-windows have been divided into bar, library, dining, TV and rest-sections and with a lowered couch-area in front of the open fireplace. Giant terracotta-jars and Indonesian antiqueties divide and adorn the loveliness, from where there is access to a shady veranda.
The building-materials are primarily local nature, just as the earth-colours ochre, ginger and henna seems to make the surrounding landscape continue indoors.
The largest suite is with its roofed veranda built over the edge of the cliff. From the bathroom there is access to the veranda where a white enamel bathtub wit lions-feet offer a rare opportunity for an outdoor bath with a refined view over passing crocodiles in the river, deep down.
Alternatively there is, as an oasis in the oasis, a swimming pool circled by palms and jacuzzi in a corner of the park towards the cliffs edge – the perfect place to have your sparkling champagne served after a tennis-match.
All activities and guided tours on El Questro (minus the helicopter-based) are part of the basic price, and you can at dinner opt to dine with the other guests at Homestead or look your sweetheart in the eyes over a romantic dinner for two on the ledge of the cliff. The gorge is in the evening lit by spotlights and the park is lit by torches, while the sky is a hanging sea of stars. This is typically a place where men propose to their sweethearts. Was it here Frederik proposed to his Mary?

El Questro Wilderness Park measures 60 by 80 kilometres – that is nearly the size of Funen. Out here where size matters, there are more than one hundred kilometres to Kununurra, which is the nearest small town.
There is nothing more erroneous to believe that there is nothing to do in the vast outback. You can walk, drive, sail, ride and fly just for fun or for being transported to the many sceneries of the park.
Most at Station Township arrive here in their own off-roaders and can drive to the spectacular gorges – all have waterfalls or warm springs and a fantastic vegetation. Other routes that require off-road-experience goes to Cockburn Range, Pigeon Hole and Saddleback Ridge with breathless views and unforgettable sunsets.
“Must sees” are Champagne and Zebedee Springs – a series of natural, 32 degrees C warm springs of rainwater, which decades ago seeped down into the subterranean caves, where the heat of the ground now heats the water and under pressure send it back to the surface of the ground, The hot and mineral-rich water is basic of life for a lush tropical vegetation of palms, bamboo and ferns – a true Garden of Eden and the most beautiful bathroom in the world.
- “Miss Donaldson wasn’t very keen on jumping into the water, but I said she would regret it if she didn’t do it”, smiles the park-ranger, who was tasked to show the couple around.
- “She indeed looked like she enjoyed it, but the boyfriend didn’t want to – and no, I have no pictures”, ends Pete Brown with a big smile.
When saying goodbye he tells that the superstar Kylie Minoque is the next famous guest coming.

Very well written by Anders Nielsen, who I believe is freelance and perhaps a travel-writer.

To me Western Australia, of which I must confess I know next to nothing, is just as romantic, strange, exciting and adventurous as Greenland must be to many Australians.

[Muhler]

Excerpt from the book: Frederik – Kronprins af Danmark.

Part of pages 166-167.

When they after a couple of days turn the Toyota Landcruiser around in order to drive through the rainforest down towards Cooktown, Frederik turn on the mobile several times and hope for a connection. Finally after many hours of difficult driving there is hole through to Mary and he tells about the sight of the sea turtles, the sharks, the crocodiles and tells (her) that he miss her. A Frederik in love promise that the two of them will see each other again in a couple of days and then Frederik will stay for about a week in Sydney before going home to Denmark. But Frederik has hardly finished the conversation before his mobile ring and on the display he recognise Queen Margrethe’s phone number.
- “My mother called and told that grandmother (mormor) had become weaker and that I should think about coming home as quickly as possible. Mormor had lived out her life. (*) And then we drove for 24 hours to Sydney in one go and only stopped to fill up with gas on the way. Mary and I had talked about that we should see each other as much as possible in the last days before I was to fly home. I phoned Mary and told that my mormor was dying and that I had to go home earlier than expected. Mary was of course disappointed but she immediately understood the seriousness and did all she could in the situation to support me”.

With the gas pedal nailed to the floor Frederik and Jeppe drive the more than 2.000 kilometres back with a cloud of dust behind them and Crown Prince’ two tired bodyguards trailing behind. Frederik and Jeppe take turns behind the wheel while the other sleep. Finally they get there.

The last evening in the city Frederik and Mary go out for dinner. Just the two of them. Frederik tells about his experiences up north. About the dives at Great Barrier Reef, where the diving instructor’s jaws drop when Jeppe and Frederik say that they both have more than 300 dives under their belts. The instructors think that the Danes are pulling their legs, because they fumble with their civilian diving equipment and put air-tanks and tubes together wrongly. They call Frederik and Jeppe daft cowboys, until they see the two Danish frogmen in the water. Frederik tells about the snakes on the camping sites where Jeppe and he spend the nights and about the rainforest at Cape York. And about his close relationship to his mormor, Queen Ingrid.
- “Then I promised Mary that I would return. She probably thought that this is a pledge he gives to all of them. But I knew deep inside that I would return. The next day I flew back five days before scheduled in the hope of getting home to my mormor”.

No matter whether the flight from Sydney to Copenhagen go via Singapore or Bangkok it’s 24 hours of exhausting travel across several continents and oceans and with plenty of time to let the thoughts run free. Frederik see Mary and mormor in front of him. A big live-giving love for Mary has grown within him and at the same time he is losing his beloved mormor. The Crown Prince so dearly wish to see his mormor again and to take a proper leave with the indispensable support of his childhood and youth.
And he gets home. Frederik drive directly from Copenhagen airport to Fredensborg Slot in order to be with Queen Ingrid in Kancellihuset. They get the quiet morning together alone. Frederik visits his mormor again in the afternoon and also later in the evening.
The next day the ninety years old Queen dies. On Tuesday 7th November 2000 a chapter in Denmark’s history ends. And one of the most important people in Frederik’s life is gone.
- “I actually didn’t tell mormor about Mary. But I knew with myself that it didn’t matter. Because many years ago she told me – very calmly and sweet – that she knew that she wouldn’t meet my chosen one, but she also knew that I would find the right one. As mormor said with that particular calmness and the overview that was hers. So it wasn’t like I felt that I should have whispered as one of the last things that I had met the woman in my life. I wasn’t annoyed about it. Even though I had it in the back of my mind. I didn’t say it – but I think she knew”.
After the burial of Queen Ingrid in Roskilde Cathedral on 14th November Frederik spend the winter-dark nights phoning or mailing Mary in Australia. Get to know her, explore her from a distance of 18.000 kilometres. For every phonecall, every mail and every letter he falls more in love.

(*) Very difficult to translate directly. “Mormor var mæt af dage = Mormor’s life was saturated/full”, is the closest thing I can come to a direct translation. An old expression meaning something like: That you have lived your life and it’s time to leave. – Substitute with an expression in your own languages.

Ahh! Wasn’t that sweet?