Speeches and Interviews with Frederik and Mary

[sky]

On May 9th, tomorrow, Politiken newspaper will publish their Mary interview. It will be 5 pages with the interview and photos. The quote, that Mary is saying is
Kronprinsesse - det er svært bare at sige det ord -Kronprinsesse - it is hard just to say that word. I hope a Dane will buy it and translate it. :flower:

announcement in Politiken today may 7.

In the next sunday-issue of Politiken, may 9, there'll be published an unique interview with Mary Donaldson.

It's the famous interviewer "Ninka" who formerly has done indepth interviews with QMII and Crown Prince Frederik, who has done the interviews, as the only daily paper in Denmark.

Throughout the last two month, through seven sessions, all in all 20 hours, Mary Donaldson has been interviewed by Ninka. The photographer, Tina Harden has taken quite new, private photos of the future Crown Princess.

At sunday, may 9, Politiken will bring the interview and pictures - 5 full pages in all


I've read she is very good at her job.

[sky]

In the Sunday ed. of Politiken Søndagspolitiken an interview with Mary Donaldson is published this weekend.
Main story:

- She and Frederik want to have many children, whom they want bring up themselves, not isolated from others

- Already 2 years ago she met with Queen Margrethe. The first meeting went fine. Both she and the Queen were nervous! Which helped to make it a succesful meeting, which paved the way for the rest.

- About Frederik she says: he has human qualities. He is a warm personality with a warm heart. Loyal. Honest. Funny. Nice to be with. He is curious and surprising.

- They met by fate. If they hadn´t met eachother at the Olympic Games in Sydney 2002 they surely would have met at Tasmanian regattas later.

- The monarchy´s place in society has become a different one from former times. It´s requires wisdom to adjust monarvhy in order to survive in an egalitarian/more horizontal society. She tackles problem like these quite ´businessminded´, analytical, used to analyse ´the market´.

- She is willing to work for volunteers´ organisations.

[Dennism]

Originally posted by sky@May 8th, 2004 - 5:31 pm
In the Sunday ed. of Politiken Søndagspolitiken an interview with Mary Donaldson is published this weekend.
Main story:

- She and Frederik want to have many children, whom they want bring up themselves, not isolated from others

- Already 2 years ago she met with Queen Margrethe. The first meeting went fine. Both she and the Queen were nervous! Which helped to make it a succesful meeting, which paved the way for the rest.

- About Frederik she says: he has human qualities. He is a warm personality with a warm heart. Loyal. Honest. Funny. Nice to be with. He is curious and surprising.

- They met by fate. If they hadn´t met eachother at the Olympic Games in Sydney 2002 they surely would have met at Tasmanian regattas later.

- The monarchy´s place in society has become a different one from former times. It´s requires wisdom to adjust monarvhy in order to survive in an egalitarian/more horizontal society. She tackles problem like these quite ´businessminded´, analytical, used to analyse ´the market´.

- She is willing to work for volunteers´ organisations.

Cool to know. I hope they will be very happy together.

[sky]

I don't think the full interview on-line yet, but this interview is all more than twenty hours of talk with Mary Donaldson.

Ninka's conclusion about Mary Donaldson:
“The crown prince has made a coup”

I don't really know what coup means.

[sky]

Mary on her first metting with QMII

Intuitively I knew that the first meeting with QMII had to go well, and I asked myself how am I going to handle that? Because of this thing called: Protocol, something quite new to me. It isn't something you normally experience in Australia, it doesn't excist in the same fashion as in Denmark where the royal family is very extrovert, thus making everybody know how to behave. In fact Frederik didn't instruct me much before the meeting. I think he didn't want me to be too nervous. He more like hinted that his mom was a quite ordinary person, as you and me. And that she probably would be just as nervous as me. This made it feel something more normal for me. Of course we did talk about it, but it was never like something tremendously important, or that I had to make a grand impression on the queen. It wasn't like that - but suddenly the time was set for the meeting and I said: Oh, gasp! That was it. The only we did talk about before the meeting was protocol. But Frederik only said: Be yourself.

It was when I was living in Paris, before I moved to Denmark. For this Thing: to move to Denmark, that depended on how the parameters was set. If there had come a strict command: This person you are forbidden to meet!, we had to reconsider the what to do. The timing for instance could be wrong. But one always hope that "love conquers everything", but in these circumstances one has to be realistic. But it didn't end in that situatuion. If it had gone horribly wrong, I think we would have tried to understand what could be so wrong about me. Maybe tried to discuss it with the family and tried to show then that I was a nice and good person. But luckily it didn't happen.

It was at Amalienborg I met the queen for the first time. The meeting was private and lets keep it that way. But she understood our need to keep the developement of our relationship to ourselves. She recognized that it was serious and she didn't want either that we new pressure was put on us from the media and others.

Had that meeting ended negatively I don't know what we would have done. For Frederic to abdicate, that I could never ask of him. He knows his role in life. He has an obligation to that, and I think - and I know that I would never allowed him to do that.

[Dennism]

Originally posted by sky@May 9th, 2004 - 7:42 am
He more like hinted that his mom was a quite ordinary person, as you and me.

I think that it one of the reasons that Margarethe is so beloved. She seems to be easy going and ordinary. Maybe extra-ordinary because she is so ordinary. I mean being a royal you would think she be not so normal. But she is easygoing and everything. I think Mary fits in perfectly with this House.

Coup as in "Coup d`etat" means he has done something really bold or really good in this case either by luck or by design. In other words, Mary was a very good choice for the House.

[Alexandria]

Originally posted by sky@May 9th, 2004 - 2:55 am
Ninka's conclusion about Mary Donaldson:
“The crown prince has made a coup”

I don't really know what coup means.

Coup means a win or a steal. In the context of Frederik and Mary, the writer is implying that Frederik has a real find or gem in Mary. (Aka Frederik's done good in choosing Mary as his wife and the future Queen of Denmark; she's a keeper! :P )

Originally posted by sky@May 9th, 2004 - 7:42 am
He more like hinted that his mom was a quite ordinary person, as you and me. And that she probably would be just as nervous as me.

Love the second sentence! Shows you how down to earth Margrethe seems to be. Although I can't see Margrethe being nervous about anything, she seems so formidable!

[Dennism]

Originally posted by sky@May 9th, 2004 - 2:55 am
I don't think the full interview on-line yet, but this interview is all more than twenty hours of talk with Mary Donaldson.

Ninka's conclusion about Mary Donaldson:
“The crown prince has made a coup”

I don't really know what coup means.

It would appear that both Alexandria and I were both right. I hope we answered your question. :P

[Fireweaver]

You were right about what your phrase meant, and Alexandria was write about the word that was asked about. :)

[sky]

Thanx Alex and Dennism. I still have'nt found the interview, but here are two Aussie newspaper that put some of the interview in their papers.
From The Mercury

MARY Donaldson has publicly opened her heart for the first time about the extraordinary romance that will this Friday culminate in her crowning as a Danish princess.

In the only interview the Hobart-born former advertising executive and real estate agent has granted before her celebrated wedding to Danish Crown Prince Frederik, Mary's story can be told for the first time in her own words.

The woman who has captured Danish hearts has candidly told Danish newspaper Politiken how her relationship with Frederik deepened secretly for 14 months before it became public knowledge, the doubts she harboured about their future together and her dread of meeting her future husband's mother, Queen Margrethe.

During a 25-hour interview conducted during seven sittings since December, the princess-in-waiting reveals her conviction that her remarkable fate was destined, that she was meant to meet Frederik and embark on her fairytale journey.

But she also speaks of her agony over the loss of the two key women in her life, her mother and her grandmother, and how their deaths transformed her spiritual beliefs and approach to life.

And she speaks for the first time about her first great love, a Melbourne man with whom she lived during a seven-year relationship.

She also dreams of using her position to help the mentally ill, in the same way Princess Diana helped various causes after she married into royalty.

On the eve of her transformation from Australian commoner to future queen of the world's oldest kingdom, Mary says she is overwhelmingly happy, in love and looking forward to her life as a wife, mother and role model for her adopted country.


"I HAVE always known that I would only marry if I met the one and only love," she says.

"I have known that the most important thing had to be totally unconditional love -- unreserved -- and that you recognise it, when it hits you, and that love and happiness go together."

Mary, 32, describes the night she met Frederik at Sydney nightclub the Slip Inn on September 16, 2000, during the Olympic Games.

"Frederik and I started to talk and we simply didn't stop talking," she said.

"And that was that! A very long talk, which went on for a year or actually 14 months.

"He and his brother went to Melbourne the next day. But about a week later I met with him and his friends for dinner."

Mary reveals the couple suspended plans to spend a prolonged time together when Frederik was hit by a family crisis.

"He was called home because his grandmother was seriously ill," she said.

"He was very upset about it and wanted to leave as soon as possible.

"So we had one and a half days together, having hoped for a whole week to get to know each other a little better."

Frederik's grandmother, the queen mother, died soon afterwards and he remained in Denmark for much of the next year.

But his romance with Mary defied the distance barrier and he returned to Australia in 2001.

"It wasn't like it went 'bang!' that first evening, that I knew I had met the man in my life," Mary said.

"That point in time is hard to pinpoint. Also because there was this enormous distance between us and long spells between our meetings.

"With this distance, both geographically and in terms of the family environment, you just can't tell that this is the right person.

"But we were constantly in contact with each other."

The couple exchanged phone calls, letters and CDs of their favourite music.

Mary sent Frederik a Powderfinger album -- "which is still my favourite band"-- and he sent her some Danish ones, among them Sort Sol.

Mary decided to deepen the commitment in November 2001, when a Danish magazine revealed her as Frederik's new girlfriend for the first time.

"The time had come where we both felt it couldn't go on long distance. We decided to take the chance and see if we were meant for each other. That's when I left Australia."

Mary left her job as an upmarket property agent in Sydney's eastern suburbs for Paris, a one-hour flight from Copenhagen. She spent the next five months spending the weekends at Amalienborg Castle, the royal family's Copenhagen palace.

But the intensifying media scrutiny tested her resolve.

"While I was in Paris I tried to keep a low profile," she recalls.

"I was waiting for the point of no return in my life, the line that would be crossed when I was seen with Frederik in public.

"If all this turned out to be a fata morgana [mirage] I would like to be able to become 'Mary' again.

"Then maybe I could settle down in London or some other place where nobody would recognise me anyway."

But one of the most foreboding tests was still to come: the interview with Queen Margrethe.

Mary knew that if her prospective mother-in-law rejected her it would doom her future with Frederik.

"Intuitively I knew the interview with Margrethe had to go well and I also asked myself questions about how I would handle it," Mary said.

"Frederik didn't talk much about the meeting beforehand. He basically just mentioned that his mother is a regular person, like you and me, and that she probably would be just as nervous about meeting me."

Mary reveals that while awaiting the meeting with Margrethe, she considered whether she would ask Frederik to leave the monarchy.

"Had the meeting been negative I have no idea what would have happened," she says. "But I don't think I would ever have asked Frederik to abdicate. He knows his role in life.

"He feels obligated to it and I think -- no, I know -- it would demand too much of him to give it up."

But her fears were unfounded. Margrethe immediately approved of the former Taroona High School girl during their interview at Amalienborg.

"She could see that it was serious and didn't want to put further pressure on us from the media or others," she said.

Mary also reveals how close she came to marrying before she even met her fairytale prince.

"I had a boyfriend for seven years, but we drifted apart," she said.

"We still have a good relationship. We will always mean something special to each other because we have been through a lot together.

"Seven years is a long time and he was there when my mother died."

Mary speaks of the qualities she has come to cherish in her husband-to-be.

"His vast energy -- spiritually and physically ... his attitude towards life -- he is a very interesting person with a complex personality," she said.

"He fights many battles with himself, like many of us.

"He has a warm, warm heart, he is loyal and honest, almost to the point of being beyond reproach. He is funny.

"I believe Frederik touches people's hearts. He doesn't want me to say this but he is also a lonely person, like we all are."

Now, four days before her historic nuptials, divorce is unthinkable to the princess-in-waiting.

"For us, divorce is impossible to imagine. It has always been my view that in love there is only one time -- and that is it.

"People today give up too easily and just say 'OK, we have grown apart'.

"I believe you can experience two or three 'great loves' in your life, but also that we really hope to find just one that will last."




From The Australian (a bit longer version)

MARY Donaldson, the Hobart-born former Sydney real estate agent who marries Denmark's Prince Frederik on Friday, reveals for the first time today her most intimate secrets of the world's greatest fairytale love affair.

I AM, more than anything else, happy.

But "happy" is a really difficult word to explain.

Happiness is just a warm feeling. It makes walking on earth easier. You float. Everything feels good! You see things in a new light.

You don't speculate so much. To be happy is, I guess, the most important thing in life. Happy!

Since I was a child and up until today I have known that I am a very open person.

I am curious. I have always wanted to see what's behind the door,

Or what every little thing is about - just to learn new things, to look into it, to know how it is to try it. And then do it. And I think I will go on being that way.

I want to give everything a chance. Try to do my best at all times. I may not be very good at it, but at least I have tried.

I have always known I would only marry if I met the one and only love.

My parents knew each other from when they were 12. They have been together since they were 14, and they were only 22 when they got married.

That is quite young. So I have known that the most important thing had to be totally unconditional love.

Unreserved. And that you recognise it when it hits you. And that love and happiness go together.

On the other hand, I think you can encounter the great love more than once, because life doesn't always deal you the cards you want.

But it takes strength to find the other love. And it doesn't take anything away from the first.

People change through life. You change track, and that is one of the great challenges in a relationship, that you have your own independent track to follow and at the same time you follow each other in the same direction.

The biggest challenge in a relationship is to acknowledge the changes, to work with them, but also to appreciate them, to compromise.

The word "happy" sums up how I feel right now.

But at the same time, I know that a lot is expected of me - a lot of different expectations.

And you can't live up to them all. You can do the best you can.

I guess you could say it's a modern fairytale.

A fairytale goes on inside your head, I guess, but I would never have been able to imagine this.

It's a fairytale for everybody to meet the person they want to spend the rest of their life with.

My version is just a little bigger than most.

But at the core of what we do is the same as for all other couples. We remember that every day.

Beyond that, there is another responsibility, so on the way to where we are now, we have in no way been able to take things lightly.

Right now I can say it's a very happy time. Very happy for us, for my family and for Frederik and his family. Also for those Danes who are interested in the royal family.

At the same time, we know that to some young people we are a kind of role model.

And we will be looked upon as a kind of ideal.

That is something we talk about.

It is very important.

The people who think I don't do anything at all here must understand I'm in a waiting position. In a kind of no man's land.

If I started visiting hospitals or other institutions, I would be criticised for that!

I have been in a vacuum. But that will change.

And people will realise that I work, and in time will be carrying out different tasks.

Meant to be together

I ACTUALLY think I believe in destiny because where I am today I couldn't possibly have imagined, let's say, four years ago. It makes me believe that there is "something" behind it.

I mean: just the way Frederik and I met, it took so many little things that had to fit together.

There had to be "something" - supernatural? - that took charge.

Predestination is what you are born to do. Destiny is how you do it.

Some might bring reincarnation into the picture. I don't believe in reincarnation myself, but I am willing to listen and think - and wonder.

One of the greatest challenges in life is to find a balance in everything we do.

Balance between work, family, interests. Balance makes you yourself balanced. Gives you peace in life. Right now the world is really unbalanced.

Justice and injustice exists. The act of balance is in the hand of man.

We have forgotten what the important thing is. We do not focus on what life is really about: love and happiness.

Swapping e-mails and CDs

FREDERIK is a remarkable person. I felt that right from the beginning. Not because he is the Crown Prince, but because he is the person he is.

But I was rather excited about it all. It was so . . . strange, because I didn't believe it would be possible to get to know each other.

But our contact went on and got deeper and deeper. It happened through letters, e-mail and phone. Almost every day.

We sent pictures and lots of different little items. I sent him a CD with Powderfinger, which is still my favourite band, and he sent me some Danish ones. So we kept track of each other's lives, and shared what was possible.

I didn't want to be exposed in any way. It would have been terrible if I had stepped forward and then the next day had to be myself again. I didn't want to exhibit my life.

At one point . . . I had to tell myself that I had to take the final step. But we ended up taking a step together.

That was November 2001 - 14 months after we met.

The time had come where we both felt it couldn't go on long-distance. We decided to take the chance and see if we were meant for each other.

That's when I left Australia.

It really became serious when we stepped out on the balcony at Amalienborg Castle.

When we stood in front of the doors, I tried to relax and take a few deep breaths. I had a feeling I couldn't go out there . . . it was just so overwhelming.

People cheered the Queen, Prince Henrik and Frederik and then also me, because he has chosen me and we have chosen each other.

Talking went for a year

I MET Frederik on September the 16th, 2000.

Frederik and I started to talk, and we simply didn't stop talking. And that was that! A very long talk which went on for a year, or actually 14 months.

He and his brother went to Melbourne the next day. But about a week later I met him and his friends for dinner.

After that he travelled around Australia for six weeks. When he came back we met again, but he was called home because his grandmother was seriously ill.

It wasn't like it went 'Bang!' that first evening. That I knew I had met the man in my life. That point in time is hard to pinpoint.

Since we spent so much time apart, anything could happen for both of us. With this distance, both geographically and family-environment-wise, you can't just tell that this is the right person.

It takes time and you have to test each other, there is so much at stake. But we were constantly in contact with each other.

Time to share our secret

FREDERIK is normally rather relaxed when it comes to the press - but to introduce me to the public was no easy matter for him.

And I am certainly not relaxed about it.

From the moment it got out that Frederik had a girlfriend, who nobody had heard anything about for a whole year, the media had been on its toes. It seemed as if we were getting married the next month.

Maybe they thought he would do like his brother Prince Joachim had done.

Maybe.

So they were all quite excited: "Oh, and we don't know anything. What should we do?" And they never relaxed, they kept saying that now something is going to happen! It was rather irritating.

But we hadn't come that far yet. We didn't let it influence us, though.

We didn't let it put pressure on us.

But after that kiss on the pier in Tasmania, I guess we got more open. It confirmed that it was serious. And maybe the media could breathe a little easier - they had put their money on the right horse!

Even if for us nothing was finally decided, to them it was a sign that they were on the right track. Now it was only a question about time.

'She is a gift to the Danish'

THE Mary Donaldson interview was conducted over five months by one of Denmark's leading journalists, Anne Wolden-Raethinge.

Writing under the byline 'Ninka' in the Politiken newspaper, Ms Wolden-Raethinge has been the leading Danish royal chronicler for more than 30 years.

The award-winning writer spoke to Mary for more than 25 hours during seven sessions from last December.

"She is a gift to the Danish people. She has a real personality, I'm not kidding," Ms Wolden-Raethinge, 75, told The Daily Telegraph. "We have a fantastic queen now and Mary will be a remarkable queen in her own right."

Ms Wolden-Raethinge said Mary's command of Danish developed rapidly during the interviews.

"By the last session she was taking notes, writing in fluent Danish. Mary has wisdom but she is also very intelligent," she said.

Ms Wolden-Raethinge said Mary had the "class of a queen" and that Frederik, in snaring her, "has made a coup".

[sky]

Planning the family is under wayBy Peter Fray
Europe Correspondent
London
May 10, 2004




Mary Donaldson has revealed she wants several children, plans to work with the mentally ill and will not accept "unfaithfulness in marriage". She and Prince Frederik will be under pressure to have children to ensure the 1000-year-plus royal line continues.

In a series of exclusive interviews with the Danish newspaper Politiken, the 32-year-old lawyer from Tasmania said she still felt nervous about being the centre of attention, knowing her every action as Princess Mary would be scrutinised.

"I always hated to be photographed," she said. "Now, I will have to get over that and also learn to behave properly in public.

"There are many norms of behaviour. Just the way I have to walk with him (Frederik). People judge you from a picture, from some wrong information, and this is hard because you can't defend yourself. I cannot go out and say I'll give an interview and comment about what is written about me."

The interview with Ms Donaldson, her first since her engagement to the prince in October, took up more than five pages of Copenhagen's most influential broadsheet newspaper.

She has given up her Australian citizenship and joined Denmark's Lutheran Evangelical Church in order to marry the prince, who she described as "warm-hearted, loyal and honest".

She said they got to know each other through letters and email before she moved to Copenhagen in 2002. She sent him a Powderfinger CD, he responded with Sword Sol (Black Sun), a Danish rock band.

"He's very easy to be around with, he's funny, he's also curious," she said. "He can be full of surprises."

She paid tribute to her own mother, Henrietta, who died in 1997 after a heart operation. "From time to time, I feel she is very close, that she is just next to me," she said.

[barbara_41172]

Well she's made a big turnaround. The more people will hear about Mary's thoughts and feelings the more they will feel closer to her. As she said she's been in some kind of no man's land, waiting to prove what she's all about. As a princess she can go out there and disarm her critics and prove them wrong.

TC
Barbara

[Chatleen]

I realize that some parts of the translation of the book 'Kronprinsesse Mary - fortæller til Anne Wolden-Ræthinge' already have been discussed in the thread 'Frederik And Mary News Part 4'.

However, as Thor from the RBMB kindly has allowed me to copy and post all of his translations, I decided to start a new thread.

The book is written by the danish journalist Anne Wolden-Ræthinge, based on her 7 three hours interviews with HRH Crownprincess Mary.

Thor has translated some central parts of the book - a big applaud to him for his work :)

[Chatleen]

1.

Mary on Meeting with Frederik. From the book pp 44-46.

- I knew that work should't be filling my whole life. There should be a balance. It was in that period I met Frederik. It was september 16, 2000.

- 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.

- 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 (Thor:Queen Ingrid). 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.

- It wasn't like 'BANG' the first night. That I knew that I have met the man in my life. It is diffucult to pinpoint that precise moment. There was a great distance between us and big gaps of time between our meetings, too. Because we spend so much time being alone, anything could happen for each of us. At such a distance both geographically and familywise, you cannot yust say: He's the rigth person. I takes time and you have to test each other, because there's a lot in the pot in this situation. But we kept in contact with each other. And each time we met, it came one step further.

- Now I knew who he was, of course, and this made the whole thing that more uncertain. Could it develope to something at all? On the other hand I wasn't that pessimistic, where I felt that it wasn't worth the trouble. It wasn't like that. And each step forward took us finally to a point, where we realized, that we couldn't continue to be that far away from each other. We had to take the jump and see where it would land us.

[Chatleen]

2.

Mary on the meeting with Frederik (cont'd):

pp46-48

- Even when I moved to Denmark, it wasn't sure that it would work out, for either of us. And everything had to have it's time to mature. Because the whole thing was very peculiar rigth from the start. Something extraordinary. The whole situation was strange. Just because he lived so far from me and in a completely different world than mine. So, why continue to talk together? But we did. Even if he travelled to Melbourne. Travelled around in Aystralia. Travelled to Denmark - and came back. The converstation was never interrupted. But I had my reservations, naturally, because it was impossibly to meet each other often enough to build a relationship. I think that stopped me in going further. But, of course, I was smitten by him.

- He was - and is - an extraordinary person. I felt that rigth from the start. Not because he was Crown Prince, but because he is the person he is. Of course I was a little excited by it all, and I was also a little .... - the situation was so... extraordinary. It was so .... weird, because I didn't believe in that it was possibly to get to know each other. But our contact continued and became deeper and deeper. We did it by real letters, e-mails and telephone. Almost every day. We send pictures and many different small things to each other. For instance I sent him a CD with Powderfinger, which still is my favourite rock-group, and he sent me some danish CDs, Sort sol (Black Sun) for instance. We took part in each others life in that way and shared what was possibly.

- I didn't want to be exposed in any way.I would have been horribly, if I had stepped forward into the limlight, and next day just had to be my self again. I did not want my life exhibited, I wanted to minimize my exposure as much as possibly. But at a certain point in time I had to accept it anyway. I had to say to myself: I had to take this step completely. If I hadn't done that, I would have reproached myself for the rest of my life. But we took the step together, both of us. It was both of us who wanted to see what would happen. We knew, that this was very important, and we had to see what it would lead to.

- It was in november 2001. 14 month after we had met. We decided to take the chance to see if we were destined for each other. Then I left Australia.

to be cont'd.

[Chatleen]

3.

Mary on the meeting with Frederik (cont'd):

pp49-50

A difficult time


- I left as a uncomitted person. I wasn't 100 percent sure of the final result, but I knew that it was something I had to do. At first I visited my father in England, then I traveled to Paris, because I would not go to Denmark immeadiately. It would have been too premature. And we wanted more time, because when we were together it was so intense, We wanted to introduce a little normality and everyday life in our relationship, because that kind of dimension is important to have. It hadn't been possibly earlier. Although there had been these peaceful periods, where we had our vacations and everything was relaxed, without the daily routines and the threadmill. Paris was the next step, then. There I would be more protected.

- But it was a difficult time for me. In Paris I didn't knew that many and I doesn't function that well in a city that big. Yet another thing I have learned. Paris wasn't exactly my cup of tea. I was there for five month. From february to july. Then we had a short hollyday together and I moved to Denmark - in august 2002 - and started my work in september. At that time we both believed in our relationship. There was no uncertainty about it anymore. It was obvious, that what we had together, was something much bigger, than anything any of us had experienced, ever. Otherwise I wouldn't have left Australia. But to say then, that we would eventually would be married some day...that we could not know with certainty.

- Not even when I came to live in Denmark. So, the period of time before the engagement, a little over a year, was a strange period of time. Because so many people are interested in your relationship. There was these big expectations. Rigth from the first time somebody discovered me in Australia, it was almost like: "Oh, they are going to married tomorrow!" It wasn't before one year after the Olympics that it became like that, though. Because nobody knew I existed before that. But the more my life was exposed, the more difficult it would be to return to Australia. What would I come back from? The more you are in the spotligth, the more difficult it is withdraw from it.

- And my friends and family supported me very much. I had to tell them, it was necessary to test our relationship. But of course it have been a difficult time. But I'm sure it's going to be easier. When I say it have been a difficult time, I mean too, that to start a new relationship create problems, while you try to find a position in the world of another. The world of Frederik is much more complex that an ordinary man's world. There's many more circumstances to take into account. Vice versa, my background is very ordinary.


To be cont'd

[Chatleen]

4.

Mary on the meeting with Frederik (cont'd):

pp51-52

The Press

- I'm from a middle class family, have gotten a good education, and I'm proud of what I have achieved in my life and I know I have so much to achieve yet. I'm very, very happy about the challenge I face rigth now. But it's very overwhelming, especially with the amount of publicity. It's difficult to see one's face everywhere - I have always hated to be photographed. I was the one who said: "I'll take the pictures" at family gatherings and friend's parties. To be photographed made me uncomfortably, and now I am in a situation, where I just have to dispense with that feeling. And to learn to behave properly in public, too. The many norms of behaviour. For instance the way I have to move when I am walking with Frederik.

- You will be critizised. There is much critizism. People judge you from a picture and from false information, and that's hard, because you can't defend youself. I am not able to going to say: "Okay, I will give an interview and make comments on all the stuff, you are writing about me". In the first place it isn't my nature to do so, and if it was, the press can print whatever they want anyway. So in that way you feel yourself somewhat defenseless. You cannot say: "This is actually false!". For instance they printed a picture of my mom, which didn't was one of her! It was horribly.

- But I imagine that I was lucky enough to have one whole year here, making me experience what feels like to live in Denmark. And the media haven't been equally bad all the time. In the beginning they didn't show much respect, but now it's become better. And either you just don't read that kind of magazines or try to keep up a kind of armlength principle in your relation with them.

- The media has quite a lot of power. In a way they can write whatever they want - the credibilty of their articles will perhaps not be questioned, and for the everyday reader it may easily lead to: "Well, now she do it that way, what a jerk! She should have done it completely different!" As I formerly have done myself, before I landed in this situation. But I believe that the Danes take it with a grain of salt. In fact I believe they are able to make up their own minds very well, about what is true and what's not.

- Naturally I'm aware of, that publicity and the press is a factor we always have to take into account in our life. But to be exhibited all the time is difficult. But Frederik support me tremendously regarding this. He has had some tough experiences with the press himself, which means he can teach me about this complex of problems.

- It became realy seriuos, at the time we appeared for the public on the balcony. When we stood behind the glass doors, I tried to relax and made deep breathings. I felt that I could't go out there. I didn't felt that I wouldn't go out there, but it was all too overwhelming....It was a combination of the sounds coming from the mass of people, and the necessity to make myself calm and say to myself: "Now, we go out and do it!"

To be cont'd

[Chatleen]

5.

Mary on the meeting with Frederik.

cont'd

Page 53.


- This was the first time I stood besides Frederik - completely official. And watched how much people love their royal family. They cheered at the Queen, Prince Henrik and Frederik, and me too, because he had chosen me, and we had chosen each other. It was wonderful to see our flags spread everywhere among the people. And people was so happy. It was overwhelming just to look out on the large crouds - thousands of people - I didn't knew beforhand, how it would be for me. All these people all around us - around Frederik and me - it was a very moving moment. I don't think I could contain it all, so a part of me just kept observing it. Frederik was quite overwhelmed too, and both the Queen and Prince Henrik looked very happy. And my father took it quite calmly. It was an incredibly experience. And they wanted to see us again and again! A very happy day.

- But that day and night was so busy, it was rushing from one thing to another. It was a big day, because it was the first time, I had to present myself to the Danish people. They had seen pictures of me, but nobody had ever heard me speak. Nobody knew what was going on in my head, and naturally you are apprehensive about whether people are going to be nice to you. And would I be able to express what I wanted. Bacause there is this thing with the language! Therefore, even if it was a really happy day, it was at the same time difficult to call it a completely free feeling of joy. But that feeling we have experienced at other moments. We had had a lovely time up to this, which was our very own.

End of this part.

[Chatleen]

6.
Mary on love. From the book pp 54-55.


Love
- For quite a long time now, we have been aware of that it was going to be "us". Now Frederik is somewhat romantic too, so he couldn't just propose without asking me to wear a ring afterwards. Well, we had made a decision beforehand, but the formalities around it didn't fall into place, about a week before he proposed. I had made a guess when it was going to happen. I didn't know the precise moment it would happen, of course. But when he started to behave somewhat out of character, I knew that something was going to happen. I did happen in Rome. It was wonderful.

- But I don't walk around like in a dream. Or walk on air - yes, in certain connections, but long before we reached this point, I had to consider the frame of circumstances into which I was moving. And decide if I could live with that. Take the decision for the right reasons. But how was I able to know or feel, what was real, when reality was foreign to me, at the same time.

- Now, this reality is not foreign to me anymore, but if anyone syas to me: "You are going to be the next queen of Denmark!" then I feel quite - - - and people have said that to me. And this is diffcult to imagine. But when you are with Frederik or the Queen, they are only some very nice human beings, living in a kind of fairytale surroundings.

- This I believe in fact, in life it doesn't matter who or what you are: As soon as you are put into a new situation, it's a new process, which takes time. And I have suddenly arrived in a situation, which is a great challenge, and I have to do it step by step, in small bites, so to speak. And everything gets bigger. My wedding for example. Formerly, I have never given any thougth to how my wedding should be someday. I am sure, though, that I would never have imagined that it would be in this way.

- I have always known that I would only marry if I met the BIG love. My parents knew each other from they were 12 years old. They have been togeher since they were 14, and they were only 22, when they were married. That is very young. Therfore I knew that the most important thing was completes unconditional love. Unreserved. And you recognize it, when it hits you. And that love and happines follow together.

[Chatleen]

7.

The Mary interview book. cont'd

pp58-61

Reunion
- Three and half month later (after we had met) Frederik came to Australia. But these month were difficult. I imagined that he anyday would call and say: "I cant come. It won't work out." Or he would stop calling or sending e-mails.

- But we e-mailed every day. We didn't write ordinary letters everyday, it was a little more rare. But if there was a day when I didn't hear from him I thougth immeadiatetly: "Well, here is the bad news!"

- I didn't call him often, he alwas called me. He said everytime that he would come back and visit me, but I wouldn't ask him to do it! I'm probably very proud. I'm sensitive, but I don't show it much. I probably try to protect myself from being hurt. I probably think too rational. It made me a little pessimistic. The optimism did arrive when we couldn't be without each other anymore. It was a year later. He returned to me, then I travelled to Europe, and then he returned two-three times to Australia.

- For the first three and a half month after we had met, the period after the death of Queen Ingrid, we didn't see each other. Frederik was very glad, that he could be there for her, and say goodbye. And that she was aware of him being there. It was so important for him. He told me about how he felt and I was able to give him a couple of advises, because I had had some experiences myself. We talked about how he could learn something from the sorrow. About what to read to get help. I send him a book. It was one of the books I had read myself when my mother died - "A Grief Observed".

- We both sensed that we became closer, even if we spend our lives on each side of the globe. It was kind of romantic in this way, to learn more and more about one another through ordinary letters, paper and envelope. Because it's oldfashioned. One cannot hide behind the words. It's more difficult. If you are starting an ordinary relationship, you see each other often, and it becomes very physical. You are together a lot and there is not that much room for the words, I believe. We didn't talk much about his work, almost not at all. It has been a slow introduction to his world. He wanted to protect me. Perhaps he was afraid that it would scare me. That would have be logical. But I have never asked him about that. Sometimes our e-mails was very long, some pages, sometimes only four lines. That depended on the situation.

- The week when Frederik returned to Australia to visit me for the first time, and the day when finally arrived, that day was a very nervewracking day for me. Shuddering/Shrilling. Perhaps it was a process, where I was waiting for him - - and finally he was there. The purpose of his travel was to meet me, and only that. And I was the only one who knew that he came. But he hadn't in anyway demanded that I kept it secret.

- When I went to the airport I was terribly nervous. I didnt want to be in the airport building itself, I stayed outside. Frederik later told me that I stood in a dark corner - I really tried to be as little conspicious as possibly. He found that quite funny. It took a couple of days for us to relax completely, because we had't spent that much time together before.

- He stayed for little over two weeks. And I crossed my fingers, I wanted it to go well. Because it was possibly that we after a day or two would have said: "No, this isn't working". But fortunately it went well. We travelled a bit in car - my car - and stayed at one my friends' summercabin at the beach. We swimmed in the sea and took walks in the bush, went on sigtseeing in and out of Sidney, just the two of us. I knew it was serious, but still I was a bit sceptical. Necessarily it had to be a stepwise developement. And could that developement continue? That was the question! But even after those two weeks, as the thougthful person he is, he couldn't just say: "Well, come with me to Denmark!" This isn't in his nature. It could have been all too much for me and much too early. I think we had to get to a point, to which we arrived later, where we just could't stay so far away from each other.

- Next time we met was in Europe, and we travelled two weeks again. Wonderful. We travelled to Caïx, where we met some of his friends. But after that it became much more difficult, because we both wanted to be together a little more, but we didn't know how it could be possibly.

- The only solution was that I moved. And that was a big step. Naturally, Frederik couldn't ask me to, unless he was 150 percent sure. Not necessarily sure about that it would end in a wedding, but sure about that we had to try, to let our relationship develope further, to find out, if it would or could end like that. And yes, people can meet for six month, but normally they are together very intensely before deciding to marry.

- It was equally important to find out if we could live together. If I could come to Denmark, live here without participating directly in his life, without going into his world. For us it was like, that all nuts and bolts had to be completely in their rigth places. So I didn't knew how the future would develope. If I was found unsuitebly for him, for instance. Then, no, we didn't talk about wedding at all. But it was always a possibility. It wasn't something we discussed, but we said neither: "Impossibly!" You have to take the necessary time to find out about all of it.

To be cont'd