Disparity of Patronages between Princess Marie and Countess Alexandra

[sgl]

I would also like to know how long Alexandra had to wait before she was given her patronages. Was it immediately upon marriage, or did she wait at least 5 months also?

[Odette]

I have no clue and I am sure Lilla and Viv can help us.
One thing I have to admit is that I agree with Viv in some respect. Alexandra left the royal family with a title a settlement and a beautiful house along with an allowance. Why doesn't she remain a private citizen and let the royal family carry on their duties?
Of course the media will run to take photos of events and stir the pot but why doesn't she retire from the "royal" scene.?

[Lilla]

Originally Posted by Odette

Thank you Lilla. How long did it take for Mary to accomplish all these tasks and become patron of the causes she supports?

As far as I remember, CP Mary was living in Denmark for two years before her marriage (Her Princess School). After the marriage she gradually became patron for more and more carities - but not that many. About a year ago (Mary had been living in DK for about 5 years, as far as I remember) it was announced from the court that the Queen and Prince Consort would slovly deliver their patronages to the CP Couple and today the bouth of them seems to be at an official event more or less every day.

I do think Princess Marie ought to be given the same fair chance to get to know her new country, before demanding her to have a full schedule

[Viv]

Originally Posted by sgl

I would also like to know how long Alexandra had to wait before she was given her patronages. Was it immediately upon marriage, or did she wait at least 5 months also?

I don't remember exactly how long she had to wait; but I think that she got her first patronage towards the end of the first year of her marriage. Thereabouts! I don't have an Alexandra-biography, maybe it's mentioned there. Maybe Lilla or one of the other Danes can help!

[Lilla]

Originally Posted by Odette

I have no clue and I am sure Lilla and Viv can help us.

Then I hope one of the other Danes can help, because I can't.

Anyway having a Princess was a completly new thing to Denmark. I guess we were learning about having a Princess and she was learning about being a Princess. Things just happend one step at the time and suddenly the Princess became a Countess...................who chose still to be here.................

(I know I can only speak on my own behalf but...)

[Odette]

Originally Posted by Lilla

As far as I remember, CP Mary was living in Denmark for two years before her marriage (Her Princess School). After the marriage she gradually became patron for more and more carities - but not that many. About a year ago (Mary had been living in DK for about 5 years, as far as I remember) it was announced from the court that the Queen and Prince Consort would slovly deliver their patronages to the CP Couple and today the bouth of them seems to be at an official event more or less every day.

I do think Princess Marie ought to be given the same fair chance to get to know her new country, before demanding her to have a full schedule

I am sure that from the outside looking in, we have no real grasp as to the difficulty a lady would have adapting to her new life as a royal.
I agree that Marie needs time to adapt and adjust and learn. There are so many tasks we learn as we go along if given half a chance to try something. I would love to see her getting involved with something where she would not be compared with Alexandra.

[sgl]

Originally Posted by Odette

I am sure that from the outside looking in, we have no real grasp as to the difficulty a lady would have adapting to her new life as a royal.
I agree that Marie needs time to adapt and adjust and learn. There are so many tasks we learn as we go along if given half a chance to try something. I would love to see her getting involved with something where she would not be compared with Alexandra.

Odette, I totally agree with you. I think that it would be lovely to see Marie involved in something that doesn't draw the inevitable Alexandra comparisons (although, I don't know if that is possible-especially with some of the media). I really liked the idea stated earlier that the royal family was looking into an opportunity for Marie to be involved in a rural area that had not been previously served by Alexandra.

I am very grateful to Lilla and Viv for their insights!

[marmi]

Well, heres how I see it:

I would like Marie to have 1 official charity by the end of the calendar year. She can pick more up gradually, as her learning progresses.
I would also hope to see some evidence of how her Danish is progressing.
(I'm good at tough deadlines at the moment - its exam time...)

Alexandra should be able to keep her patronages as long as she wants, there are random celebrities with patronages, so why not a countess???

[Jo of Palatine]

Originally Posted by sgl

I really liked the idea stated earlier that the royal family was looking into an opportunity for Marie to be involved in a rural area that had not been previously served by Alexandra.

I wonder why Alexandra did not become involved there in Jytland? It's a part of the country that has a strong German minority so the culture is very much forged by the contrast between these two ethnic groups Scandinavian/German. Alexandra with her ability to speak both Danish and German would have been a good choice for this area.

[Viv]

Originally Posted by marmi

Alexandra should be able to keep her patronages as long as she wants, there are random celebrities with patronages, so why not a countess???

Well, it looks as if she is! IMO the problem in this case is that we (the Danes) are not really used to having non-royals doing such patronages. It has simply not been a tradition in this country up till now! A few actors have been UNICEF-ambassadors and the like, but that's a slightly different
story.

In addition to our "performing" RF we now also have the ex-wife of a prince running about with poseys and waving to gathering crowds. Maybe it's just me , but I see it as a problem, also for Princess Marie in the long run! Lilla doesn't mind and we haven't heard from other TRF -Danes what they think of this rather unique situation!

[Viv]

Originally Posted by Jo of Palatine

I wonder why Alexandra did not become involved there in Jytland? It's a part of the country that has a strong German minority so the culture is very much forged by the contrast between these two ethnic groups Scandinavian/German. Alexandra with her ability to speak both Danish and German would have been a good choice for this area.

Well, as you probably know Schackenborg is im Grenzgebiet - only a few kilometers from the border. So this is Joachim & Marie-land!
I'm not really sure which royal(s) will look after the Danish-German border relations in the future. Joachim would be a natural choice! Then again,from what I have been told, life is slowly changing in the border area, and the two cultures are slowly and gently merging into a culture of it own, taking the best from both worlds.

[carlota]

Originally Posted by alex001

For anyone whose not sure on them, Alexandra's patronages, past and present, are listed in this thread:
http://www.theroyalforums.com/forums...ages-5554.html

There is an article here about "Operation Marie" (how corny!) which said that PR Manager Christian Have says that Marie will probably be involved in patronages in South Jutland, as it is away from the shadow of Countess Alexandra and Crown Princess Mary and that she can become an important "provincial-princess".

Some of the suggestions given include working with ecological concerns on the Jutlandic estates, and those large industries to which Joachim and the Royal Family already have ties, such as Lego, ECCO and Danfoss.

that's an interesting branding strategy. it will distance her from the work alexandra and mary have done, so that they can all compete in different fronts.

[ricarda]

Originally Posted by sgl

I would also like to know how long Alexandra had to wait before she was given her patronages. Was it immediately upon marriage, or did she wait at least 5 months also?

As far as I remember Alexandra took over her first patronages in June 1996, ~ 6-7 months after her wedding, and the patronages weren't the most challenging ones: The Danish National Girls Choir and Randers Rainforest (I am not 100% sure about the rainforest, I know she inaugurated it in June 1996 but I am not sure if she became patron at the same time). The patronage she is/was mostly known and praised for on this messageboard - UNICEF - she took over from Queen Margrethe in summer 2002, almost 7 years after the wedding. At the time of her divorce she had 23 patronages.

Marie is not married 6-7 months yet and I think it's really no problem she hasn't chosen a patronage yet. She has the right to take her time just like Alexandra and btw Mary. I have the feeling there will be an announcement at the end of this year.

Lilla
After the marriage she [Mary] gradually became patron for more and more carities - but not that many.

IIRC Mary took her first 3 patronages in late November, early December 2004, ~ 6-7 months after the wedding, just like Alexandra, the patronages were "heavier" though (they had actually nothing to do with fashion, as some poster wrote): The Danish Mental Health Fund, The Danish Association for Mental Health and The Christmas Seal Foundation. The next were announced in January 2005: The Danish Heart Association (she took it over from Prince Henrik) and The Danish Brain Damage Association. Her sixth patronage finally had something to do with fashion:CIFF.

At the time of her 1st wedding anniversary Mary had 16 patronages - almost too many if you ask me. And she started to work with them right away. But somehow - and I guess it has something to do with those fashion shootings of Mary, a silly idea IMO (1st impressions last longest)
and one Marie will hopefully not repeat - the focus of the media always was on fashion and her 2 fashion patronages overshadow(ed) her 14 (now 22) patronages in the social, health, sport, science, culture, humanitarian department.

Viv
In addition to our "performing" RF we now also have the ex-wife of a prince running about with poseys and waving to gathering crowds. Maybe it's just me , but I see it as a problem, also for Princess Marie in the long run!

I can see your point, Viv (actually I always found it a bit strange that in the beginning Alexandra took Martin to almost all her events as if she wanted the public to get used to the idea of a new "semi-royal" couple, but this seems to have changed lately) but I don't think Marie should take over the patronages of Alexandra. Another wife, same patronages? There must be other organisations in Denmark in need of a patron and Marie has to establish a profile of her own.

Moreover, I don't think the media coverage Alexandra gets nowadays is that big, in fact I think it has declined in a way I never thought possible, considering what a huge media star Alexandra once was. She is still famous and I think will always get her share of media attention. But Marie already gets more although she hasn't done that much up to now. Wait until she really gets started!

[Little_star]

I have no problem with Marie's lack of patronages at this point. I would rather see her choose them carefully and becoming involved in issues she is genuinely interested in over a period of time, rather than just "collecting" charities left, right and centre.

[sneeuwklokje]

The problem for Alexandra at the moment is imho that she never can get it right. If she does give up all her patronages and does nothing (I can imagine it to be very hard for her to get a normal job), people will accuse her of not working for her annual allowance and if she does keep them, people will say she'll be a shadow for Marie. What to do?? Alexandra doesn't seem to be the type to sit at home all day, so I guess the best way is to carry on as she does now. Marie will have to live with it....

[ricarda]

I have no problem with Marie's lack of patronages at this point. I would rather see her choose them carefully and becoming involved in issues she is genuinely interested in over a period of time, rather than just "collecting" charities left, right and centre.

Yes, in that respect she definitely should follow in Mary's footsteps.

If she does give up all her patronages and does nothing people will accuse her of not working for her annual allowance

I personally think she does so little nowadays for her patronages that people would hardly notice the difference if she would stop working alltogether. (It's mostly her private life which gets media coverage.) But of course a list with 14 patronages does look impressive, definitely more impressive than a list of ~8 engagements between January and June 2008.

[Odette]

Marie should not take over Alexandra's causes and patronages. However I wonder. Danemark is a small country and with Alexandra having 23 patronages at this point with Mary getting the "meatier" stuff being in line to become the next Queen, what is left for Marie?
In my opinion it would be much worse if she is given token assignments to fill in the gaps the other two (Mary and Alexandra) either did not want or had no time for.

[Empress]

I think that Alexandras patronages have been whittled down to 12 or 14. Mary has the patronages in the 20's.

[Odette]

Originally Posted by Empress

I think that Alexandras patronages have been whittled down to 12 or 14. Mary has the patronages in the 20's.

Who took over those patronages Alexandra is no longer involved in? I understand no one wants Marie to take over Alexandra's discards I am only interested to find out what happened to those charities.

[Little_star]

IMRIC they were re-distributed throughout the family.