A very excellent question Jaqueline!
IMHO Fred is wrestling with some or all of the questions/concerns about Mary, which those of us on the message boards devoted to him are. And, I would imagine that the palace (read the Queen) has voiced some of them as well.
I have posted some of my concerns below, in no particular order:
Mary has no problem finding the means to follow Fred around the world, but she can't find the time or means to go home for her grandmothers funeral or birth of her sisters baby? What does that say about her relationship with her family?
If a person can not sustain a loving close relationship with parents and siblings, how can they be expected to sustain a long term relationship with others (Fred) AND/OR how can they be expected to teach that to their children?
Mary flittered from job to job like a butterfly in a garden prior to meeting Fred. In fact, by all published reports, Fred appears to be the only 'job' Mary has held down for longer than a year.
Marys' life, prior to Fred, lacked direction and purpose, she hinted as much, when she told the director of the 'princess course', "I feel that life is passing me by".
Let's face it folks, so far Mary has had an easy row to hoe, but once she becomes engaged/married to Fred (assuming it happens) the real hard work begins for her and, from her spotty work history, I don't know that she has it in her.
Royals work harder than we give them credit for and it's not all pretty jewels and fancy clothes. I'm not confident Mary is clued into that yet or will stick it out when she does wake up to it and I would be willing to bet the Queen has considered it also. IMHO
When I see pictures of Mary smiling at the press who follow her and Fred and read some of the glowing articles written about her, I wonder how she processes it all. Does she see it for what it is (selling papers) or is her ego stoked by the attention or does she equate it with love and affection she feels lacking elsewhere, as Diana was prone to do?
I read somewhere that Diana was given a complete gyn exam prior to the offical engagement announcement, to insure she could bear children. I often felt royal familes would do better to insist on a psychological exam instead....weed out some of the folks folks who are in it for the wrong reasons or who will crack under the pressure.
A few other things have troubled me and perhaps some of you old timers can clear them up:
1) I heard Fred was dating someone else when he met Mary. and 2) Fred had visited Mary only 5 times (during the course of a year) prior to asking her to move to Denmark with him AND she quit her job the next day.
If either of the above are true, it doesn't reflect well on Ms. Donaldson either.
I'll shut up now and let someone else talk. :x
Kathy