Mary's royal role: heirs and grace
By Mik Grigg, Annette Sharp
October 31, 2004
The two main duties of a princess have changed little with the years. You are expected to wear fabulous frocks and produce an heir.
As befits a modern monarch, Crown Princess Mary of Denmark (until five months ago, Mary Donaldson of Tasmania) has given her first major interview to an Australian fashion magazine and posed for a series of photographs wearing the creations of 30 of the world's top designers.
Vogue Australia editor Kirstie Clements and photographer Regan Cameron spent a week in Denmark last month for the photo shoot. Taken at the Royal Palace in Copenhagen, the pictures show a serene and composed Crown Princess in a light-as-air jacket and sequinned frock from Louis Vuitton, a body-caressing Prada dress and other heavenly ensembles from Chanel, Jean Paul Gaultier, Australia's Scanlan & Theodore and her favourite Danish designer, Malene Birger.
In the interview the princess likens her new role as queen-in-waiting to a new job and says she is "in the strategic planning phase".
"There is no predefined role for me," she says. "Of course there's the obvious one that everyone is commenting on - that we deliver an heir. That's one role and, yes, we want that to happen."
Clements said Mary seemed quite at ease during the three-day shoot (even listening to a bit of
Talking Heads on the first day), but "very much in control of her new situation and able to find the balance of . . . still being very relaxed and very warm".
The new princess reflects on her remarkable situation. "Growing up you always feel that you have to do something in order to deserve people's admiration and support," she says. " I don't really feel I've done so much. All I've done is say, 'Yes', and love the person that I love."
But aren't the challenges - and even the opportunities - a little daunting?
"I have to believe that I wouldn't be here if I couldn't do this," she says. "But I'm a thinker, I won't say 'Yes' to one thing unless I know how it fits into the overall puzzle.
"There is a lot to weigh up, but my biggest hope is to be able to make a difference somewhere. It's a privilege to have this opportunity.
"The biggest pressure in my new role is becoming a public person. I've never been a person who craved the spotlight."
The photos will prompt comparisons with the Mario Testino images that immortalised Princess Diana.
But a key difference between the two studies is the involvement of a plainly lovestruck Prince Frederik in the Danish pictures.
On the second day, the prince arrived with a portable stereo requested by the photographer. He was asked if he would dance with his wife for the camera, and suddenly the mood of the shoot changed.
The royal couple. She wears a Louis Vuitton dress and silk tulle jacket.
Photo:Regan Cameron/Vogue Australia
"We got this beautiful photo of the two of them together and after that everything was brilliant," Clements said. "They are in love! It turned it into something special. It was no longer just a fashion sitting."
Clements began negotiations for the piece soon after the couple became engaged in October 2003, sweetening the deal with a parcel of Aussie designer clothes.
Until now, the world has known little about the princess's fashion preferences other than her obvious fondness for Prada and beautifully structured hats, as shown by her public wardrobe.
Now, thanks to
Vogue, we know that she has a "sample size" figure, wonderful posture and great legs.
"I've never really thought that much about fashion. I'm still developing my style to fit my new role," she says.
What to wear to a hunt when it's minus three, or a royal tour of Greenland, may govern her choice.
While
Vogue's interview is an undoubted coup, unfortunately for the curious the magazine didn't pose the question that could have secured an even bigger scoop.
Clements said she respected the princess too much to ask about rumours she is pregnant.
"If she was she would have told us, I feel, as she was that open. I paid her the respect of not asking," Clements said.
The December issue of Vogue, featuring the full interview, is out on November 3.
