Summary of a number of articles in Billed Bladet #48, 2011.
All written by Anna Johannesen.
It’s different for me to deal with the coverage this time, as the articles mainly consists of trivia and personal impressions. It’s actually better this way, I think. Because M&F have already been well covered by the Australian press, so a more personal touch is refreshing and illuminating.
First I will post the trivia and impressions, then a translation of a brief interview with M&F.
Mary did meet her old friend Amber Petty, because our reporter had a brief chat with Amber Petty who told us: “Good friends always find time to see each other”. Apparently they met in Melbourne.
Amber has also seen the twins: “They are just so adorable and conscious”.
Apart from that Amber was also present at the gala at Crown Casino in Melbourne.
The article says Amber will visit M&F in Tasmania.
1.200 guests at the Starry Night 2011 had each paid 2.000 DKK (400 $ US) to attend.
M&F left around midnight. Mary’s clutch was made from snakeskin.
Personal impression by Anna Johannesen: Crown Prince Frederik was bursting with pride over his elegant wife, when they walked through the party hall at Crown Casino.
The rain was pouring down in the botanical garden in Canberra, where M&F were to plant a tree. (*) The ground was muddy and the onlookers soaking wet but shielded by Frederik, who also guided her around lumps of dirt, Mary walked along the line of people who had turned up. In stilettos.
Mary was buried under flowers, which were later distributed local hospitals, nursing homes and centres for elderly throughout the visit. (That is also the case in DK when there are extraordinary many flowers to the DRF). Frederik wasn’t completely forgotten; he was presented with a toy soldier, which he received with a smile.
Our reporter learned this from the Australians and the Australian papers: “She’s after all our Mary”. “William and Kate’s wedding was breathtaking and Queen Elizabeth is both charming and gracious but it’s Mary who has seized our heart. Oh, how we love Mary”. (**)
Mary was also presented with some Tim Tam biscuits. In a picture you can see Mary showing them to Frederik with a smile.
Impression: “We met Cherie Tsingas, age 42, and mother of three, who is so wild about Mary that she flew all the way from Sydney to Melbourne in the hope of meeting the Crown Princess. And she was lucky. When stood, ready with the camera, Mary walked straight up to her shook her hand. Afterwards Cherie stuttered that it was – the greatest day of my life”. (***)
Mary baptised a new tugboat in Melbourne: “I christen you SITZER Marysville and may God bless all who sail in you”. Marysville is located north east of Melbourne and in 2009 there was a forest fire and 45 out of the population of 500 perished and the village was virtually burned to the ground. The tugboat is named in honour of the village.
Mary was presented with a necklace in gold with a little anchor, for being godmother of the tugboat.
Impression: “We noticed that Frederik for the first days in Australia clearly suffered from jetlag. It went over within a few days”.
“Crown Princess Mary, who usually use clear nail polish, for one day during the visit chose a greyish colour, so that the nails matched her blouse”.
The toy koala and kangaroo, Josephine and Vincent carried while being photographed, where actually a present from the Danish ambassador to Australia, Susanne Shine. Her children presented them when M&F arrived in Canberra.
Personal impressions by the journalist, Anna Johannesen:
Australia in November! That sounds fascinating, because who wouldn’t like to get away from the cold in Denmark and down to sun and summer. But to follow the CP-couple for six days isn’t exactly holiday. The schedule has been tight, we have all the time had to be ahead in order to be in place, when Frederik and Mary arrived, but on the other hand the co-operation with the entire official corps down here has been a pure pleasure. Not to mention the Australian colleagues. They are not only helpful – they also have a wonderful humour. (****)
One of the biggest experiences for me on this trip has been see how much the Australians are fond of Mary. “Our Mary” as they say. And then it’s nice that the enormous popularity also rubs a bit off on us. The Australians are a little envious that now it’s we who have “taken over” Mary and I certainly travel home with lots of e-mail addresses from sweet people, who so much would like to be kept “in the know”. Also in regards to the CP-couple’s children.
Even though the CP-couple’s schedule has been full, both Mary and Frederik have appeared a little more relaxed then when we meet them at home. Just as if they were with their family.
There is a lot of waiting around on a royal trip. Journalists and photographers have to be in place in plenty of time in advance, but I have been excellently entertained by my Australian colleagues. They can not only tell stories, not all of which are suited to be retold, but they can also provide both food and coffee… out of the blue.
And darn me if one of them one evening didn’t also offer me a chair! (*****) I choose to believe it’s due to the blister underneath my foot, (******) which I got during one of the first days, and of course have entertained everyone in the media-bus with.
Hanne Juul, Billed Bladet’s lovely photographer, and I have shared big and small but there haven’t been many meals shared between us, because we had to send or text and pictures home. I only recall a single lunch in Melbourne between two jobs and then a dinner with combined press the second to the last evening. Otherwise it’s been room service…
The dinner on the second to last evening was really cosy. The representative of the government, Daniel Bolger, who followed us during the entire trip, had bought tiaras for all the female journalists, which we put on immediately of course. That says something about the Australian humour.
Today it’s 20 degrees C in Melbourne and the shops are decorated for Christmas and on every street corner you hear Christmas music. Yet I look forward to going home to the cold.
- If you found this interesting, there is also an account from Hanne Juul, who being a photographer, has a different angle. Let me know and I’ll translate.
(*) A Danish tree actually, so it remains to be seen whether it will thrive in the different climate.
(**) From an Australian paper. Don’t know which.
(***) There is a picture of Cherie. She’s an attractive brunette with shoulder long hair.
(****) No wonder. Danish and Australian humour is very similar. The Danes perhaps using irony and not least self-irony even more than the Australians.
(*****) Chivalry is a rare thing in DK nowadays. The price for gender equality, perhaps? – Or people have become more selfish.
(******) Anna Johannesen is 68… I have not yet myself suffered the indignity of a young person offering me a seat in a bus, but I fear that day is neigh. I’ve been addressed several times now with formal you by young people, who apparently considered me more or less fossilised.
One’s self-esteem is hardly improved by an uncaring wife, who is reduced to hysterical giggles….
Plus there was actual attention paid to the Danish products and services that Mary and Frederik were supporting (besides the comments on fashion, etc.)
Thanks! 
This woman positively grabbed Mary by the head...
