Princess Mary’s frosty family feud with sister-in-law Princess Marie
Princess Mary has become embroiled in a private row with her sister-in-law Princess Marie, which is putting a strain on the Danish Royal House.
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Princess Mary is in a tortured tussle with her sister-in-law Princess Marie, which is putting a strain on the Danish Royal House.
The Hobart-born commoner and Princess Marie – the French second wife of her brother-in-law Prince Joachim – have been stealing the limelight from each other with clashing engagements, with Princess Marie also complaining about her family’s forced move to Paris.
It comes as Princess Mary and her husband Prince Frederik, who is next in line to the Danish throne, celebrated Christmas alone this year with their children.
The change of schedule had officially been blamed on coronavirus restrictions, but royal watchers say there was no love lost between the Princesses.
“They are very different people, one is European and not only European, she is French, where Mary is the Princess of Denmark and this makes her number one,” Danish businesswoman and regular royal commentator Anna Thygesen said.
“She takes the role very seriously about being a representative for the Danish Crown.”
It has been a horrific year for the Danish Royal Family, with Prince Joachim undergoing emergency brain surgery in July after it was discovered he had a blood clot and almost died.
Prince Frederik visited his younger brother at his Château de Cayx in France, two hours north of Toulouse, in August, but Princess Mary was conspicuously absent.
An interview conducted by a Danish magazine See and Hear in July, conducted before Prince Joachim became ill exposed the tensions.
It was comparable to the interview that Meghan Markle gave in South Africa where she claimed that no-one in the Royal Family had asked her if she was okay.
Princess Marie said in the interview when asked about their planned move to Pairs that “It is not always us who decide.”
When pressed, she said: “No. It is not always us who decide. I think that’s important to know.”
The comments were seen as a rebuke to Princess Mary who wields considerable power in the Danish Royal House.
“Princess Marie is very protective of her husband, she was very open that the choice was not theirs to move to Paris, she’s much more open,” Ms Thygesen said.
“Marie has complained about Paris and how the schools were different for their children
They are two different kinds of people.”
Prince Joachim, 51, had spent a year studying six days a week at the Ecole Militaire in Paris, undertaking France’s highest military training course.
However, after completing the course following his health scare, he had stayed in France instead of returning home to Denmark.
He has taken up a job as defence attache at the Danish embassy in Paris.
The puzzling move has become a defacto exile for the Prince, however he was invited to his mother’s place for Christmas this year.
Princess Marie had been attending events in Paris on her own, but when she returned to Denmark in September for an official event, Princess Mary did one just two hours earlier, dividing the media attention.
Princess Mary, 48, was handing out a business prize to a company that produced green acoustic panels for the construction industry.
But just two hours later, Princess Marie, 44, was at a charity in Copenhagen promoting an end to food waste.
Such a diary clash was considered a faux pax in royal circles, particularly in the British royal family where staff go to great lengths to avoid crossover.
Princess Mary has had a downhill run since she married Prince Frederik in 2004 after meeting him at the Slip Inn in Sydney during the 2000 Olympics.
But the couple’s decision to rent out their holiday home in Verbier Switzerland on Airbnb for $14,000 a week caused controversy earlier this year.
The couple kept the purchase quiet for a decade and it was understood they were renting it out to help pay for its expenses, with the royal couple receiving about $4 million per year from Danish taxpayers.
Princess Mary was unlikely to meet up with Princess Marie this year, with the traditional New Year’s Eve gala cancelled because of coronavirus restrictions.
The rules were tightened in Denmark in December because of a spike in infections.
It was only cancelled once before out of respect for the victims of the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami.
stephen.drill@news.co.uk
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