Princess Mary’s Australian tips for nephew studying Down Under

Australia’s favourite royal, Crown Princess Mary of Denmark, had some sage words of advice for her nephew before his six-month trip Down Under. Count Nikolai of Monpezat reveals all in his first interview.

On paper he is known as His Excellency Count Nikolai of Monpezat, seventh in line to the Danish throne. To his friends and people he meets, he is simply, Nikolai.

“I am just a bloke, Nikolai,” the Danish royal told The Daily Telegraph in his first ever Australian interview.

“I try to go around very incognito at home, you’d often find me in a cap, wearing a hoodie, my sunnies, I try to go about it in an incognito way. Of course I know all of my courtesies and formalities, I have been taught them since I was very young but it is not like we practice it at home in private, then it is a low key regular family. I understand why it piques people’s interests, it is the same for me being curious about things, it is fascinating.”

The 24-year-old nephew of Australia’s favourite royal, Crown Princess Mary of Denmark, is enrolled for six months at the University of Technology Sydney where he is studying business. His father, Prince Joachim of Denmark, similarly spent six months working on a farm in Wagga Wagga shortly after graduating from high school.

Crown Princess Mary's nephew, Count Nikolai of Monpezat ahead of the VRC Melbourne Cup Carnival Dinner at Mimi's in Coogee on Tuesday. Picture: Christian Gilles

“I hope to bring some Aussie back home to Denmark and then I hope to set my own handprint, footprint, in Australia,” he said. “I like that it is laid back here, people are just so friendly, so nice, talkative, I really enjoy that.”

Nikolai explained that Princess Mary had fully briefed the model and student about all things Australia before he flew here.

“She gave me a long list, an itinerary of what to do and what not to do, I can’t remember it now but I have it at home,” said Nikolai, who has worked internationally for the likes of Dior and Burberry. “Basic ‘survival skills’, I would say clap your boots before putting them on, stuff like that, flush the toilet before you use it. I do not (want a snake or spider).”

Prince Nikolai of Denmark and his girlfriend Benedikte Thoustrup are in Australia until the end of 2023. Picture: Supplied/Instagram

Princess Mary of course met Denmarks Crown Prince Frederik, heir to the throne, during the Sydney Olympics at local pub, the Slip Inn. Her fairytale story has captivated Australians, and of course the Danes. She is mother to Princes Christian and Vincent, and Princesses Isabella and Josephine.

Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark and Mary, Crown Princess of Denmark. Mary has given Nikolai some tips about Australia.

Nikolai walks the runway as part of Paris Fashion Week in 2020.

“I would say she has adopted Denmark and the Danish way a lot but you can tell that she loves Australia,” Nikolai said of his aunt. “I don’t want to put words into her mouth but she goes back every so often and I think she just enjoy every bit of it. The connection I can feel from my cousins, who are raised Danish but definitely have that Aussie connection too.”

Nikolai has rented a “small apartment” in Sydney with girlfriend Benedikte Thoustrup, who is also studying at UTS.

“I feel like I have settled in quite all right, I have my little flat and I am with my girlfriend here as well,” he said.

“We are at uni so we have our sort of everyday already figured out. I have some local friends that have shown me around.”

Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, Princess Josephine of Denmark, Princess Isabella of Denmark, Prince Vincent of Denmark, Prince Christian of Denmark, Prince Nikolai of Denmark, Prince Felix of Denmark, Princess Athena of Denmark, Prince Henrik of Denmark, at the celebrations of her Majesty's 76th birthday at Amalienborg Royal Palace in 2016. Picture: Getty Images

Nikolai will attend the upcoming Melbourne Cup Carnival on Penfold’s Victoria Derby Day at Flemington Racecourse as a VIP guest. On Tuesday, he will be the guest of honour at a Victoria Racing Club dinner to celebrate the Melbourne Cup Carnival in Sydney at Mimi’s in Coogee.

Melbourne Cup Day will also play host to the second running of the $3 million The Big Dance at Royal Randwick as part of Sydney’s prestigious Everest Carnival. The inaugural running of the innovative concept drew massive crowds on course as winners of country cups from around NSW battled for the major prize.

It was his girlfriend that introduced Nikolai to horses.

“She has been show jumping ever since she was young and she has shown me her horse world, taught me how to ride a horse amateurly,” he said of his girlfriend.

Prince Nikolai of Denmark with the Melbourne Cup ahead of his trip to Victoria. Picture: Christian Gilles

“I have been to horse racing in Hong Kong before but never anything as grand as the Cup in Melbourne. I hope to get an authentic experience.”

Australia is a country he has long wanted to visit with Uluru on his bucket list of places he wants to visit while here.

“I have always heard great things about Australia,” he said. “It is this big, huge, but for me very foreign country, mostly because it is so far away. All I’ve known about Australia prior to moving here is what I see and read in the news. And of course I have also heard about Australia from my aunt, who is Australian, and my father who lived here for half a year.”

As for modelling, Nikolai said opening and closing a Dior runway show in Paris “was a huge deal”.

“I think it is amazing coming to Australia being able to work as a model, not really anything I had anticipated but it is so nice to get the opportunity to do so,” he said, represented by Kult agency in Australia.