Mike Davis, who lives at Princess Mary’s childhood home, tells of a surprise visit by the royal family
The Taroona homeowner, who now lives in Princess Mary’s childhood home, tells of the surprise visit by the former Hobartian and her family and how he missed out.
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A Taroona father, who has lived in Tasmanian-born Princess Mary’s childhood home for the past 20 years, narrowly missed the chance to meet the soon-to-be Danish queen in person.
Mike Davis told the Mercury he took for granted the fact the home he lives in now was once Mary’s.
But Danish tourist often visit the property and there was even one visit from Mary, Frederik and their children several years ago.
“We did have a visit from Princess Mary and Frederik and the family, I think that was seven or eight years ago on Christmas Eve,” he said.
“I wasn’t here, my wife and daughter were making pate in the kitchen, it was a really hot day … there was a knock at the door, a friend of Mary’s, and she just said ‘Look I’ve just got, out the front of the house, Mary, Frederik and the kids and they’d love to have a look at the house if it’s not too inconvenient.’
Unfortunately for Mr Davis, he missed the royal appearance.
“I was having a swim at the time and I got out and saw seven missed calls, so I thought one of the kids had gone into A&E (accident and emergency).
“I rang home, they said ‘we just had a visit from Mary, Fred and the kids, but they’ve gone now!’
“It’s nice they were able to see the house, I think Mary spent all her childhood here, I would have liked to meet them.”
Mr Davis is otherwise a little ambivalent about his famous address.
“You get the usual comments of ‘that must be great’, but at the end of the day it’s bricks and mortar, it’s our home. Incidentally it’s had someone live here that’s gone on to bigger and greater things,” he said.
He has lived in the house since 2002, and after two years of living there came the news Mary would marry Prince Frederik.
“When I was a lot younger, prior to kids, we had a party to celebrate the marriage of Mary and Frederik,” he said.
“It was nice, we had a few people there who actually went to school with Mary, so they were able to recount some stories from all those years ago.
“I did don a wedding dress for that one.”
As another big moment for Mary approaches, Mr Davis said there wouldn’t be a big party this time around.
Mr Davis recalled he had a lot of curious visitors around the time of Mary’s wedding.
“[This time] We haven’t had the influx of European tourists that we had all those years ago,” he said.
“We had a lot of Danes, if they were touring in Hobart they would stop by.
“We had an old toy library we set up out the front and it was also a comments board
a lot of the Danish tourists write their comments.
“[They were] just happy to see Mary’s house. Half of what they wrote was in Danish, so I don’t know the translation.”
But there’s been one extra special visit to the house in the last decade.
Mr Davis said there’s been a lot of changed to the home since Mary had lived there.
Originally published as Mike Davis, who lives at Princess Mary’s childhood home, tells of a surprise visit by the royal family
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