The moment Fred knew Mary was a future queen

How a date at Sydney’s Sculpture by the Sea exhibition brought Prince Frederik and Mary Donaldson together, and started a legacy that persists to this day.

When Prince Frederik and the then Mary Donaldson visited Sydney’s Sculpture by the Sea exhibition in October 2000, shortly after the Olympics, the prince had his first inkling that the woman he was dating could be the future Queen of Denmark.

But what the couple couldn’t know then was that their love for the event would boost its fame forever, and create opportunities for artists that continue to this day.

Sculpture by the Sea premiered in 1997, but even by 2000 it had become a major tourist attraction, the crowds drawn by its magic mix of artistry and whimsy. The scale of the pieces may have been a little smaller back in 2000, that pre-social media age, but the basics were set: compelling and beautifully strange artworks, displayed against the stunning backdrop of the Bondi clifftops.

The couple were entranced. Particularly Prince Frederik, who decided a similar exhibition should be staged back home in Denmark.

He got his wish eventually, after a considerable lobbying effort, when Sculpture by the Sea debuted on the foreshore of Aarhus in 2009.

Sculpture by the Sea founder David Handley was there.

“As Crown Prince Frederik was opening the exhibition, he said to the Danish public that as he was taking his first steps around Sculpture by the Sea [in 2000], he was taking his first steps in his relationship with the future Queen of Denmark,” Mr Handley said.

The remark electrified the Danes in the crowd, he added.

“(They said afterwards) that royalty don’t speak to us like that, we just had our future king telling us about his first date with our future queen, that’s never happened before.”

Denmark's Crown Prince Couple Mary and Frederik at Sculpture by the Sea in 2011.

David Handley, founder of Sculpture by the Sea.

Prince Frederik and Princess Mary during their 2011 visit. Picture: Gregg Porteous

Mr Handley said he took it upon himself to coach some of the Australian artists present on appropriate royal etiquette, but his efforts weren’t entirely successful.

“I tried to tell the artists, when in doubt, they’re just ‘Your Royal Highness’, that’s all you have to say,” he said. “The first Australian artist they went up to was a lovely bloke called Marcus Tatton who’s also from Tasmania. He just reached out his hand and went ‘G’day Mary!’. It was just one of those classic Australian moments. She loved it.”

Spectators take in one of the artworks displayed in the 2000 edition of Sculpture by the Sea. Frederik and Mary would have enjoyed near-total anonymity at the time. Picture: Craig Greenhill.

Princess Mary in 2011. A spectator had jokingly asked the Crown Prince couple to “turn on the tap”. Picture: Gregg Porteous

The Royal Couple Mary visited Sculpture by the Sea as part of their first official visit to Australia.

Denmark's Crown Prince Couple Mary and Frederik chatted with Danish artist Keld Moseholm, whose “Rolling Pin” sculpture was included in the 2011 event.

Princess Mary was greeted by Bronte Public School students Eliza Finlayson and Rex Crabb, both 8.

The royal connection deepened in 2011, when Princess Mary and Prince Frederik appeared at the opening of the Sydney exhibition. By all accounts it was a hot ticket item.

“I have to say a few Australian politicians didn’t cover themselves in glory,” Mr Handley said. While he’s not naming names, he said “one very, very famous Australian politician” contacted his office, demanding their children’s names be added to the official guest list.

“We said it’s not our decision, and they turned up anyway,” Mr Handey said.

While the Aarhus edition of Sculpture by the Sea has not been staged since 2015, the Danish connections to the event lives on.

Fifty-one Australian artists exhibited their sculptures in Aarhus, and to date 18 Danish artists have been included in Sculpture by the Sea in Bondi and Perth’s Cottesloe beach (the event has been a fixture there since 2005).

An annual prize for a Danish artist will ensure the Nordic nation will be represented in the Australian exhibitions for years to come, and works by Danish sculptors are now in public and private collections around Australia and New Zealand.

The strength of the connection was demonstrated in 2021, when Sculpture by the Sea and the Friendship Society of Denmark, Australia and New Zealand donated works by three artists (two Aussies and one Danish) to the Snowy Valleys Sculpture Trail, in the wake of the Black Summer bushfires.

Originally published as The moment Fred knew Mary was a future queen