If it weren’t for the warm weather, Sydney’s revitalised city centre brimming with bike lanes and the light rail might have fooled Denmark’s Crown Princess Mary into thinking she was back in Copenhagen.
But it was the Australian accents that greeted her as she cycled through the CBD’s streets that confirmed the Hobart-born royal was in her home country.
On her first royal trip in a decade, Crown Princess Mary – who is originally from Australia and married Denmark’s Crown Prince Frederik in 2004 – cycled from Hyde Park to Circular Quay after the 9am traffic rush on Friday.
Beginning at College Street, near St Mary’s Cathedral, she was joined by seven other Danish officials and myriad security and police officers as she travelled past the Archibald Fountain. Construction workers and members of the public – a few recognising the royal – were greeted by waves and a smile as she passed by.
Meeting Sydney’s Lord Mayor Clover Moore at Circular Quay, Princess Mary lauded the “Copenhagenisation” of Sydney, a decade-and-a-half project carried out by the mayor to revitalise Sydney’s streets with bike lanes and larger pedestrian areas.
“I feel that Sydney is adapting to the needs of climate change,” the royal told reporters as she and the mayor boarded a light rail to Town Hall.
Leading a delegation from Denmark focused on discussing Australia’s “green transition”, the crown princess spent the rest of Friday meeting with Danish business representatives focused on the transition and visiting Quay Quarter Tower, a new Danish-designed building in the city’s centre.
Sydney has spent more than a decade focusing on the “Copenhagenisation” of its urban spaces, after Mayor Clover Moore was inspired by Danish urbanist Jan Gehl’s landmark study Public Spaces Public Life, which is said to be responsible for the vision of the light rail down George Street.
The pair, along with a delegation of Danish officials, has spent the last six days travelling around Vanuatu and Fiji where they have focused on “consequences of climate change in the Pacific region”, a royal statement said.
In Vanuatu, recently hit by two cyclones and two earthquakes, the royal visited crisis response centres and met with locals who led the response to the disasters.
Danish Crown Princess Mary visited Pele Island in Vanuatu on Sunday, 23 April.Credit: AAP
Denmark is currently campaigning for a non-permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council. In a statement announcing the tour, the royal’s statement said: “As a candidate for the UN Security Council, Denmark emphasises that the small states have a strong voice in the global climate negotiations and in matters of international peace and security.”
After leaving the country, the Crown Princess will travel to London for the coronation of King Charles III.
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