Mary, our flannie Queen, wins hearts, republican and monarchist

It’s a journey more over-the-top rom-com than traditional fairytale – from VB-drinking, flannelette-shirt wearing Tassie party girl to European Queen.

Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark and Mary Donaldson, as she was known then, in a photo believed to be taken shortly after their first meeting in 2000.

It’s a journey more over-the-top rom-com than traditional fairytale – from VB-drinking, flannelette-shirt wearing Tassie party girl to European queen.

On January 14, Mary Donaldson, once a pretty but otherwise ordinary middle-class, public-school educated Hobartian, will complete that extraordinary journey, becoming queen of Denmark.

Her ascension, alongside husband Crown Prince Frederik – soon to be King Frederik X – follows the surprise abdication of Queen Margrethe II, after 52 years on the throne.

The 51-year-old Mary, a commerce and law graduate who worked in real estate and advertising, famously met Prince Frederik while drinking in Sydney’s Slip Inn while he was visiting for the 2000 Olympics.

New official portraits of The Crown Prince couple Prince Frederik and Princess Mary ahead of her 50th birthday. Picture: Hasse Nielsen.

Legend has it that Mary, pictured left, did not realise until later that the well-spoken Dane with boyish looks and European charm was in line to the Danish throne.

Australians – and most particularly Tasmanians – watched their courtship and subsequent betrothal with bemu ment, and – excluding the most cynical or republican – delight.

The two were married at Copenhagen Cathedral in 2004.

Mary worked hard to assimilate, surrendering her Australian citizenship and learning Danish, assisting charities at home and abroad, charming Danes from all walks of life, and raising a family of potential future heirs to the throne.

The couple has four children – Christian, 18, Isabella, 16, and 12-year-old twins Vincent and Josephine.

Crown Princess Mary and Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark arrive at Amalienborg Palace for the traditional new year reception on January 1. Picture: Getty Images.

Mary, the youngest of four children to Scottish-Australian parents, has continued to make occasional low-key trips back to Australia, including Hobart, to see family and friends.

Her mother Henrietta, who died in 1997, was an executive assistant to the University of Tasmania vice-chancellor, while her father, Professor John Dalgleish Donaldson, was a mathematician and academic.

Mary’s ascension to the throne is expected to make the trips back to Australia far less frequent. It’s one thing for a princess to slip quietly into town; quite another for a crowned queen.

While acknowledging this, family and friends in Tasmania are supportive and thrilled for Mary and Frederik.

“It’s wonderful to see Crown Princess Mary, with such close affection for Tasmania, take on this important role on the world stage with her husband and family,” said Elise Archer, Tasmania’s former attorney-general, who attended primary school with Mary and grew up on the same street as the queen-in-waiting.

“I’m sure she’ll continue to make us all very proud of her Tasmanian-born heritage.”

Crown Princess Mary of Denmark attends a wreath laying ceremony at the Citadel.

Ms Archer attended Waimea Primary School with Mary, in the well-heeled Hobart suburb of Sandy Bay, and lived on the same street as the soon-to-be queen of Denmark in the nearby middle-class Taroona.

She knew Mary well at that time, often going horse riding with her and another friend who agisted horses in the neighbourhood.

“Mary was kind and very hardworking at school and university, and I’m not surprised she has taken on such an important transformation in her adopted Denmark with such aplomb,” Ms Archer said.

Coincidentally, Ms Archer is patron of the Monarchist League in Tasmania. She said even republicans could appreciate the role monarchs played.

“Whether you’re a monarchist or not, I’m sure we can all have close affection for their importance as heads of state,” she said.

In Tasmania at least, some republicans make an exception for Mary.

“Princess Mary is a wonderful ambassador for Tasmania,” said Premier Jeremy Rockliff, an avowed republican. “With her demonstrated humility, grace and kindness, I am sure Crown Princess Mary will be embraced asconvenerlongside her husband, King Frederik.”

The local convenor of the Australian Republic Movement, Wendy Le Cornu, also had only praise for the local girl-made-monarch.

“She’s a very popular person in Tasmania and we’re all extremely proud of what she’s achieved in her role,” Ms Le Cornu said.

“She’s been a wonderful ambassador for Australia. There’s an ability to admire the monarchy and (also) think it’s just not fitting with Australian values anymore.”

Greg Barns, a Tasmanian and former ARM chair who played a key role in the 1999 republic referendum, did not believe Mary’s ascension would set back the republican cause.

“Unlike the UK, Denmark did not have an empire and does not seek to continue its status as a transnational monarchy, so I don’t think it makes any difference,” he said. “People can differentiate between smaller European monarchies and the British monarchy, which is so anachronistic in 21st century Australia.”

The Crown Princess Mary

However, the Australian Monarchist League, headed by Tasmanian former senator Eric Abetz, who attended the same high school as Mary in Taroona, believes Mary as queen is a fillip for Australian monarchists.

“Having an Australian girl become Queen of Denmark shows the diversity and flexibility of a constitutional monarchy like we enjoy in Australia and as the Danes enjoy,” Mr Abetz said.

“There is no doubt that this world event … will connect Australians to their own constitutional monarchy, which has served us so well.”

The Danish accession on January 14 will occur via a simple announcement at Amalienborg Castle in Copenhagen.

Queen Margrethe announced her abdication in her New Year’s speech, telling Danes recovery from back surgery had given her reason to consider the future.

“I have decided that now is the right time,” she said. “The 14th January 2024 – 52 years after I followed my beloved father – I will step back as the Queen of Denmark. I leave the throne to my son, the Crown Prince Frederik.”

She hoped Frederik and Mary would receive the same trust and devotion she had enjoyed. “They deserve it! Denmark deserves it!’’

Mr Rockliff and others said Mary’s charity work had won her many admirers, with the future queen acting as patron of groups in fields as diverse as culture, fashion, humanitarian aid, research and science, social programs, education, health and sport.

In her former home state, this has included as international patron of the Alannah and Madeline Foundation. Set up by Walter Mikac, whose daughters were killed in the Port Arthur massacre, the foundation works to protect children against violence and trauma.

Whatever the broader implications for Australia’s relationship with monarchy, most appear happy to simply enjoy the next chapter in Mary’s remarkable rom-com.