I still canât believe that the Duchess of Cambridge organized and released her 40th birthday portraits, taken by an Italian fashion photographer. The photos didnât even look like Kate, and one of them looked like the daguerreotype of a Civil War widow. It was just such a strange visual to mark your 40th birthday – Kate, solo, in a garden (only you couldnât see the garden), surrounded by nothing and looking nothing like how she actually looks. With that in mind, Denmarkâs Crown Princess Mary is also celebrating a landmark birthday. Mary turns 50 years old on February 5th, and the Danish palace released some lovely portraits of Mary and her husband in advance of her birthday.
Just a month after the Duchess of Cambridge marked her 40th birthday with a glamorous new set of photos, Crown Princess Mary of Denmark has released some special portraits of her own, ahead of her 50th birthday this weekend.
Unveiled by the Danish royal house this week, in advance of Maryâs birthday on Saturday, an announcement on the Kongehuset website reads: âOn the occasion of HRH The Crown Princessâs 50th birthday on 5 February 2022, new official gala portraits of the Crown Prince Couple are published. The portraits were taken by photographer Hasse Nielsen in The Crown Prince Couple’s home Frederik VIIIâs Palace at Amalienborg.â
Town and Country reports that Mary also opted to wear the Ruby Parure Tiara: a treasured piece that dates back to 1804, when it was worn by the future queen consort of Sweden and Norway, DĂ©sirĂ©e Clary, for Napoleonâs coronation. It came under the ownership of the Danish royal family in 1869, gifted to Princess Lovisa on her marriage to the then crown prince, another Frederik of Denmark. With red and white jewels echoing the colours of the Danish flag and an ornate leaf design, itâs complemented by a matching bracelet, earrings, brooch, and ring â also worn by Mary in the new portraits.
If youâd like to read more about the ruby tiara, People Magazine had even more history about the piece. Itâs a stunning tiara, and itâs a reminder that it was actually kind of weird that Kate didnât wear a tiara for her birthday portraits. If youâre going to do formal royal portraits, certainly one of them should actually be âformal,â in a gown, with a tiara and the full regalia? Which is exactly what Mary did. I love that her husband Frederik was included in her birthday portraits. They seem warm and happy with each other.
Mary also made some public appearances this week in advance of her birthday, which Kate never does. Mary took her kids to the zoo, and then visited Copenhagen University, where she made a speech!! LOL.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Instagram.
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- Copenhagen, DENMARK – Crown Princess Mary of Denmark at the Kobenhavn Zoo in Copenhagen for a visit and the Crown Princess plants a eucalyptus tree as part of the first sod of Marys Australske Have (Mary’s Australian Garden) – a park dedicated to Australian animals, on the occasion of the Crown Princess 50th birthday. Pictured: Crown Princess Mary of Denmark BACKGRID USA 2 FEBRUARY 2022 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Copenhagen, DENMARK – Crown Princess Mary of Denmark at the Copenhagen University in Copenhagen. The Crown Princess opens a new knowledge center, which will wear the name Crown Princess Mary Center â solving problems through research and partnerships, on the occasion of the Crown Princess’s 50th birthday. Pictured: Crown Princess Mary of Denmark BACKGRID USA 2 FEBRUARY 2022 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Copenhagen, DENMARK – Crown Princess Mary of Denmark at the Copenhagen University in Copenhagen. The Crown Princess opens a new knowledge center, which will wear the name Crown Princess Mary Center â solving problems through research and partnerships, on the occasion of the Crown Princess’s 50th birthday. Pictured: Crown Princess Mary of Denmark BACKGRID USA 2 FEBRUARY 2022 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
Now THAT’S what a portrait should look like!
+1
Completely agree. This is what regal, classy beautiful looks like đ
Regal and lovely!
Scrolling through, I actually thought this was Kate. Doesn’t she have a very similar looking gown? The similarities only highlight how much better her photos could and should have been.
Yes. Beautiful.
She looks awesome. That is how you do it!
Mary is stunning. THIS is how you do a milestone birthday when royal!
This is stunning! This looks like a portrait that should be in a museum for generations.
Beautiful pics. Good looking couple. Cute kiddos too.
She looks absolutely stunning, and royal, which is something I generally think of as useless, but this is how it should always be done.
These portraits are great. They’re what Kate should have done.
I agree. Someone should tell her to find her own personal style and stop the cosplaying.
There are the droids we are looking for
Also her jawline is to die for – something that Kateâs photographs highlighted in an unflattering way
You can see from the less photoshopped pics what Mary’s jawline really looks like. It is fine, she’s 50, but it is definitely photoshopped in the official portraits.
I do wish the background were different as I am pro-outdoor portraits, but these are still lovely. The tiara is gorgeous with the dress.
The tiara is really stunning. I love it.
CP Mary had it redesigned to fit her better. I’m not crazy about the redo but maybe ArtHistorian will stop by to give her opinion. As she’s studied history jewelry design, her opinion is much better informed than mine!
Royal Order of Sartorial Splendor did an article about the redesign complete with a link to the video of the work being done. As my links never go through, I’m putting the info here and people can find the link on their own
Royal Order of Sartorial Splendor, 12 January 2017, Tiara Thursday: The Danish Ruby Parure, Revisited
I so miss the Order of Sartorial splendor!!! She was the best around
I miss that blog so much. I wish she would come back.
I loved that blog!! I also love the redesign; it definitely suits Mary better now. The original setting never seemed to give her the same confidence, it was like a puzzle piece that didn’t quite fit.
I miss OOS a lot!!! Iirc, they’re still running their other blog, focused solely on the Queen/British jewelry, which I guess is a little less time consuming for them than the main blog was. But I miss them, and I hope they’re doing ok in these times!!!
I like the redesign, I think it actually looks better on Mary. Before the redesign, it looked more like a sparkly headband. Now, it sits more like a tiara should on her head. I’ve always loved this tiara a lot. It’s gorgeous and it has a history that I really love.
I miss the Order too. She is so clever and loves the “big guns” jewelry.
Oh man, OOS is my all-time favorite blog. I still have it in my bookmarks bar. I wish it would come back!
The Meghan haters swarmed the comments and destroyed OOS. IMO that’s why she gave up, because she was tired of dealing with the blatant racists.
I just took another walk down OOS, and funnily enough, all of Kate’s photos have been removed, even the ones OOS was PRAISING her for. JC on a peanut butter cracker, has anyone, in the entire history of time, been this coddled?
I love this tiara!! The whole parure is on exhibit in the city of Kolding this year – and I’m already plotting a visit.
I personally like the new incarnation of this tiara. Mary had it remounted because the frame didn’t actually fit her head – and she had to wear it at an odd angle. We don’t actually know how the original Napoleonic setting looked like. However, this tiara has been altered several times. During the 1920s Alexandrine wore it as a slender wreath across her forehead. Ingrid changed it to a more traditional triangle shape and Mary has changed it again to suit her taste. They packed the leaves tighter, which also freed up to pieces, which have been converted to separate hair pieces. I honestly like all the various incarnations of this tiara.
I love the outdoor portraits, too. But it is late January/early February in Denmark. I’m not sure that a tiara would really work with a parka.
I agree that they are lovely photos, but they could have used a different background. I’m sure one of the palaces has a lovely gallery space, instead of the neutral grey photo backdrop.
Love the tiara and the quiet happiness she seemed to radiating.
Beautiful. Now this is how you do regal birthday portraits.
Mary is so beautiful and regal and Kate is more Spigel. Mary and her husband are a very good looking couple
They do look lovely together!! She is stunning and I love the fact that she doesnât look plastic or photoshopped to the moon and back. Mary looks regal and presents herself as a true royal, blood or not.
Then we have Kate that looks akin to a five & dime royal, cheap and unimaginative.
Mary has worked her ass off as well to âearnâ the title, whether she needed to or not.
I LOVE that tiara. I think the portraits are lovely. She looks like herself, and I love that there are some with her husband, some by herself, and some of him. I also think the photoshop is good – if there was any, which I’m assuming – bc you can still see some lines around her eyes, so she still looks like she’s aging but in a way that I want to lol (even if its touched up botox etc.)
I still think the reason Kate did not wear a tiara was because she was told “no.”
Agree becks1 that Kate was probably told she could not wear a tiara. Itâs so weird how they gatekeep the jewels. It just comes across as petty. I donât know much about this family but it seem they like each other enough to allow access to wearing a tiara. Is there an Angela Kelly type that Mary would have needed to get permission from?
If the powers that be suspect that she may not even make it to Princess of Wales, I wouldn’t want her wearing any of their iconic bling either.
Frederik inherited the ruby-diamond parure from his grandmother. Plus, it is traditional that this tiara is worn only by the crown princesses/queen consorts. Queen Margrethe has never worn this tiara.
In general, I think Margrethe could be a bit more generous with sharing the tiaras. She has only loaned Princess Marie one. Fred owns the ruby-diamond tiara but Mary was given a new tiara for her wedding and she has since bought another one on auction. Mary also has exclusive use of a modern tiara (the Midnight Tiara) by the firm Ole Lynggaard. I have seen it at an exhibit and it is gorgeous!
@Becks: Could it be Kate was told no tiara because the Palace wanted to avoid the comparisons with the Princess Diana pictures?
@ Amy Bee, they had good reason considering CopyKeen spends her days trying to figure out who she wants cosplaying, as long as itâs anyone but herself. She is so pathetic that she canât, at 40, figure out who she is.
They were fearful she would cosplay TQ which would be a valid concern.
The queen is very picky with tiara use and so kate probably only was able to use the Cambridge loverâs knot that she normally wears and kate didnât want to.
Besides an older photo of Rose with an off the shoulder red outfit from a vogue Italy shoot has surfaced and the similarities to Kateâs 40th birthday photo are very hard to ignore. Kate did a cosplay on all the photos.
@Nic919 – Do you have the link to the Rose photograph?
https://www.vogue.it/en/vogue-gioiello/fashion/2011/03/vg-london#ad-image19047
@Nic919 – THANKS!
“the similarities to Kateâs 40th birthday photo are very hard to ignore.”
It is eerie the similarities!
I saw the Rose picture in the link provided. Other than the fact that they are both wearing a red dress I donât see any similarity. And why does Rose look like a POC in the picture?
@Athena – For me it is the hair that is eerie as neither Rose or Cathy wears her hair in that style in the real world.
As for Rose looking like a POC, I think it is the lighting used for the photoshoot.
Holy smokes, I’ve never seen that Rose photo before. Wow, the hair, the colors, just WOW.
On a separate note, I find Rose’s sister Marina absolutely stunning. She has such a strong look, like almost a tiny bit masculine, but in a really cool way.
I do think the tiara use, etc. is being regulated so as not get complaints about being tone deaf to crisis and poverty, add to that the pandemics and the effect on the economy and how most jewels were taken from the then colonies and never given back. They (the RR) sure can complain about other duchess’ earrings, but they don’t say anything about the hidden fastuous regalia.
Edti: and What @Over it said about not fueling the “future queen” rumors. Not upstaging Camilla.
My first thought when I saw Kate’s 40th birthday photos was that she was trying very hard to emulate Rose Hanbury’s look. The way her hair was wavy and how it was styled in some of those photos in particular gave it away. It’s not just a cosplay of how Rose looks in that Vogue photo. There are other photos of her that Kate has clearly seen and is trying to emulate the style of. So it’s not just Meghan and Jecca Craig and Isabella Calthorpe that Kate is trying desperately to SWF, it’s Rose Hanbury as well, which makes perfect sense.
Speaking of which, I’d LOVE to hear Rose Hanbury’s opinion of Kate. I’m pretty sure that next to Meghan, she is the one other person who has dealt with Kate’s passive-aggressive, AND aggressive-aggressive bitchiness first hand. I bet Rose watched that Oprah interview with a nice glass of wine, and cackled the whole way through it.
That link is wild! Marina Hanbury managing to look like Amy Winehouse, heroin chic, and close to grim death in one fell swoop. Googling her turns up a reference to Rose and Marina’s mother, Emma, who was called pushy over her daughters to make sure they married well. Marina is now a Countess while Rose is a Marchioness (sp?). That’s a familiar trope, now I want a title.
I think she was told No too. In fact they told her to run off and do her own 40th birthday photos and she and Carole came up with the dreck that resulted.
It would have been nice if she’d brought out the Cartier tiara from the wedding again
Lovely.
Exquisite, all of it. The dress, the jewels, that tiara. This is how itâs done.
Beautiful.
Since kate had already taken her birthday picture.
So, kate need to find a set of twins to go to the zoo and copy the text and then give a speech at any University.
You go girl.
I noticed Kate fans trying to say Mary was copying Kate with her portraits or that the new modern looks of Kate recently was following trends and inspired by Mary instead of Meghan.
The portraits are stunning and I like that she has more substance to her than her stylish looks.
The photos look lovely and somehow they seem “relatable” even though you know there’s a massive gap with the plebs and them.
Right? I want to have coffee with those people.
She also gave an interview to, I wanna say a financial times magazine and thereâs even more glamour shots there. I have long thought that the Cambridgeâs would greatly benefit from creating friendships and working relationships with the Scandinavian royals. I donât think that holding themselves apart from other royals roughly their same ages is doing them any favors. The insular nature of BRF is really working against them.
I’ve also had the same thought. I know that William and Kate did an engagement with Frederick & Mary years ago; they met the Norwegian & Swedish Royals, but they need to be the ones sent to weddings, etc., the way that the Queen has sent Edward & Sophie for the past 20 years.
Most of the weddings are done for now. They *might* be the ones sent to weddings of heirs in 10-15 years. The BRF tried to send W&K to the Lux royal wedding, but the Lux royals clapped back and said Edward and Sophie were invited. They didn’t want Kate playing her typical games and pulling focus from the bride.
I’m going to need to hear more about the BRF trying to shoehorn W and K onto the guest list of someone else’s wedding. Are there links or articles?
hahaha @nota I love these little tidbits you drop for us.
They tried that early on with Fred and Mary. It was a disaster. W&K flew to Denmark to promote UNICEF and pretend to pack boxes of supplies. Kate pranced around in thousands of pounds in new designer gear. She stumbled repeatedly over her simple ‘shine a light, shine a light’ talking points. And she refused to sample the peanut paste food supplement, which meant coverage of the event focused on whether or not Kate was expecting vs. focusing on UNICEF.
There is also some awkward video at that unicef event where kate is mumbling something and William looks embarrassed. Fred and Mary tried to have a neutral look.
In any case kate doesnât like women who outshine her so I canât see her wanting to associate with Mary at this point. Itâs the same as with Letizia, who sheâs openly snubbed despite being lower rank.
Didn’t Kate not invite Mary & Fred to their wedding because the rumor was she didn’t want to be upstaged by Mary/Kate was intimidated by Mary? I swear I read that somewhere.
L84Tea, Mary had recently given birth to her twins at the time of Will and Kate’s wedding, so I’m more inclined to think that’s the reason she missed it? Especially since Mary and Kate seemed chummy at Royal Ascot in 2016.
@CuriousCole, thank you for that info. It was likely just a rumor at the time. I just recall it being framed online somewhere that Mary had been “snubbed” by Kate.
Plenty of other accomplished royal ladies were there, like Mathilde, Maxima, Letizia. Can’t see her singling out Mary and not inviting her. I am more inclined to go with the recent twin birth as the reason too.
The BRF and the Danish Royals haven’t been close since what the 19th century?
I’m pretty sure that only the topnotch royals were invited for the wedding, so Daisy went.
Nobody really cares about the BRF in Denmark, but the Danish Royals are super popular. The last time I read something about the BRF was actually a piece supporting Harry and Meghan and naming Andrew as embarrassing.
Mary is really popular in Denmark. Her 50th is being celebrated even more than her husband’s. Two exhibitions, a formal portrait commissioned by the Museum of National History (it is good), Copenhagen Zoo creating an Australian Garden in honour of her, public entertainments broadcast on two national television channels – and the largest supermarket chain creating a Mary at 50 cake (available in all their bakeries). It chocolate cake with chocolate cream and very delicious.
Mary and her twins got to enter the penguin enclosure at the zoo and I’m very jealous because I love penguins.
Yep, my point exactly. I’m Danish. However, I did see a bit of back firing due to the china from government – but again, I’m pretty sure Mary would have liked them to spend the money for one of her projects insted.
I saw these pictures the other day and was hoping they would be covered here. Maryâs tiara is magnificent despite the redoâs and has such history to it. Even if Kate couldnât wear a tiara, this is how you do pictures. Formal, regal yet recognizable.
What many (new Kate stans) forget is – there are other royal ladies out there who aren’t coddled and infantilised as she is. When you look at it, most of them married in around the same age. They got to work doing royal engagements, starting foundations, having and raising young children. All while working for their (often adopted) countries, not taking years to start working 1 hour a week and using children as an excuse to be lazy. Plus Kate was with William for 10 years prior to the wedding, which was far more than most others had to get used to the responsibilities.
Mathilde, 26. Mette-Marit had just turned 28. Kate, 30. Maxima, 31. Mary, 32. Letizia, 32. Maxima and Mary had to learn new languages as well.
LOL Maxima and Mary had to learn new languages! That!
And Kate struggles with public speaking in her native language.
Maxima spoke dutch during the engagement interview. I suppose Mary spoke danish too.
Maxima gave prepared comments in Dutch. iirc Mary spoke English.
What really struck a chord with me – in an interview with Mary she said that marriage for her also involved moving continents, learning a new language, adapting to a new climate and culture, PLUS royal etiquette etc. But she added “it also gave great opportunities to carve out my own role”. Would that Kate had seen it that way instead of being endlessly keen and utterly unproductive.
Didn’t Mary have a life and career before she met and married Frederik, like a normal 21st century woman, without a Diana/ aristocrat-obsessed mother and a money-laundering uncle financing the her family’s grift? Kate is an anomaly with married-ins, I think. She thinks like a pre-feminist, expecting first, her parents and then, her husband “to take care” of her every need with “work” being a dirty word. She’s too dumb and lazy to be embarrassed.
Itâs still rich people playing dress up with othersâ money, but I agree that Maryâs look more regal and leader-like and the tiara is unique and fabulous.
Flawless
I love that her dress has those tiny pinky/red beads/pearls sewn in among the blue. It perfectly ties in the rubies in the tiara without feeling matchy. And the dress fits her impeccably.
Would have been a better look for Kate if her husband had posed with her also. Since they are turning 40 the same year, they could have halved the distance between their birthdays and had some shots done separately and together like this.
It would have made sense for them to do joint photos since they share a milestone birthday within six months of each other. But it really shows they donât work as a couple with this separate stuff.
Or as suspected, this whole Promote Keen photoshoot was done by Kate and Carole. William wasn’t involved and didn’t have a say in the matter.
Baldimort likely told her to keep him out of that nonsense antebellum photoshoot.
This is what Kate should have gone for.
Now THAT is how a royal birthday portrait is done. She seems like such a lovely woman. KKKate could never.
Where is the civil war widow filter? The uncanny valley level photoshop? The uncomfortable angles to skew your proportions?
Rookie mistake to include the husband, too, that pulls the focus away from what is most important – you, you, you!
Lol. Few can Keen like Khate does!
I went thru their Instagram. I think Mary is doing it wrong. I did not see jazz hands, cackling laughter, head plunged backwards, toasting with insects and more jazz hands. Mary needs more training from that saintly white woman.
Kate’s portraits, for attempting to be understated were in fact completely eccentric. These portraits above, though formal, are much more normal looking.
I don’t think “understated” was the look they were going for on the part of either Kate or the photographer. It was a fashion shoot, imo.
Has anyone seen Camilla do a princess portrait (for want of a better word) for any of her birthdays? I remember there was a lovely portrait for Camilla’s 70th but it was not at all like the formal regal portraits done by Mary. So, maybe Kate can’t do that type of portrait before Camilla, the next Queen Consort before does one. I think Diana did portraits with tiaras but she was The Princess of Wales.
Completely agree that this is the vibe they should have gone for with Kate. Maybe they’ll do something similar to this when it’s William’s birthday aka put on the regalia for the heir’s birthday instead of his wife’s. And absolutely love the tiara, it’s one of my favourites.
I donât think that it was the queen and her dresser that denied Kate her Tiara, I think it was Charles, I believe he is currently running things and he told her no she canât have the Tiara because she isnât next in line as queen consort, Camilla is, so as long as he is ahead of William, Kate canât get things before Camilla.
Charles doesn’t control AK47 who is the one guarding the jewel chest. If the Queen was okay with Kate wearing a tiara for her portraits, she would have allowed it. She didn’t. QEII has decided Kate can wear the Cartier halo, the Palm, and the Cambridge lover’s knot Diana hated. But Kate only gets to wear those when QEII allows it. Charles has no say in the matter. Charles controls the jewels that were left to him personally by his grandmother from the Greville inheritance, which are the main tiaras Camilla wears now.
I wonder if Charles will fire Angela Kelly when he takes the throne. She seems determined to keep gatekeeping and to never retire.
And, if Kate HAD actually done work over the last decade or so, I feel like she would have had congenial borrowing privileges for a birthday portrait, but đ€·đ»ââïž
@Lexistential, when the Queen dies, Angela Kelly would absolutely be given the boot. Charles would not want her around, bc Camilla is Queen, and that means Camilla gets to bring in her own people to manage matters like the royal jewelry.
Given that Camilla looks good in jewelry and clearly has a keen interest in wearing some really big pieces, I hope that she takes the time to unpack and air out every last bit of what’s in the depth of that vault that the Queen never bothered to look into. Imagine having that much jewelry and not only not knowing what’s there, but also not CARING enough to know.
Angela Kelly is in her 60’s. When TQ passes she’ll probably be more than happy to retire and be out of the way of the changes to come. She’s been with TQ for something like 25 years. Most likely she’s already been well provided for, for her retirement years.
@A Re: AK, I hope Charles does fire her because she seems like a toxic mean girl who likes playing along with the courtiers, and she seems to get off on her gatekeeping– which has prevented the married-in women from looking more glamorous.
I am also fascinated at how much more jewelry we might see once Charles ascends. I think he would be so into Camilla wearing all the beautiful pieces that TQ wears (like the Girls of Great Britain + Ireland piece) and the bigger guns we might not know of.
AK is a toxic mean girl who in the past physically assaulted another member of the staff.
This is the kind of easy, obvious, and safe portraiture, dare I say boring (we have seen Mary in basically this look a dozen times, particularly that good old tiara), that I guess smart royals go for. I will say I wish theyâd have come up with a more interesting and personal background than acres of featureless gray.
Mary is a Crown Princess and more elevated in stature than Kate, hence the layers of âregaliaâ or whatever tf one is supposed to call the tiara, sash, etc.
It IS nice to see a married couple who seem to actually like each other. I mean I do remember some gossip about him, but ofc wish them well.
Yes, this is exactly what Mary looks like whenever she gets glammed up. (Same with him.) I’d have loved something with a background too. On the steps of something fancy? A fancy room? Denmark countryside?
And while this is Mary’s best tiara, I like the very Letizia wears better. The Spanish Floral tiara is a little more spaced out and not quite as dense.
This is how a portrait of a future queen should look like. The speech is what a 21st century consort does to show leadership. Judging from some of the comments here the Cambridges come up short in the eyes of some royals but maintain civility for their countries’ diplomatic needs.
Queen Margrethe has strong trust in her too. She knows Mary can handle the job.
Saw these last night on Twitter. Mary looks elegant, regal and comfortable in her own skin. I love her tiara. It’s gorgeous. Perfect pairing with her gown. I like the fact Frederick was included in her photos. They do seem solid.
Thank you! Love these regal pics.
More European royals please!
I always wonder what the Norwegian royal house (related to the Windsors) think of the crap they pulled on Harry and Meghan. The Swedish royal family as well. Both families had no problem letting one of their family members take a step back and live their life.
With regards to Norway and Princess MĂ€rtha Louise of Norway: She is fourth in the line of succession to the Norwegian throne, after her brother Haakon, and his children, but is not a member of the royal house.
MĂ€rtha Louise is a member of the Norwegian Royal Family as she is the daughter of a king but she is not a member of “Norwegian Royal House” and she no longer is an HRH or HH
FYI: With regards to the children of Haakon, Crown Prince of Norway, His daughter Princess Ingrid is an HRH but his son, Prince Sverre Magnus, is only an HH. If and when Princess Ingrid has children and ascends the throne, Prince Sverre Magnus will cease to be an HH and a member of the Royal House as he is no longer in direct “generational” line of succession and is no longer the son of a reigning monarch. if I understand what I read correctly.
If only CG of Sweden had been so forward thinking, but he wanted to give his sleezy sonny boy’s children titles. Couldn’t do that unless he first gave them to Madeleine’s children, which means they have too many little kids running around with useless titles. But he just HAD to give that one Duchy to the son’s eldest son, because it is the only Duchy that has financial benefit to it. Did that even though Victoria’s son Oscar was born several months before and rightfully should have been given that title.
Harald and Sonja gave an extensive interview to celebrate 30 years on the throne, and it was very clear that they rely almost only on each other for state business. There is no expectation that his sisters (one of whom lives in South America) should be part of his reign. And indeed here there is no tradition for involving royal siblings, since Haakon VII arrived here with only his wife and young son, and that son, Olav, was an only child.
As for what the Norwegian royals think of the Sussexes — Ingrid Alexandra recently gave an interview for her 18th birthday and mentioned that one of her favourite shows is Suits!
The portraits are lovely, and fitting for the occasion.
Rumors about Mary and Frederickâs marriage suggest that Mary and Kate might have a lot in common, when it comes to spousal fidelity. And itâs extremely easy for members of the Danish royal family to live in separate residences without anyone knowing a thing about it.
At least Frederik has gotten better at hiding his infidelities in recent years.
Danish here and very curious – cos there are no such rumours in Denmark. Where am I not reading gossip? đ
Yeah, I’m Danish too and the only place that I’ve ever seen these rumours repeated are on Royal Dish (where they hate Mary to a bizarre degree) and LSA. So I remain skeptical since I’ve only seen these rumours stated by non-Danes in remote corners of the internet.
Love the blue coat! That whole ensemble sheâs wearing in the photo with her kids is spot-on!
I adore Mary of Denmark. She works hard, plain and simple. My favorite Mary moment ever was in her early royal days when she had clearly entrenched herself in learning the Danish language and had this funny little moment at the 1:50 minute mark:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPLvxB4VgEc&t=137s
That was so cute! Thanks for sharing
Thank you for sharingg L84Tea. That is really cute and natural. A very offhand comment that a lot of us may have experienced in different situations.
Love these portraits of her and all the info others have shared. These were shots of a royal comfortable with her self at 50. Keep that in mind. Kate’s 40th pictures (well 2 out of the 3) wanted her to appear younger than she is. That one totally was wishing upon a younger version. If Kate is coming into her own and developing confidence with herself..then why the need for pictures that don’t look like her.
I appreciate hearing about the different European royals. Learned (whether true or not) that Mary & Frederik(?) met in a bar. She worked(real estate agent?) before meeting him and played basketball? I have a few things in common with her (though I wasn’t great at any of them). Well, except, I met my husband in a bar and 30 years later still together is pretty great. So, after other research, it seems like the BM skewed some timelines to make it seem like Mary was emulating Kate. There may have been coincidences, but I don’t see it as a case of Mary copying Kate. Princess Mary was a married royal long before Kate.
That tiara is beautiful. Love her coat & hat in the picture with her kids.
I finally saw the photo of Rose Hanbury from 2010 and I can see why folks are saying she copied. For me it’s the hairstyle, those long deliberate waves were definitely copied. Rose was really pretty and had an interesting look in her younger years.
Beautiful crown
These photos are so gorgeous
Those really are lovely photos. I love her gown and that tiara is gorgeous. Gotta admit not liking the super formal dress uniform on hubby but they look cute together. They seem close in height. How is her Danish? Is she completely fluent? 50 looks good on her.
She is completely fluent as far as I know. If her Danish is any good, I have no idea. But I do know she is fluent.
Her Danish is good – with a slight accent.
The photos are so much better than those of Kate Middleton, though they don’t really do her personality justice. They look very formal, but that is probably the look they were going for.
Anyhow, this how a crown princess or a queen consort should be. Visible as her own person, active in support of all kind of good causes, eloquent in public appearances and a significant support to her husband. Wherever I saw her in TV interviews, alone or accompanying her husband, she always came across as very compentent, knowledgeable about the subject for which she was appearing and as very likeable.
And what is the biggest difference between her and the FFQ, Mary is officially authorized by the Danish parliament to be a functioning regent when the Queen Margaret and her husband, the crown prince, are out the country. That last happened in 1972 to Queen Ingrid, the widow of the King Frederik IX, and she was of royal blood by birth. In my view that shows how much trust the danish government places in her competence. Could you imagine that for the FFQ?
Exactly so!
It was actually unprecented that Ingrid was given this honour as well because she was not born to the House of GlĂŒcksborg.
True elegance, class and humility. The Scandinavians do royals very low-key and everyone loves them. They’re not sucking up taxpayer dollars like a Hoover (like the Brit RF). They are useful, highly educated and humble. A model for all royals.
These are lovely photos. Her gown is beautiful.
Mary is an actual Future Queen. She knows better!
Future Queen Consort, not future Queen.
Beautiful woman, beautiful gown, beautiful styling. Love it.
I just read that Kate will be on a working visit to Denmark with her Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood on 22 and 23 February, and will meet Mary on 23rd. It was announced by the Court of Denmark.
I think I need a tiara.
We all need a tiara.