Who is Queen Mary?

On 5 February 1972 , Mary Elisabeth Donaldson was born in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. 

Source picture: Hasse Nielsen

Family

Mary was born the youngest of four children to Scottish parents, Henrietta (née Horne), an executive assistant to the vice-chancellor of the University of Tasmania, and John Dalgleish Donaldson, a mathematics  professor

Her paternal grandfather was Captain Peter Donaldson (1911–1978). Mary was named after her grandmothers, Mary Dalgleish and Elizabeth Gibson Melrose, and was born and raised in Hobart, Australia. 

Mary has two older sisters, Jane Stephens and Patricia Bailey, and an older brother, John Stuart Donaldson. Her mother died from complications following heart surgery on 20 November 1997 when Mary was 25.

In 2001, her father married the British author and novelist Susan Horwood.

Education

In 1974, Donaldson started schooling in Clear Lake City Elementary School in Houston, Texas, where her father was working and moved to Sandy Bay, Tasmania from 1975 to 1977. 

Her primary education, from 1978 to 1983, was at Waimea Heights with her secondary schooling (1984–1987) being at Taroona High School, and matriculation (1988–1989) at Hobart College.

She studied at the University of Tasmania from 1990 to 1994, graduating with a combined Bachelor of Commerce and Bachelor of Laws degree  on 27 May 1995. 

Between 1994 and 1996, she attended a graduate program and qualified  with certificates in advertising from the Advertising Federation of Australia  (AFA) and direct marketing from the Australian Direct Marketing  Association (ADMA).

Her native language is English, and she studied French during her secondary education. 

Career

She worked for Australian and global advertising agencies after graduating in 1995.Upon graduation she moved to Melbourne to work in advertising. 

She became a trainee in marketing and communications with the Melbourne office of DDB Needham, taking a position of account executive. In 1996, she was employed by Mojo Partners as an
account manager. 

In 1998, six months after her mother's death, she resigned and travelled to America and Europe. In Edinburgh, she worked for three months as an account manager with Rapp Collins Worldwide;
then, in early 1999, she was appointed as an account director with the international advertising agency Young & Rubicam in Sydney.

In June 2000, she moved to a smaller Australian agency, Love Branding, working for a short time as the company's first account director. 

However, in the (Australian) spring of 2000 until December 2001, she became sales director and a member of the management team of Belle Property, a real estate firm specialising in luxury property. 

In the first half of 2002 Donaldson taught English at a business school in Paris but, on moving to Denmark permanently,  she was employed by Microsoft Business Solutions (5 September 2002 – 24 September 2003) near Copenhagen  as a project consultant for business development, 

communications and marketing.

To Fall in Love with a Crown Prince 

Donaldson met Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark at the Slip Inn on 16 September 2000 during the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. Frederik was at the bar with his brother Prince Joachim, his cousin
Prince Nikolaos of Greece and Denmark as well as the then Prince of Asturias and Princess Märtha Louise of Norway. 

The Prince of Asturias knew Mary's flatmate. Frederik was not identified by her friends as the Crown Prince of Denmark until after they met.

They conducted a long-distance relationship and Frederik made a number of discreet visits to Australia. On 15 November 2001, the Danish weekly magazine Billed Bladet named Mary as Frederik's girlfriend.

She then moved from Australia to Denmark in December 2001, while she was working as an English tutor in Paris.

On 24 September 2003, the Danish court announced that Queen Margrethe II intended to give her consent to the marriage at the State Council meeting scheduled for 8 October 2003.

Frederik had presented Mary with an engagement ring featuring an emerald-cut diamond and two emerald-cut ruby baguettes, which are similar to the colour of Denmark's flag. The couple became officially engaged on 8 October 2003.

Married & Children

Donaldson and Frederik married on 14 May 2004 in Copenhagen Cathedral, in Copenhagen.
The couple reportedly spent their honeymoon in Africa.

The couple have four children:

* Prince Christian Valdemar Henri John, born 15 October 2005 

* Princess Isabella Henrietta Ingrid Margrethe, born 21 April 2007 

* Prince Vincent Frederik Minik Alexander, born 8 January 2011 

* Princess Josephine Sophia Ivalo Mathilda, born 8 January 2011

On this youtube link you can see a video of the royal wedding of Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark and Crown Princess Mary. 

Living in Denmark

The Danish Folketing (parliament) passed a special law (Mary's Law)  giving Donaldson Danish citizenship upon her marriage, a standard procedure for new foreign members of the royal family. 

She was previously a dual citizen of Australia and the United Kingdom. Formerly a Presbyterian, she converted to the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Denmark upon marriage.

Mary and her family currently reside at Frederik VIII's Palace, one of the four palaces that make up the Amalienborg Palace complex. 

From May 2004, they have also resided at the Chancellery House, a building in the park at Fredensborg Palace, during the summer months.

Among others, Mary is the godmother of Princess Estelle of Sweden, who was also given the secondary name Mary in her honour, as well as her nephew, Prince Henrik of Denmark.

Duty

Since 2004, Mary has steadily worked to establish her relationships with various organisations, their issues, missions, programmes and staff. Her patronages range across areas of culture, the fashion industry, humanitarian aid, support for research and science, social and health patronages and sport. The organisations for which she is patron have reported positive outcomes through their relationship with her and there are various reports in the Danish media and on some of the websites of the organisations themselves about her being quite involved in her working relationship with them. She is currently involved in supporting anti-obesity programs through the World Health Organization, Regional Office for Europe.

Following the wedding the couple embarked upon a summer working-tour of mainland Denmark aboard the royal yacht Dannebrog, then travelled to Greenland and later to the 2004 Athens Olympics.

In 2005, during the celebrations for the 200th anniversary of Hans Christian Andersen, the royal family was involved in related events throughout the year. Frederik and Mary marked the anniversary in London, New York and in Australia, where she was made Honorary Hans Christian Andersen Ambassador to Australia in the Utzon Room of the Sydney Opera House. 

In 2005 the royal family visited the Faroe Islands.

On 11 September 2007, Mary announced the establishment of the Mary Foundation at the inaugural meeting at Amalienborg Palace. The initial funds of DKK 1.1 million were collected in Denmark and

Greenland and donated to Frederik and Mary as a wedding gift in 2004. Mary is the chairwoman of eight trusts. The Mary Foundation aims to improve lives compromised by environment, heredity, illness or other circumstances which can isolate or exclude people socially.

In 2014, Mary received a Bambi Award for her work with the foundation.

Mary is also an Honorary Life Governor of the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute based at the Garvan Institute/St Vincent's Hospital, Sydney, a member of the International Committee of Women Leaders for Mental Health and a member of various sporting clubs (riding, golf and yachting). 

In June 2010, it was announced that Mary had become Patron of UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, "to support the agency's work to promote maternal health and safer motherhood in more than 150 developing nations".

Mary lends her support to a number of other 'one-off' Danish causes, industry events and international conferences. In 2011, the Westmead Cancer Centre at Westmead Hospital in Sydney was renamed the
Crown Princess Mary Cancer Care Centre Westmead.

In 2016, on the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia, Mary gave a speech on LGBT rights at a forum in Copenhagen hosted by the Danish government. She called for an end to discrimination, oppression, and violence against people because of their sexual orientation and gender identity.

In January 2018, Mary delivered her speech about LGBTQ+ equality at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. 

On 25 April 2018, Mary was invited to present the honorary award to LGBT Danmark at the Danish Rainbow Awards – AXGIL 2018. She thus became the first ever member of the royal family to attend the Danish Rainbow Awards. She also attended the awards ceremony in 2019 and 2020. 

During a Council of State on 2 October 2019, the Queen's request to appoint Mary a rigsforstander, a functioning regent when the monarch or the heir is out of the country, was approved by the government. After having sworn to respect the Danish constitution, she became the first person not born into the
royal family to assume the position of rigsforstander since Queen Ingrid in 1972.

In 2020, Mary spoke at Copenhagen Pride's virtual pride festival. She would be the first Australian-born queen consort in Europe upon the ascension of her husband.

She became the first Australian-born queen consort upon the abdication of her mother-in-law, Queen Margrethe II, on 14 January 2024

Books

There are not many books about Crown Princess Mary of Denmark. Something which made me feel a bit sad. However in  2022 a new book will be released: Mary, HRH The Crown Princes. Meanwhile Royal Rubies is a  great work to have in the collection. 

Source pictures: book covers + wikipedia + kongehuset