Days before flying out to Australia with her family, Princess Mary of Denmark agreed to remove passages from her pre-nuptial agreement, including one which ordered her husband Prince Frederick to pay for a "new, suitable house" should they divorce.
A clause which said her husband had to pay a one-off sum of money to his wife as a supplement to her new household has also been removed, according to leaked details. The surprising changes apparently reveal the delicate state of Denmark's finances and highlight the fact that, despite being heir to the throne, Prince Frederik has no assets, relying instead on income from the civil list.
He receives an annual sum of £1.5 million which is mostly spent on running his household and paying for staff. Until he inherits the throne from his mother Queen Margrethe he won't hold any assets of his own.
The changes to the pre-nup come after his younger brother Prince Joachim was forced to sell a 399-year-old historical inn belonging to his Schackenborg Castle estate to pay for a mansion - valued at just under £800,000 - for his ex-wife Princess Alexandra.
Tasmanian-born Mary, who is pregnant with the couple's second child, signed the original pre-nup on the day of her marriage in May 2004. She will still be allowed alimony under Danish law should she and Frederik ever split.
Photo: © Alphapress.com
