Crown Princess Mary of Denmark celebrates her 42nd birthday on 5 February. To honour the royal’s birthday, HELLO! Online has compiled a list of ten facts about the popular royal.
1. Mary was born on 5 February 1972, in Hobart, Tasmania, as the youngest child of Scottish-born maths professor John Donaldson and university secretary Henrietta Clark Donaldson.
2. The wife of Prince Frederik revealed she could never have imagined the life she would lead. “I don’t recall wishing that one day I would be a princess,” she said shortly after the engagement. “I wanted to be a veterinarian.”
3. Mary studied at the University of Tasmania, from which she graduated in 1994 with a Bachelors degree in Commerce and Law.
4. Mary once revealed that one of her childhood memories was watching the wedding of Prince Charles and Diana, Princess of Wales in 1981. “My biggest memory is of Diana walking up the red carpet with a very, very long train," she said.
5. Many have noted Mary’s similarity to Kate Middleton, which led Chanel director Karl Lagerfeld to dub them “royal sisters”. Speaking days before Kate’s wedding to Prince William, he said: “Kate is like a younger sister to Mary, who is both beautiful and elegant.” The Danish couple have become close friends with William and Kate after joining forces for a UNICEF engagement in Denmark in November 2011. Shortly after the birth of Prince George, a spokesman for Mary and Frederik confirmed the couple had made a "private" call to congratulate the couple.
6. The future Queen consort of Denmark explained she was unaware of who the Prince was when they first met and he introduced himself as just “Fred” at a Sydney pub in October 2000. "The first time we met we shook hands," she recalled. "I didn't know he was the prince of Denmark. Half an hour later someone came up to me and said, 'Do you know who these people are?'"
7. It was announced on September 24, 2003, that Queen Margrethe II of Denmark intended to give her consent to Mary and Frederik’s marriage and the couple officially became engaged on October 8. Seven months later on May 14, 2004, Mary captivated the world as she walked down the aisle in a stunning wedding dress by Danish designer Uffe Frank.
8. The Danish parliament passed a special law called ‘Mary’s Law’ giving Mary Danish citizenship upon her marriage. The royal had previously held dual citizenship of Australia and the United Kingdom.
9. Similar to the Duchess of Cambridge, Mary is continuously applauded for her impeccable sense of style and has been named on Vanity Fair’s best-dressed list. The Princess has appeared on the front cover of Australia and Germany’s Vogue where she dazzled in pieces by Prada and Louis Vuitton.
10. In October 2005, the couple welcomed their first child, Prince Christian, who is second-in-line to the Danish throne. Two years later in April 2007, Princess Isabella was born and then in 2011 the couple had double joy as Mary gave birth to twins Prince Vincent and Princess Josephine.
