Tuesday will mark 20 years since King Frederik (55) and Queen Mary (52) married in Our Lady Church in Copenhagen. The Australian beauty has won the crown and half the kingdom.
However, it may seem that the lucky winner was actually Frederick – and the entire Danish kingdom.
New private visit to Madrid
Troubled life
For the crown prince in 2000, he was a troubled man interested in everything except representing the country.
The scandals surrounding the future king have been building for more than a decade. The Danish people began to lose confidence. Can he make a good king?
Before Mary came into his life, a turbulent life had offered Frederick a little of everything. He tortured himself through the toughest armed forces training as a frogman and walked away from it all to live anonymously in Paris. All this is in addition to participating in the Sirius 2000 flight, a 2,795 km long sleigh ride from Qaanaaq in northern Greenland to Danneborg in northeastern Greenland.
– It will be something else
“I remember my mother telling us in her wedding speech that it was only when I met Marie that I found my true self. “Not that I had been an angry, angry person until then, but I was just, what can one say, fragile,” the King wrote in the book “Kongeord.”
Thank you, Mary: It was only after the King met his current wife that he found his true self. Photo: John Olaf Nesvold/NTB
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Prince of scandal
Before Frederick found his true self, he managed to cause many scandals. He was in a serious car accident with his brother and sat in the passenger seat of his car while talking a lot about drunk driving with his ex-girlfriend, Malu Amond.
In addition to all the hype surrounding the future king, disagreements arose between Frederick and his parents when it came to marriage. Margaret and Henrik believed they had the right to refuse marriage if they thought the Crown Prince had found the wrong husband.
With girlfriends such as pop singer Maria Montiel (55) and model Katja Stockholm (53), it has been discussed whether they are a “material queen”. The discussion did not end until Maryam entered the picture.
He goes to save his son's marriage
I learned a lot from Maryam
When Frederick was visiting the Sydney Olympics and went to the bar, where Mary Donaldson was sitting, the couple met for the first time.
Not only did she tame the wild bachelor, she made sure to push him when needed. An example of this is when Frederick decided to join the International Olympic Committee.
They met in a bar: The Danish royal couple met each other in a bar in Sydney. Photography: Thomas Trasdal/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP/NTP
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-If you do this, you have to work hard for it! You really need to do your homework and prepare! You should know everything! You have to practice, you have to read, you have to really do your best, so that you are as prepared as possible to take on the job,' Mary told her husband at the time, according to the book 'Under the Beam.'
The king himself believed that his wife changed him and his style.
“Here I have learned much from having a wife who reminds me, from time to time, that I am of course not always right, and that my word cannot be trusted simply because I am the man of the house. This resistance keeps me on my toes,” wrote His Majesty in “Kongeord.”
This winter has been turbulent for the couple. It all started when Frederic was on a private visit to Madrid and reportedly spent the night alone with Spanish TV presenter Genoveva Casanova. Since then, discoveries have been made, without his adventures having any devastating effect.
When Queen Margaret abdicated abruptly in her New Year's speech, the Danes had nothing else to talk about, and Mary did nothing but stand upright next to her husband through the storms.
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