In the case of the Danish kings, however, this visit has an even deeper meaning, and not just because Mary of Denmark is of Australian origin. This six-day trip is their first outside Europe as king and queen, and is a return full of nostalgia: it was in Australia, during the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, that a young Prince Frederik met the lawyer Mary Donaldson in a pub.
That chance encounter changed the destiny of the oldest royal house in Europe, and now has come full circle: what began 26 years ago in the country as a romance over drinks returns with the pomp and significance of a state trip.
Staying yesterday at Government House in Perth after landing in this city, the king and queen began the official program of the state trip Saturday by visiting the Uluṟu-Kata Tjuṯa National Park Cultural Center. There they were welcomed by the elders of the Aṉangu people, the Indigenous residents of the land, who before accompanying them to enjoy the sunset held a traditional dance for the visitors. The royal couple also spent time getting to know the Kulata Academy Café, an initiative of the National Indigenous Training Academy that provides training and employment in hospitality to young Aboriginal people from across Australia.
The couple’s Australian tour will continue tomorrow with a sunrise viewing at the Red Center and will conclude next week in Hobart. In this Tasmanian city, where the Queen was born and raised and where her father and two sisters still live, Mary of Denmark will fulfill her final engagements of the trip in the very town where she grew up.
First published on Vanity Fair Spain