When the world’s last reigning Queen announced her surprise abdication on live TV, history was also made in a country not so far away.

“I will hand over the throne to my son Crown Prince Frederik,” Margrethe II of Denmark said in her New Year address.

Her decision to make way for “the next generation” of Danish royals has sent ripples around the world.

But it has also delivered the first ever Australian-born Queen Consort – Frederik’s wife Princess Mary.

An unlikely meeting
Less than a month after Queen Margrethe took over the throne in 1972 following the death of King Frederik IX, a girl called Mary Donaldson was born on the other side of the world in a small Hobart hospital.

The daughter of a mathematics professor and an executive assistant who had emigrated to Australia from Scotland, Mary grew up in a middle-class suburban home alongside her siblings Jane, Patricia and John.

This photo taken on 24 August 2002 shows Denmark’s Queen Margrethe’s oldest son Crown Prince Frederik and his Australian partner Mary Elizabeth Donaldson attending a wedding – Baron Otto Reedtz-Thott’s marriage to Helle Zoefting – at Frederiksborg Castle Church in Hilleroed, Denmark. Denmarks’ Queen Margrethe announced in her New Years speech that she is abdicating on February 14, 2024. Crown Prince Frederik will take her place and become King Frederik the 10th of Denmark, while Australian born Crown Princess Mary will be Queen of Denmark. (Photo by KELD NAVNTOFT / Ritzau Scanpix / AFP) / Denmark OUTThis photo taken on 24 August 2002 shows Crown Prince Frederik and Mary Elizabeth Donaldson attending a wedding at Frederiksborg Castle Church in Hilleroed, Denmark. Photo: AFP
By most accounts she was a natural leader by the time she left high school – with her former principal telling the ABC in 2003 that Mary was known as an “engaging, very outgoing, very amiable” young woman.

“She was a popular student and stood out from the crowd,” an old teacher Geoff Lockhart, told the Sydney Morning Herald.

After graduating with a degree in law and commerce from the University of Tasmania, she had a high-flying career in advertising and then luxury real estate.

But it was a chance encounter in a rowdy Sydney watering hole during the 2000 Olympic Games that would ultimately turn her life upside down.

Denmark’s Crown Prince Frederik and Denmark’s Crown Princess Mary arrive ahead of a dinner at Amalienborg Castle in Copenhagen, on June 15, 2023. (Photo by Mads Claus Rasmussen / Ritzau Scanpix / AFP) / Denmark OUTDenmark’s Crown Prince Frederik and Denmark’s Crown Princess Mary arrive ahead of a dinner at Amalienborg Castle in Copenhagen, on 15 June 2023. Photo: AFP
As the story goes, a 28-year-old Mary had gone to the Slip Inn pub to meet some friends for a drink.

Several Europeans were among the group including Frederik, his brother Prince Joachim, his cousin Prince Nikolaos of Greece and Denmark, Princess Martha of Norway, and the now King of Spain Felipe VI.

There were no security details or prying paparazzi, and the fact that Mary and her friends were among royalty didn’t come up in conversation.

Instead, the most serious topic of debate was whether men looked better with or without chest hair.

“Half an hour later someone came up to me and said, ‘Do you know who these people are?'” Mary told the Australian comedian Andrew Denton in 2005, remembering the encounter.

“I gave Frederik my telephone number and he rang me the next day, so you could say something clicked. It wasn’t fireworks in the sky or anything like that but there was a sense of excitement,” she added.

They quickly struck up a long-distance relationship and by 2002, Mary decided to relocate to Denmark where she started learning Danish and accepted a job at Microsoft.

When the couple tied the knot two years later in Copenhagen Cathedral on 14 May, more than a million Australians woke up in the middle of the night to watch the ceremony live.

Back in Tasmania, students from Taroona High School – Mary’s alma mater – donned Viking helmets and tiaras for a celebratory royal supper.

“The Girl Who Charmed A Nation”, was the front-page headline carried by The Copenhagen Post that day, alongside a news poll declaring that five out of six Danes were certain she would one day make a great Queen.

The ‘next generation’
For most of her reign, Queen Margrethe has remained a popular figure in Denmark, and many expected her to keep the throne until death.

The longest-serving monarch in the nation’s history, she is known for her brightly-coloured clothing, love of archaeology and chain smoking.

This photo taken on August 23, 2018 shows the Danish Crown Prince couple, Frederik of Denmark (L) and Mary of Denmark (R), together with their four children, Princess Isabella, Prince Christian, Prince Vincent, Princess Josephine, posing during their visit to the Argjahamri school during an official visit to the Faroe Islands, in Tórshavn. Denmarks’ Queen Margrethe announced in her New Years speech that she is abdicating on February 14, 2024. Crown Prince Frederik will take her place and become King Frederik the 10th of Denmark, while Australian born Crown Princess Mary will be Queen of Denmark. (Photo by Mads Claus Rasmussen / Ritzau Scanpix / AFP) / Denmark OUTThis photo taken on 23 August 2018 shows the Danish Crown Prince couple, Frederik of Denmark (L) and Mary of Denmark (R), together with their four children, Princess Isabella, Prince Christian, Prince Vincent, Princess Josephine, during their visit to the Argjahamri school during an official visit to the Faroe Islands, in Tórshavn. Photo: AFP
In recent years she oversaw a string of reforms aimed at “future-proofing” the age-old institution – which holds no jurisdictional authority but remains symbolically important.

Most notably, she slimmed down the number of royals and restructured palace finances so that only the heir to the throne receives a state-funded salary.

Now, it will be up to Frederik and Mary to shape the next chapter.

Celebrated for their modern values, the pair have tried to give their children as normal an upbringing as possible by sending them to mostly state schools.

They’ve also thrown their weight behind a range of issues.

Prince Frederik has made climate change his life’s work, while Mary has gained recognition as an advocate for LGBTQI+ causes, maternal health and women’s reproductive rights.

“I’ve always had a strong sense of justice: that everyone should have the same opportunities, no matter where you come from,” she told the Financial Times in 2022.

This photo taken on September 11, 2022 shows Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark and Crown Princess Mary of Denmark arriving for a gala dinner at Christiansborg Castle during the celebration of the Queen’s 50th anniversary in Copenhagen, Denmark. Denmarks’ Queen Margrethe announced in her New Years speech that she is abdicating on February 14, 2024. Crown Prince Frederik will take her place and become King Frederik the 10th of Denmark, while Australian born Crown Princess Mary will be Queen of Denmark. (Photo by Mads Claus Rasmussen / Ritzau Scanpix / AFP) / Denmark OUTThis photo taken on 11 September 2022 shows Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark and Crown Princess Mary of Denmark arriving for a gala dinner at Christiansborg Castle during the celebration of the Queen’s 50th anniversary in Copenhagen, Denmark. Photo: AFP
As millions of Danes bid farewell to the only Queen they’ve ever known, the transition of power – which is set to take place on 14 January – will likely be a moment mixed with both sadness and celebration.

“It is my hope that the new King and Queen will be met with the same trust and devotion which have fallen to my lot,” Margrethe said in her abdication speech. “They deserve it! Denmark deserves it!”

In Australia, though, Mary – despite renouncing her citizenship long ago – is already being celebrated as a national “ambassador”.

“I look forward to watching the next generation [of royals] and Tasmania’s own born Queen lead Denmark’s future,” the state’s Premier Jeremy Rockliff said in a statement.

“We are so proud.”

– This story was first published by BBC

VIA RNZ