Princess Mary's path from Tassie girl to Queen of Denmark
Mary Donaldson from Hobart will today be crowned Queen Consort of Denmark, becoming the first Australian-born to be crowned Queen of a European monarch.
Since Mary's chance meeting with her prince charming in a Sydney pub almost 24 years ago, her fairytale romance has captured the hearts of Australians and Danes alike.
Here's how it all began.
Prince Frederik of Denmark greets and kisses for the first time in public his Australian girlfriend Mary Donaldson on the deck of the Tasmania Yacht Club before the start of the first race of the Dragon Boat World Championship.
Mary Donaldson was born on February 5, 1972, at Queen Alexandra Hospital in Hobart.
She was the youngest of four children born to two Scottish-born academics. Mary's father John is a Professor of Applied Mathematics while her mother Henrietta worked as the Executive Assistant to the Vice Chancellor of The University of Tasmania.
Princess Mary has since shared that growing up, her mother would regularly remind her that "you can only be yourself". It's that down-to-earth charisma that has been attributed to much of her popularity over the years.
Her mother died from complications following heart surgery in 1997, when Mary was only 25. In 2001, her father married British author and novelist Susan Moody.
A chance meeting at a Sydney pub, the Slip Inn, during the Sydney Olympics in 2000 first sparked the unlikely romance.
A number of European royals were in the crowd that night.
Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark was at the bar with his brother Prince Joachim, as well as cousin Prince Nikolaos of Greece, and Princess Martha Louise of Norway.
Then-Prince Felipe of Spain was also there and he knew one of Mary Donaldson's friends, so the two groups mingled.
"The first time we met, we shook hands and I didn't know he was the Crown Prince of Denmark.
"An hour or so later someone came up to me and said, 'Do you know who these people are?'" Mary said of the moment she met her husband in an interview with 60 Minutes years later.
"From the first moment we started talking, we never really stopped talking, and that was part of our geographical distance, everything was through words so it really established a strong relationship to begin with."
Frederik felt the same and asked for her number, sparking a long-distance romance filled with secret visits between Sydney and Copenhagen.
However, the couple kept their union a secret for the next year. The relationship was eventually discovered by the press in 2001.
The couple began stepping out together more in 2002. Despite residing in Denmark, the couple regularly visited Australia. Pictured are Mary Donaldson and Crown Prince Frederick at the Melbourne Cup on Tuesday, November 5, that year.
Mary Donaldson and Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark announced their engagement on Wednesday, October 8, 2003.
Speculation had swirled that the loved-up pair were set the seal their union since Mary moved to Denmark fulltime in December 2001.
When announcing their engagement, Mary was able to speak to the press in fluent Danish.
She had spent the previous 18 months learning the language at the Studieskolen in Copenhagen.
Queen Margrethe reportedly advised her future daughter-in-law to learn Danish so she could win over the Danish public in their native language.
Mary Donaldson was warmly welcomed by the Danish royal family and has received instruction in deportment and behaviour necessary for royal life.
Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark and his Tasmanian-born fiancee Mary Donaldson arrive for Miss Donaldson's sister Patricia's wedding January 17, 2004 in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. Frederik and Mary met at the 2000 Sydney Olympics and will marry on May 14 in Copenhagen.
Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark and Mary landed on Australian soil once more in January 2004 to attend the wedding of Mary's sister Patricia, just four months before their own nuptials were to take place.
Mary Donaldson and Danish Crown Prince Frederik attend a celebratory dinner at Christiansborg Palace ahead their upcoming wedding on May 11, 2004 in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Mary wore a royal tiara for the first time in May 2004 just days before her wedding. She was attending a celebratory dinner with her fiancé at Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen.
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