Crown Princess Mary to spend Christmas with her family in Australia, palace announces

Crown Princess Mary will return to Australia next month to spend Christmas with her family.

The Danish royal will be joined by her husband Crown Prince Frederik and their four children Prince Christian, 17, Princess Isabella, 15, and twins Prince Vincent and Princess Josephine, 11.

It will be a private visit, their first in five years.

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The Danish royal household confirmed the Crown Prince family's Australian holiday in a statement on Thursday morning AESDT.

"In December, the Crown Prince family will travel on a private Christmas holiday in Australia to celebrate the holiday together with HRH the Crown Princess's family," the palace said.

"It has been five years since the Crown Prince couple together with their four children last visited the Crown Princess's homeland."

Crown Princess Mary has two sisters Jane and Patricia and a brother, John.

Her relatives live in Tasmania and Western Australia.

Crown Princess Mary, who was born in Tasmania and grew up in Hobart, was last in Australia with her family in 2017.

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They were spotted spending time at a number of Sydney's beaches, including Palm Beach where Crown Princess Mary enjoyed the sun with friends as Crown Prince Frederik tried his hand at surfing.

They also took part in the Wild Oats XI in the Big Boat Challenge on Sydney Harbour.

The family then travelled to Tasmania for Christmas with Mary's extended relatives.

In 2015, during another private holiday Down Under, Crown Princess Mary and her family were seen in Western Australia visiting a number of tourist favourites including the Margaret River Chocolate Company in the Swan Valley.

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They surprised locals by dropping into the IGA supermarket in Gnowangerup, 365km south east of Perth.

But in March, the Crown Princess made a top secret visit to Australia without her husband and children. She was seen seen shopping in Brighton, south-east of Melbourne, ducking in to a number of stores.

Mary was joined by her friend, and former bridesmaid, Amber Petty for the day out.

The royal shopped at local designer brand Scanlan Theodore where she purchased a coral-coloured suit, worn just weeks later back in Denmark.

Crown Princess Mary and Crown Prince Frederik were last in Australia for an official royal visit back in October 2013.

Their tour coincided with the 40th anniversary of the Sydney Opera House, designed by Danish architect Jørn Utzon.

The couple, while in New South Wales, made a last-minute change to their busy itinerary to visit the victims of the devastating bushfires which destroyed nearly 200 homes in Winmalee, in the Blue Mountains.

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Crown Princess Mary first met her prince at the Slip Inn pub during the Sydney Olympics in 2000.

She moved to Copenhagen two years later and married Denmark's future King on May 14, 2004.

Because this visit is a private one, it's unlikely the Crown Prince and Crown Princess will have any official engagements.

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The palace also confirmed Crown Prince Frederik's younger brother Prince Joachim, and his family, will spend Christmas enjoying "a long-planned trip abroad".

In September, Queen Margrethe II announced Prince Joachim's four children would be stripped of their prince and princess titles from January next year.

The Danish monarch, 84, will spend Christmas with her sister Princess Benedikte and friends at Marselisborg Castle in Aarhus, as per tradition.

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Crown Princess Mary and Crown Prince Frederik are expected to return to Denmark immediately after Christmas to be in Copenhagen for the New Year's galas, of which there are three.

At those events, the Danish royal women wear tiaras and gowns providing some of the best fashion moments of the year.