Queen Mary of Denmark
- Née:
- Mary Elizabeth Donaldson, officially Mary Elizabeth, Her Majesty the Queen of Denmark, Countess of Monpezat
- Born:
- February 5, 1972, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia (age 53)
- Notable Family Members:
- spouse Frederik X
Where was Queen Mary of Denmark born?
How did Queen Mary of Denmark meet her husband, King Frederik X?
When did Mary become Queen of Denmark?
What is the purpose of The Mary Foundation?
What are some of Queen Mary of Denmark’s charitable interests?
Queen Mary of Denmark (born February 5, 1972, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia) is the queen of Denmark and the wife of King Frederik X. She was born and grew up in Australia before becoming a princess through her marriage to Frederik André Henrik Christian, then the Crown Prince of Denmark, in May 2004. She became the world’s first Australian-born queen when her husband ascended to the throne in January 2024.
Early life
Mary Donaldson was born on February 5, 1972, in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. Her parents, John Dalgleish Donaldson and Henrietta Clark Donaldson, had emigrated from Scotland to Australia in 1963. Mary Donaldson is the youngest of four siblings, with two sisters and one brother. When she was two years old, her family moved to Texas so her father, an applied mathematics professor, could work at NASA’s Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Houston. They returned to Tasmania in a few years. She graduated from the University of Tasmania with a degree in commerce and law in 1994. She then worked in advertising and sales for firms in Melbourne, Sydney, and Edinburgh.
Marriage and royal duties
Donaldson met Crown Prince Frederik at a bar in Sydney when he was visiting for the 2000 Summer Olympics, and they started dating. The pair went public with their relationship in 2001 when a weekly Danish magazine identified her as the prince’s girlfriend. Donaldson moved to Denmark in 2002 as a project consultant with Microsoft. After receiving the consent of Queen Margrethe II, Frederik’s mother, the couple announced their engagement in 2003 and married on May 14, 2004, at the Copenhagen Cathedral, officially putting Donaldson in line to be the world’s first Australian-born queen. Donaldson converted to the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Denmark and was granted Danish citizenship on the day of the wedding. She also learned Danish in preparation for her role and duties in the royal family. At their wedding, Mary became the only non-royal-born person to wear a wedding veil that had previously been worn by several former princesses as well as Queen Margrethe II. Donaldson was given the title of her royal highness the crown princess of Denmark after the wedding.
The couple’s first child, Crown Prince Christian Valdemar Henri John, was born on October 15, 2005. Princess Isabella Henrietta Ingrid Margrethe followed on April 21, 2007. On January 8, 2011, Mary gave birth to twins Prince Vincent Frederik Minik Alexander and Princess Josephine Sophia Ivalo Mathilda. Mary is godmother to Princess Estelle, daughter of Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden.
In 2019 Mary was appointed by Queen Margrethe II as a regent, authorizing her to take over the queen’s duties and act as head of state when the queen or the crown prince were out of the country. In her New Year’s Eve speech on December 31, 2023, Queen Margrethe II, who had reigned for 52 years, unexpectedly announced that she would be abdicating the throne for reasons including age and health, with Frederik succeeding her. Frederik was sworn in as King Frederik X on January 14, 2024, making Mary the queen of Denmark. Her oldest son, Prince Christian, became crown prince. In addition to her royal titles, Mary has held several titles in Denmark’s Home Guard military force, beginning as a private in 2008 and progressing to an honorary major in 2023.
Mary was named in Vanity Fair magazine’s International Best-Dressed List in 2010 and has posed for Vogue Australia. For her 50th birthday in 2022, the University of Copenhagen opened a knowledge center called the Crown Princess Mary Center. The same year, Rigshospitalet, a hospital in Copenhagen, announced that they would name a planned new children’s hospital Mary Elizabeth’s Hospital–Rigshospitalet for Children, Teens and Expecting Families.
Charities and patronages
In 2007 Mary established The Mary Foundation, which aims to “improve the lives of children, adults and families who—as a result of their environment, heredity, illness or other circumstances—find themselves socially isolated or excluded from society,” focusing primarily on those who experience bullying, domestic violence, and loneliness. The foundation was begun using the wedding gift of 1.1 million kroner (about $180,000 at the time), received from the people of Denmark and its overseas territories, Greenland and the Faroe Islands.
Mary has also engaged in several other philanthropic causes. She has shown an interest in LGBTQ+ rights, delivering a speech in 2016 for International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia, and Biphobia. She has also attended several Danish Rainbow Awards ceremonies, which honor businesses and individuals that improve living conditions in the LGBTQ+ community. She served as a patron of WorldPride Copenhagen in 2021. She is also patron of biodiversity with the United Nations Environment Programme, as well as a patron of the United Nations Population Fund.