In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, one of the characters declares: “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.” The clever phrase may have modern implications. Many have been speculating that the newly crowned King Frederik X was cheating on his wife Queen Mary with Mexican-born socialite Genoveva Casanova, who denied these rumors.
On Sunday, January 14, 2024 Frederik was declared king. Frederik and Mary shared a kiss on the balcony on the big day. They held hands and presented a united front. It appears as if the monarchs’ marriage is doing well.
Frederik’s mother Queen Margrethe shocked the world when she declared on New Year's Eve 2023 that she would abdicate the Danish throne after 52 years. This is not how things are normally done — she was the first Danish monarch in 900 years to voluntarily abdicate. She passed the crown down to Frederik while still living.
Some speculated that this was because of her son’s rocky marriage. “It’s possible that the queen took this action because she would have been terrified of the marriage breaking up and the royal family losing Mary. It would have caused major problems. The queen has always seen Mary as a tremendous asset,” Phil Dampier, a royal expert, told The Telegraph.
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“It just seems an extraordinary coincidence that she should make this unexpected announcement just a couple of months after stories emerged of the crown prince supposedly having an affair,” Phil mused. “In two weeks’ time, the prince and princess will be pitched together as king and queen and they will have to get on with it. The queen may be thinking that they will patch up their differences and it will save their marriage.”
Before she became queen consort, she was born Mary Donaldson in Hobart on the island of Tasmania in Australia. She is the first Australian Danish queen. Frederik and Mary first met in 2000 in Sydney, Australia, during the Olympics.
Frederik did not give his royal identity away at first. He introduced himself as simply Fred at the Slip Inn on Sydney’s Darling Harbor. Mary felt something right away.
"Something clicked," Mary recalled in 2005. "It wasn't the fireworks in the sky or anything like that, but there was a sense of excitement."
It was not until later that Mary realized who he was. "The first time we met, we shook hands," she recalled. "I didn't know he was the prince of Denmark. Half an hour later, someone came up to me and said, 'Do you know who these people are?'"
Mary was working as an advertising executive at the time. The couple was able to date outside of the public eye for a whole year. "She got to know and love Frederik as the man he is, not as the crown prince," Mary's friend, Chris Meehan, explained.
In 2002, Mary and Frederik took their relationship to the next level. Mary moved to Denmark, joined the Lutheran Church, and began to learn Danish. In 2003, the couple were engaged. In 2004, they were married at the Copenhagen Cathedral.
