Mary and Fred's love story — how a Hobart girl met a prince and became Queen of Denmark

It has all the elements of a fictional romance.

A young single woman on a night out at a pub finds not just one crown prince at the bar but several.

That was the scene Tasmanian-born Mary Donaldson walked into 26 years ago, which led her from a career in real estate to the Danish throne.

As Queen Mary and King Frederik embark on an official tour of Australia, we look back on how it all began.

That first meeting of the future King and Queen of Denmark took place at the Slip Inn in Sydney during the Sydney Olympics in 2000.

"The first time that we met or shook hands, I did not know that he was the Crown Prince of Denmark," Mary said in a television interview in 2003, shortly after the pair announced their engagement.

"It was perhaps half an hour or so later that someone came up to me and said, 'Do you know who these people are?'"

In the same interview, Frederik joked that he wasn't the only crown prince in that crowd that evening.

It has been reported that Frederik's brother, Prince Joachim, Prince Nikolaos of Greece and Denmark, the future King Felipe of Spain, and Bruno Gomez-Acebo, the nephew of the then-King Juan Carlos of Spain, were also at the Sydney pub.

That first meeting went on to become a long-distance romance, which eventually led to them getting married in 2004.

Crown Prince Frederik described having a good vibe and connection from the start, "fun and happiness and slowly but surely love as well came into it".

Their love story can easily be described as a classic Cinderella story: a commoner meets a prince seemingly by chance, falls in love, and ends up living in a palace, but without the evil stepmother.

It's the sort of story that has inspired films like The Prince and Me and all its sequels.

But Mary's friend and bridesmaid Amber Petty said in a television interview that the first meeting of the pair was not "random".

"It was an organised small dinner during the Olympics and Mary happened to be invited and most of the guests happened to be royals," she said in the interview.

Ms Petty said in a podcast that it's not always about randomly bumping into princes in pubs.

"I'm sorry to break everybody's hearts," she said.

"The truth was that she happened to know someone who knew the two cousins to the King of Spain.

"So it was an organised dinner, but it was at the Slip Inn because they wanted something casual."

Ordinary start to an extraordinary life

However random or organised their first meeting, Mary's life trajectory has certainly been extraordinary.

Born on February 5, 1972, Mary is the youngest of four children.

She grew up in the Hobart suburb of Taroona. Her father, John Donaldson, was a professor of applied mathematics.

Her mother, Henrietta, worked as the executive assistant to the University of Tasmania's vice-chancellor.

Mary's mother died in 1997 from complications from heart surgery.

Mary was educated in state schools in Hobart's south and graduated with a degree in commerce and law from the University of Tasmania.

As a young woman, she moved to Melbourne to work in advertising and later travelled around Europe and the UK.

Just before she met Frederik, she was working as a sales director at a real estate company in Sydney.

Perhaps aware of the life ahead of her, just months after meeting Frederick, she signed up for deportment lessons at a Sydney agency called Starmakers.

Deportment teacher and life coach Teresa Page said Mary was seeking a major change.

"She said, 'Well, I really want to change my life, I feel like life is passing me by'," Ms Page said.

During the eight-week course, Mary learnt interview techniques and how to pose for photos.

In 2002, Mary moved to Paris where she taught English, before settling in Denmark where she worked and developed her Danish language skills.

The wedding

Crown Prince Frederik was known in his younger years as something of a rock star prince.

He trained with Denmark's naval elite special operations forces.

When the couple married, Frederik said:

"From today, Mary is mine and I am hers.

"I love her and I will protect her with all my love."

The author of more than 100 Mills and Boon novels and fellow Tasmanian, Melanie Milburne, said a royal meeting a commoner was a popular premise for a story.

"It's not just about looks but character; she's just got a regal air and has not put a foot wrong."

Milburne has a connection with the royal couple.

She lent them her family shack on Tasmania's east coast shortly after they got married.

"No-one knew where they were; they had the beach to themselves," Ms Milburne said.

"It was the ideal hideaway, and I was so honoured to be part of that little secret."

Shortly after their trip to Tasmania, Ms Milburne said the royal couple announced they were expecting their first child.

"My husband and I looked at each other and said, 'shack baby'. Wouldn't that be great if a royal heir was conceived at our shack — you never know," she said.

These days

Twenty-two years of marriage and four children later, there is still plenty of interest in the royal couple's relationship.

Then-Princess Mary publicly shared her love for then-Prince Frederik during a speech at his 50th birthday:

"And life with you is never boring."

In late 2023, rumours began circulating that the future King of Denmark had cheated on his wife.

Frederik was photographed on an outing with Mexican socialite Genoveva Casanova in Madrid in late October.

While the photos, first published by Spanish magazine Lecturas appeared to show nothing more than the pair strolling through a park and entering an apartment building, they were enough to whip the tabloid press into a frenzy.

Lecturas published an exclusive issue splashing the paparazzi shots, alongside a salacious account of Frederik and Ms Casanova's "date" — which it claimed included a trip to the museum before dinner and a flamenco show.

Ms Casanova has denied any romantic relationship with Frederik and posted a legal letter to her Instagram account, threatening action against the magazine and demanding a retraction.

The Danish royal family has refused to engage on the subject, with a spokesperson telling Danish publication B.T. that they "do not comment on rumours or insinuations".

The following year, Queen Margrethe announced she would abdicate in favour of Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary.

Shortly after Frederik was crowned king, a book called The King's Word was released, revealing his reflections on his life.

In the book, he expressed his love for his wife, children, and the "happy base that arises for the people who manage to stay together and persevere".

Milburne said people continued to be invested in the royal couple's relationship as they were in other famous couples' lives.

"Look at the reaction to Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban divorcing. Who saw that coming? Or Deborah Furness and Hugh Jackman," she said.

But she said royal life would not be easy.

"They're in the public eye all the time, they can't scratch their nose … and everyone's got a camera phone now, so there'd be no privacy," Milburne said.

There certainly will be little privacy as the royal couple tours the country this week — their first visit to Australia since they were crowned King and Queen.