Royals welcomed to Melbourne

Updated

November 23, 2011 14:58:57

Gallery:
Royal visit by Prince Frederik and Princess Mary

Prince Frederick and Princess Mary of Denmark have been warmly welcomed to Melbourne as they continue their whirlwind visit to Australia.

It is the first visit to Melbourne since 2008 for the royal couple, but Princess Mary already knows the city fairly well.

She worked as an advertising executive in the city in the late 1990s.

The couple launched a promotion of Danish businesses this morning, where Princess Mary was greeted by seven-year-old Catherine Babie, who had flown in from Adelaide with her mother for the honour.

“Hello Prince Frederik, hello Princess Mary, these flowers are for you,” Catherine said as she curtsied and handed Princess Mary a posy of chrysanthemums, gerberas and lilies.

Catherine told the princess she had married Prince Frederik the day after she was born, as the pair chatted for a few moments.

Prince Frederick, meanwhile, has continued to promote his green message to local businesses.

“We’re here to develop the existing strong commercial relationship between Australia and Denmark in areas of mutual interest such as smart cities, clean energy, fruit and meat technology,” he said.

He said Australia and Denmark face similar environmental and economic challenges.

“Climate change and scarce resources impede us to continue business as usual. Both our countries are looking to reduce their dependency on oil, gas and coal,” he said.

“At the same time we’re not willing to compromise our economic prosperity in order to do so.”

The royal couple, who are in Melbourne until Sunday, are also promoting Danish food exports.

Princess Mary today took part in a demonstration of Danish cooking with Danish chef Rasmus Kofoed.

The pair will later present scholarships at Denmark House in Melbourne’s CBD.

They will then tour the Corporate Culture facility in the CBD, where they will present a Danish Export Association honorary diploma and HRH Prince Henrik’s medal of honour to the company before attending a business dinner at the Docklands on Wednesday night.

In Sydney, the pair attended a green energy conference and participated in a Danish cooking demonstration.

In Canberra yesterday, the royals laid a wreath at the Australian War Memorial and attended a lunch hosted by Prime Minister Julia Gillard.

After Melbourne the royals will visit western Victoria and Broken Hill in New South Wales.

Crown Princess Mary was born Mary Donaldson in Hobart and the couple married in Copenhagen in 2004.

It is the royal family’s first visit to Australia since August 2008, although Princess Mary came for a private visit last year.

ABC/AAP

Topics:
royal-and-imperial-matters,
human-interest,
arts-and-entertainment,
melbourne-3000,
vic,
australia,
denmark

First posted

November 23, 2011 08:37:03



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