2021 Danish Royal News

[ralf103]

I don't think its the same at all - one couple decided to leave and say it was because they were more popular so disliked within the family is not the same as another couple being given 6 months in France and being told by the Court that actually its longer and please don't come back. It is also worth remembering that we can't always compare RFs - what that other couple went through is not the same as this at all and it doesn't always have to come back to them. The circumstances are completely different.

My only question is why Joachim and Marie were sent packing but Bene has been appearing more and more. I get her circumstances have changed since the death of her husband but still - on one hand Bene seems to be doing more while Joachim and Marie are sidelined in a rather cruel manner. It would have made more sense for Joachim to go do the France thing while they talked through possible options for a different path with Joachim and Marie. I'd be surprised if something couldn't have been found in Denmark for them to do in a way that would have given them purpose.

[Gemsheal]

I find ALL the Danish royals underwhelming, to tell the truth.   Queen Marge aside, they generally behave like too-rich, entitled dunces.  (And Marge has had her moments too.)  

I like to keep an eye on all the children, though.   Plenty of dishing to come there    

[getafix]

Awkward arrival

https://www.instagram.com...IPW/?utm_medium=copy_link

gawd ol'mighty!

how long MEdiana been doing this job?

she still doesn't get the protocol

still marches ahead of Floppy frodo

Loved that she shook that chap's hand before floppy frodo could!

thx for the link 

G

[Cordelia Fitzgerald]

The handling of this whole situation is why I don't feel confident that Christian will turn out different because he spends so much time with his grandmother.  I don't see that Daisy is handling this in a way that is best either for the family OR for Denmark, although that sounds over-dramatic!  Although I do give Mary credit for showing up to things (so many things  ) which is more than you can say about Fred, I don't actually know what patronages are dearest to her, other than her Maryfonden (sp?) about anti-bullying, for which she often seems to show up at athletic practices.  Whereas Marie, with her anti-food waste, and autism support, and Danish Church Aid, seems to contribute a lot.

I'm not trying to pit the women against each other, but rather to say that if Marge were wise, or her advisers were wise, they'd do as a lot of you have said and find a way to make this work.

Also that video of Mary and Fred arriving was hilarious!!

[Isabel]

No offense to you but I'm sick of reading that. Tries at what? She just shows up to get her vanity appeased. She does nothing of note. I get that is in part the theater of royalty but she should be doing more. But the Danes are in charge of her and don't ask for much so life goes on underwhelmingly.

But this is what royalty is about.  They appear in audiences and causes that need to be socially highlighted.  Letizia does the same, and Max and Kate....and it takes time and work to be prepared for those issues.  Some will go the extra mile doing serious work behind the audiences and some will do less.  But they have to be there first and most of all.

Frankly, Mary is the consort in a small European country and she is doing 3 or 4 times the work her husband should be doing.  The problem is not her, the problem is HIM.

ETA. If she get's 10% of her husband's pay entitlement, she is working 3 times as much as her husband for 90% less.  It's beyond awful.

[Barrie]

I think in general there is a waning interest in royalty overall.

[Mariola]

No offense to you but I'm sick of reading that. Tries at what? She just shows up to get her vanity appeased. She does nothing of note. I get that is in part the theater of royalty but she should be doing more. But the Danes are in charge of her and don't ask for much so life goes on underwhelmingly.

But this is what royalty is about.  They appear in audiences and causes that need to be socially highlighted.  Letizia does the same, and Max and Kate....and it takes time and work to be prepared for those issues.  Some will go the extra mile doing serious work behind the audiences and some will do less.  But they have to be there first and most of all.

Frankly, Mary is the consort in a small European country and she is doing 3 or 4 times the work her husband should be doing.  The problem is not her, the problem is HIM.

ETA. If she get's 10% of her husband's pay entitlement, she is working 3 times as much as her husband for 90% less.  It's beyond awful.

 

[Barrie]

Not like Mary works that hard as well. She has it easy.

[A Citizen not a Subject]

Not like Mary works that hard as well. She has it easy.

Do any of them?

[SvenskaSarah]

I'm sorry for missing something, but is there an interview or article where Marie expressed her bitterness?

From her point of view, she worked so hard to acquiesce into the DRF: she learned Danish at a much quicker and better rate than then her sister-in-law, she birthed her children in Denmark and surely participates in Danish customs with her family, and she has been a patient and spectacular asset to the DRF in her engagements and patronages.

I have the feeling that had the recent closure of their court been done around the time Jokke and Marie married, they would have chosen to live in France anyway. From my limited view I anticipate that Marie is bitter because she put a lot of work in and hasn't been acknowledged or thanked for it.

There was an interview several months ago in which both, Joachim and Marie, were asked about their situation in France, and basically why they have chosen to move there. Marie answered that it wasn't their choice to move to France and that she would rather have stayed in Denmark. That she loves the Danish culture, and the Danish people. Something to that effect. The interview is flying somewhere around in the Schack's threads, IIRC. 

Thank you very much PeDe, I'll have a hunt through the Schacks thread- I must have missed that interview when it surfaced!

[Mariola]

I confess that I am not very interested in this couple - I say before that she is clingy and not stylish and he is a bit creepy - but I am surprised if they will make ungracious comments in a magazine so I wonder if they are misunderstood or if there is a mistranslation. I think she said somewhere that they are more free in France and I wonder if she  ( or he?) was saying it was not their choice to move as if to say ' we were not unhappy in Denmark, do not think we were, so that is not why we have left' but why is there an impression that they had no choise and were forced.

Also I do not understand the competition stuff. It cannot be that 'the people' will rise up and say 'we want Joachim and Marie to replace Fred and Mary'.
 

[Miss Marple]

I think Jokke and Marie's fate will be the fate of many spares in future. The royal families will slim down to the absolute minimum and they will try to keep a low and conservative profile not to raise to many questions and too much criticism.

Frodo is a very weak clown prince. He seems to be nice and approachable. But that is about it. The question is if that really entitles him to be the head of the state. The postman in his area might be nice and approachable as well. Frodo does not work much, at times he is very unprofessionally dressed (wrinkles, clothes too small, hair totally in a mess) and very often you have no idea what he is doing. He seems forever like the high school diploma guy who forgot to study for an exam and tries and wins people over by being nice and charming.

Mary has more of a grip what is expected of her. But she is pretending too much. It is like someone who is the first time in an art museum pretending to understand what is going on. She is trying a bit harder (her clothes have more thought in them) but they are not leaving a signature anywhere. What is their passion? What are their visions for Denmark?

They are weak. The only hope is that Christian and Izzy are more sophisticated than their parents and start doing small engagements so that people will think "well, we have to endure King Frodo now, but at least Xian is doing a good job". I think they took Jokke and Marie out to avoid a sideline because they are -far from perfect- generally doing a better job.

[periwinkle]

That Joachim and Marie got sidelined is nothing new because yes they are spares but to get sidelined in another country entirely seems extreme and too much like actual exile. It makes sense that Fred and Mary are going to have to be the center of attention soon but I think it's pretty cynical for the palace to understand how underwhelming they are that even the creepy brother and unstylish sister in law have to be exiled in order to make them shine but that seems to actually be the decision. The queen seems to have endorsed it. I'm sure she loves her son and French daughter in law and their better behaved children but even she knows that Fred as future king has to be uplifted and since he can't do it himself the court had to take matters into their own hands. That Fred and Mary just threw a super posh expensive party for their spoiled oldest child doesn't even seem to matter. Life goes on because their foils remain in France.

[Mariola]

I think Jokke and Marie's fate will be the fate of many spares in future. The royal families will slim down to the absolute minimum and they will try to keep a low and conservative profile not to raise to many questions and too much criticism.

Frodo is a very weak clown prince. He seems to be nice and approachable. But that is about it. The question is if that really entitles him to be the head of the state. The postman in his area might be nice and approachable as well. Frodo does not work much, at times he is very unprofessionally dressed (wrinkles, clothes too small, hair totally in a mess) and very often you have no idea what he is doing. He seems forever like the high school diploma guy who forgot to study for an exam and tries and wins people over by being nice and charming.

Mary has more of a grip what is expected of her. But she is pretending too much. It is like someone who is the first time in an art museum pretending to understand what is going on. She is trying a bit harder (her clothes have more thought in them) but they are not leaving a signature anywhere. What is their passion? What are their visions for Denmark?

They are weak. The only hope is that Christian and Izzy are more sophisticated than their parents and start doing small engagements so that people will think "well, we have to endure King Frodo now, but at least Xian is doing a good job". I think they took Jokke and Marie out to avoid a sideline because they are -far from perfect- generally doing a better job.

In reality it does not matter what is the passion or vision of a king or a queen in a constitutional monarchy. It has no bearing.  They are figure heads only. They have no real power.

[ralf103]

The reality is Daisy is at that age where the Court will be feeling they need to promote the Crown Prince as "ready to takeover" and let's face it thats a hard PR push for Freds who is much more the frat guy who would rather hang out drinking and pretending to be 21 again. That job is made even harder when there are other royals in the picture to distract - not saying Joachim and Marie are more popular but in a small country like Denmark any attention on J&M is distracting from F&M - never mind that IMO at times Joachim seems the complete opposite to Fred and appears more "kingly". It doesn't have to be about popularity but with F&M doing so little its hard to push them to look more ready than other royals for the top job. F&M do so little and have so little stature that other royals being around distracts but it doesn't have to be that way. Look at the UK Where Anne's 500+ engagements don't overshadow the work of C&C or W&K but compliments it by people seeing she is hard working and that rubbing of as good PR for the RF. Whatever way you look at it, if F&M were better at their job there wouldn't have been a feeling that J&M needed to be out the way even if people thought it was the best, most secure, future for J&M as a family. 

I agree in the long run this is how most RFs will operate - the sovereigns, crown prince/princess and any direct heirs while all others do their own thing with maybe the odd personal patronage. That doesn't explain why J&M got thrown out (I'd say under the bus but with £400,000+ a year allowance its not really a struggle I'm sure)