Tom Wark
King Frederik and Queen Mary of Denmark are heading to Australia for a six-day state visit.
The couple, who met at the Sydney Olympics and married in 2004, will make their fourth official visit to Australia in March – their first since the King took the throne in 2024 following the abdication of his mother, Queen Margrethe II.
The royals will travel from the Northern Territory through the ACT, Victoria and Tasmania, where the queen was born and raised.
The couple will be accompanied by Denmark’s deputy prime minister, foreign minister and climate minister and a delegation representing 55 Danish businesses.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the royal couple have a “very special connection” with Australia.
Mary Donaldson met her future husband at the Slip Inn pub in central Sydney during the 2000 Olympics and moved to Denmark a year later.
The couple have four children together.
Threats against Denmark’s control of Greenland by US President Donald Trump have thrust the Scandinavian country into global headlines.
“A strengthened partnership with Australia is particularly important at a time when geopolitical shifts have economic and security implications,” the Danish royal family website said in a statement announcing the trip.
The two countries signed a strategic partnership focused on accelerating investment in renewables in July 2023.
“Denmark and Australia are great friends, and together we are working to build a more sustainable, secure and peaceful future,” Mr Albanese said.
Opportunities for co-operation in the green transition are the drawcard for the dozens of Danish corporations involved in the visit.
AAP
