{"id":540882,"date":"2026-03-14T23:48:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-14T23:48:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/540882\/"},"modified":"2026-03-14T23:48:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-14T23:48:08","slug":"danish-royals-frederik-and-mary-begin-six-day-australia-tour-with-visit-to-rain-soaked-red-centre-australia-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/540882\/","title":{"rendered":"Danish royals Frederik and Mary begin six-day Australia tour with visit to rain-soaked red centre | Australia news"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Danish royals Frederik and Mary have kicked off their first trip to Australia since taking the throne with a visit to the nation\u2019s red centre.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">The six-day state tour, which includes visits to Canberra, Melbourne and Hobart, aims to deepen trade ties between Queen Mary\u2019s adopted and home countries.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">The royal couple exchanged handshakes with A\u1e49angu traditional owners at Ulu\u1e5fu-Kata Tju\u1e6fa Cultural Centre after touching down late on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">The normally arid desert region was a sea of green after weeks of heavy rain soaked the outback tourist site, sending waterfalls cascading down the famous rock.<\/p>\n<p>Denmark\u2019s King Frederik X and Queen Mary in front of Ulu\u1e5fu on the first day of their Australian tour. Photograph: David Gray\/AFP\/Getty ImagesDenmark\u2019s Queen Mary (right) watches a ceremonial song and dance at the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park Cultural Centre at Uluru. Photograph: David Gray\/EPA<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">The monarchs made their way into the cultural centre for a guided tour during which they learned about the creation of the land and A\u1e49angu customs.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">They also watched a ceremonial dance called Inma that connects the A\u1e49angu to their ancestors through song and dance.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Frederik and Mary also admired the sunset at the massive sandstone monolith with Indigenous elders, in a stop likely to draw comparisons with the 1983 British royal tour, when Princess Diana and then Prince Charles, now the king, visited the culturally significant site.<\/p>\n<p><a data-link-name=\"standard link button Primary\" data-spacefinder-role=\"inline\" data-ignore=\"global-link-styling\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/email-newsletters?CMP=copyembed&amp;CMP=emailbutton\" class=\"dcr-svb9qg\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Sign up for the Breaking News Australia email<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Denmark\u2019s deputy prime minister and ministers for foreign affairs and climate will also accompany the monarchs, along with a business delegation representing more than 50 Danish companies, with a focus on clean energy.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">\u201cDenmark and Australia share an interest in nature and cultural conservation and elements related to nature and culture will form part of the state visit,\u201d a statement from the Royal House of Denmark reads.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">The pair will also meet the governor general, Sam Mostyn, and the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, and his wife, Jodie Haydon, while in Australia.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Mostyn will host a formal state dinner for the royals.<\/p>\n<p>Frederik and Mary are escorted to Uluru by park rangers. Photograph: Getty Images<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">Frederik and Mary were proclaimed Denmark\u2019s ruling monarchs in a ceremony attracting wide fanfare in January 2024.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">The event marked their 20th year of marriage.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">The Tasmianian-born queen, formerly Mary Donaldson, met then Crown Prince Frederik during a chance encounter at a Sydney pub during the 2000 Olympic Games.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">The last time the royals visited Australia officially was 13 years ago, making this their fourth tour together.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">They are likely to spend time with Queen Mary\u2019s relatives in Tasmania, including her elderly father, John Donaldson.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-130mj7b\">King Frederik and Queen Mary\u2019s four children, Crown Prince Christian, 20, Princess Isabella, 18, Prince Vincent and Princess Josephine,15, are unlikely to join their parents on the tour.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Danish royals Frederik and Mary have kicked off their first trip to Australia since taking the throne with&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":540883,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-540882","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/540882","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=540882"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/540882\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/540883"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=540882"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=540882"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=540882"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}