Canberra<\/a> just as the famously seasonal capital city snapped out of an unseasonal chilly spell, the royal couple\u2019s 11-car motorcade whizzed up Anzac Parade toward the war memorial on Monday morning. Fresh from a bushwalk at Uluru-Kata Tjuta national park and a state dinner with the governor general, Sam Mostyn, on Sunday, Frederik and Mary laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, paused at the Roll of Honour for a Tasmanian-born officer killed in action in 1944 and buried in Denmark, and placed a poppy at the memorial for a serviceman killed in action over Denmark in 1944.<\/p>\nOutside, the best spot for members of the public to catch a glimpse of the pair, well-wishers packed the war memorial\u2019s forecourt. Parents with children, older couples, school groups happy for a morning out of the classroom were among the crowd standing three and four deep at the fence line, many waving paper Danish flags.<\/p>\n
One woman arrived in a shirt bearing logos of the 2000 Sydney Olympics \u2013 the fairytale behind King and Queen\u2019s meeting, as the then prince Frederik met the Hobart-born Mary at Sydney\u2019s Slip Inn during the Games. \u201cI wanted to see if they remember Sydney,\u201d the woman told a Danish TV reporter, who also noticed her choice of attire.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey will never forget the Sydney Olympics,\u201d the journalist replied in Scandinavian-accented English.<\/p>\n
While meeting the prime minister, Frederik said Danes were \u2018very aware of how insecure the climate is in many ways for the coming generations\u2019. Photograph: Hilary Wardhaugh\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
The King and Queen walked the length of the fenceline, more than 100 metres, shaking every hand they could. Frederik walked in front, but it was clear most in the crowd were there to see his wife; Mary, in a navy dress and fascinator with matching jewellery, was all smiles as she chatted, thanked people for coming, paused for the occasional selfie and patted a dog.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe love you, Mary!\u201d one person called.<\/p>\n
\u201cWelcome home!\u201d yelled another.<\/p>\n
Rochelle, with her daughter Anna, said she\u2019d come to see other royal visits to Canberra, including Britain\u2019s King Charles and Camilla, and Prince Harry. Rochelle admitted to \u201cfan girling\u201d over royal visits, likening Australian fans of monarchy to \u201cBeatle-mania\u201d. Monday was Anna\u2019s 10th birthday, and the pair brought a large blue cardboard sign announcing such, hoping the Danes would see it.<\/p>\n
They did. Mum and daughter got a handshake and photo, leaving Rochelle ecstatic.<\/p>\n
Lynton Martin, a young man from Melbourne, stole the fashion stakes in a royal red blazer, plastic crown and kangaroo print tie. His jacket was festooned with pins and buttons, from the Danish flag and images of the royals, to golden crowns. No Danish heritage, just an interest in the royals had spurred him to drive up solo from Melbourne over the weekend, and to line up for a quick encounter.<\/p>\n
Lynton said he spoke to Mary about the Tasmanian AFL team and whether she\u2019d be the number-one ticket holder.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was intrigued about that,\u201d Lynton said.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe [Copenhagen] is their home away from home. They might take some games over there.\u201d<\/p>\n
But plastic crowns and selfies aside, there was a more serious tone to the visit. Meeting the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, Frederik said Danes were \u201cvery aware of how insecure the climate is in many ways for the coming generations\u201d, saying he would \u201clove to walk hand in hand towards the sunset on that one\u201d.<\/p>\n
At a reception event for federal parliamentarians, the speaker of the house, Milton Dick, said Australia and Denmark<\/a> shared a \u201ccommitment to democracy, cultural exchange and a sustainable future\u201d. Liberal MP Angie Bell, who gave part of her speech in Danish after a Rotary exchange to the country in her youth, spoke of Australians finding inspiration from the Nordic country \u201cin community, welfare and sustainability\u201d.<\/p>\n\u201cDenmark and Australia lie far apart on the world map, but we stand close together in values,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Denmark is at the top of the globe, facing Donald Trump\u2019s attempts to wrest their territory of Greenland in one of his alarming foreign policy interventions. In another, on Iran, Australia is trying to resist being further pulled into the Middle East quagmire by our Aukus partner, but is already facing fuel and inflation from the conflict half a world away.<\/p>\n
After speaking about the importance of trust amid uncertainty, of shared values amid a difficult world, Aagaard praised Australia as a like-minded partner of Denmark.<\/p>\n
Despite being a world apart, the shared values \u2013 and concerns \u2013 weren\u2019t hard to find.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Amid the optimism and colour of Queen Mary and King Frederik\u2019s visit down under, a sobering message was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":543929,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-543928","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\/543928","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=543928"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543928\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/543929"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=543928"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=543928"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=543928"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}