Crown Princess Mary had a full-time career before her chance meeting with Denmark’s Crown Prince Frederik during the Sydney 2000 Olympics would change her life forever.
Australian-born Mary Donaldson worked for advertising agencies after graduating from the University of Tasmania.
And ahead of Frederik’s accession day on 14 January, a commercial featuring the future Crown Princess and Queen-in-waiting has resurfaced online.
During her two-year-stint at Mojo Partners as an account manager, Mary appeared in a TV advert for Victoria’s regional public transport system, V/Line.
The commercial, which aired in 1998, shows a then 26-year-old Mary sitting in a window seat as a train passenger.
The future royal, wearing a black blazer and glasses, reads a newspaper as her two other passengers are seen eating a sandwich and reading a book.
Watch it below via this link: https://vimeo.com/744395905?from=outro-embed
After travelling across America and Europe, Mary, who was born to Scottish parents, briefly worked at an agency in Edinburgh before she returned to Sydney.
When she met Crown Prince Frederik at the Slip Inn pub during the Olympics, she later confessed that she was completely unaware that the man she was talking to was a member of the Danish royal family.
“The first time we met we shook hands. I didn’t know he was the prince of Denmark. Half an hour later someone came up to me and said, ‘Do you know who these people are’?” Mary revealed in a 2005 interview.
After three years of a long-distance romance, Frederik proposed to Mary in 2003 with a diamond and ruby engagement ring. The pair tied the knot on 14 May 2004 at Copenhagen Cathedral.
The Crown Prince couple’s first child, Prince Christian, was born on 15 October 2005. Their daughter Princess Isabella followed in April 2007 followed by twins Prince Vincent and Princess Josephine in January 2011.
Prince Christian, who celebrated his 18th birthday last October, will become Crown Prince of Denmark upon his father’s accession.
