Denmark's Queen Mary Returns Home to Australia's Uluru

A girl from Tasmania who met a prince at a Sydney pub is back home, but this time she's wearing a crown.

Denmark's King Frederik and Queen Mary touched down in Australia's red centre on Saturday, beginning their first official visit since ascending to the throne in January 2024. The trip marks a full-circle moment for Mary Donaldson, who left her marketing career 20 years ago after falling in love with Denmark's party-boy crown prince at a bar during the Sydney Olympics.

The royal couple started their six-day tour before sunrise Sunday, trekking to Muṯitjulu Waterhole at Uluru with traditional custodians. The Aṉangu people performed a ceremonial dance called Inma, connecting the visitors to ancient stories tied to the sacred sandstone monolith.

"We've been so much looking forward to the visit, and to start here in the centre of Australia is quite something," Queen Mary told reporters while photographing the sunset at Uluru. She added that learning about the Aṉangu people's spiritual connection to the land made for "a really great start."

The waterhole visit follows a path walked by Princess Diana and then-Prince Charles in 1983, adding to the storybook quality of Mary's journey from commoner to queen. At 28, working in Sydney, she had no idea the charming stranger at the Slip Inn would change her life forever.

The Ripple Effect

This isn't just a sentimental homecoming. The royal delegation includes Denmark's deputy prime minister, foreign affairs and climate ministers, plus over 50 Danish companies focused on clean energy trade. The visit aims to deepen partnerships between Queen Mary's adopted and birth countries on renewable technology and climate solutions.

The monarchs will travel to Canberra for a 21-gun salute at Government House and dinner with Governor-General Sam Mostyn. They'll also meet Prime Minister Anthony Albanese before heading to Melbourne and Hobart, where Queen Mary is expected to visit her elderly father, John Donaldson, in Tasmania.

Their four children, ranging from 15 to 20 years old, stayed home in Denmark. This marks the couple's fourth official Australian tour together and their first in 13 years.

Twenty-six years after a chance encounter at an Olympic Games celebration, a Tasmanian girl is showing her husband where she comes from, proving that real-life fairytales sometimes start with "I met someone at a pub."