Queen Margrethe’s daughter-in-law Mary didn’t dream of one day being a Princess. “I wished I would be a vet,” she admitted following her engagement to Crown Prince Frederik in 2003.

However, fate had other plans. Mary, who graduated from the University of Tasmania in 1994 with a bachelor’s degree in commerce and law, met her husband, the future King of Denmark, during the 2000 Olympics in Sydney.

“The first time that we met, or shook hands, I did not know he was the Crown Prince of Denmark,” Mary admitted after her royal engagement. “It was perhaps half an hour or so later that someone came up to me and said, ‘Do you know who these people are? I said, ‘No.’ And then we found out.”

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The couple went on to tie the knot in 2004 at Copenhagen Cathedral. Fourteen years later, at a gala banquet for her husband’s 50th birthday, the Crown Princess spoke about Frederik sweeping her off her feet.

“‘To dare is to lose one’s footing for a moment. Not to dare is to lose oneself.’ With these words you invited me into your world and the world of the Danes, after we had only known each other for a short time. And there were, indeed, many unsure steps when we started our common journey, side by side and separated at one and the same time,” Mary said in a speech. “We dared to lose that part of our heart, which we allowed the other to hold in their hands. It takes courage to dare, but without daring we lose what could have been. I am so happy that you swept me off my feet and that we dared to fall for each other – not for a moment, but for life. And life with you, is never boring. As I have already said: You come in many guises.”

The Australian-born royal will be known as Queen Mary when Frederik ascends the throne on Jan. 14. Queen Margretheannounced in her 2023 New Year’s Eve address that she would be stepping down as Queen after 52 years on the throne. She said, “I have decided that now is the right time.”