READY to RULE!

IN A HISTORIC FIRST, THE REIGNING MONARCH STEPS ASIDE FOR OUR AUSSIE QUEEN

- Kylie Walters

Dressed in a rich burgundy velvet gown by Birgit Hallstein and glittering in jewels while adorned with her Ruby Wreath tiara, Crown Princess Mary looked every inch the queen she will be as she stepped out to Christian VII’s Palace at Amalienborg for Denmark’s New Year’s Day banquet. Clasping hands at the door as they were about to enter, Mary and her husband, Crown Prince Frederik, beamed as they turned to wave at the adoring crowd that had gathered to wish them well following a life-changing announcement just a day earlier.

In the almost two decades since she wed the heir to the Danish throne, Mary Donaldson has made the transition from commoner to princess look effortless. So confident in her daughter-in-law’s ability, Queen Margrethe used her annual live televised New Year’s Eve speech to announce that she would be abdicating after serving her people for over five decades.