from news.com.au
Donaldson's citizenship faces debate
From correspondents in Copenhagen
January 30, 2004
LAWMAKERS will start debate next week on granting Danish citizenship to Crown Prince Frederik's Australian fiancee, Mary Donaldson, and most will vote in favour, a parliamentary official said today.
The couple is to wed at Copenhagen's Lutheran cathedral on May 14.
Donaldson, 31, from Australia's island state of Tasmania, will become Crown Princess Mary.
Her naturalisation is seen as a formality, but it has to go through Parliament. The first of three debates is set for February 6.
Under Danish law, a foreigner can be granted citizenship after living seven years in Denmark.
However, foreigners marrying members of the royal family are exempted.
"Obviously, there will be a huge majority in favour of granting Donaldson citizenship," Else Theill Soerensen, the chairwoman of Parliament's 17-member naturalisation committee, told The Associated Press.
"I have no doubts."
Under the proposal presented yesterday by Immigration Minister Bertel Haarder, Donaldson would become a Danish citizen on her wedding day.
She has already asked to renounce her dual Australian and British citizenship and convert to Denmark's state Lutheran Evangelical Church.
Both are requirements for joining Denmark's royal family.
The same procedure was applied to Hong Kong-born Alexandra Manley when she wed Prince Joachim, Frederik's brother, in November 1995. A majority in the 179-seat Parliament gave her a Danish passport.
Donaldson met the 35-year-old heir to the Danish throne during the 2000 Olympics in Sydney.
Danes are starting to gear up for the wedding, which will include a week of official celebrations.
Today, organisers said a rock concert was scheduled for May 9 at Denmark's Parken soccer stadium in Copenhagen. The list of performers is to be released Monday.
The Associated Press