Jacqueline
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Aussie week in leadup to wedding
From correspondents in London
April 14, 2004
THERE'LL be no mistaking Mary Donalsdon's origins when a festive week of Australiana helps Copenhagen celebrate the Hobart commoner's wedding to Denmark's Crown Prince Frederik next month.
Donaldson's pre-wedding nerves should ease a little during a week-long festival before the May 14 royal wedding which includes an Australian sporting icon and the best of the country's music, food and wine.
The former Hobart lawyer and the heir to the 1000-year-old Danish throne will let their hair down on Friday May 6 at Copenhagen's Parken Stadium with 45,000 others at Rock and Royal, a concert headlined by the royal couple's favourite band Powderfinger and also featuring Aboriginal performers.
Two days later, Frederik, an accomplished sailor, will go head to head on Copenhagen Harbour in a yacht race against America's Cup winning Australia II skipper John Bertrand who will have the princess-in-waiting among his four-person crew.
During the week leading up to the wedding, Sydney chef Luke Mangan will cook at the Danish capital's michelin rated Restaurationen restaurant and prepare dishes for one of the official midweek palace dinners.
And Tasmania's Derwent Valley Concert Band will perform on the day of the wedding in the streets of Copenhagen, while Sydney string ensemble, the Tankstream Quartet will play for guests as they arrive at the reception at Fredensborg Palace.
The Tankstream Quartet will also put on a public concert and appear on Danish television and radio.
Thanks to the much-loved Donaldson, who met the prince at a Sydney pub during the 2000 Olympics, Denmark is being exposed to more of Australia than ever before.
"There is a significant increase in interest in Australia," said Australia's ambassador in Copenhagen Matthew Peek.
"I'd like to think it would translate into seriously increased trade and investment but I think that might be unduly optimistic.
"There's a few niche markets - some Tasmanian wines are doing particularly well in Denmark - the trick for them is to hold on after the initial enthusiasm passes, but I think there's a reasonable chance of that.
"Where we are going to benefit is the number of Danes going to Australia on holiday. The profile really has been raised."
Governor General Michael Jeffery and Tasmanian governor Richard Butler are expected to announce this week whether they will accept their invitations as Australia's representatives to Europe's biggest wedding of the year.
Invitations are jealously sought after, with 800 guests to squeeze into Copenhagen Cathedral but only 400 invited to the reception dinner at Fredensborg Palace, just north of the capital.
Every royal family in Europe has received an invitation, along with the crown prince of Japan, while Icelandic president Olafur Ragnar Grimsson and France's Jacques Chirac are rumoured to be the only political heads of state invited.
With so many leaders present, security has become paramount, especially in a city where hundreds of thousands of royal-loving Danes are expected to line the streets and fill Amalienborg Square in the heart of Copenhagen to greet the married couple.
"It's going to be a security challenge for them. You can't have a populace wedding without letting the populace get reasonably close," Peek said.
Danish police announced after the terrorist bombings in Madrid last month that security had been stepped up.
Link: The Australian
From correspondents in London
April 14, 2004
THERE'LL be no mistaking Mary Donalsdon's origins when a festive week of Australiana helps Copenhagen celebrate the Hobart commoner's wedding to Denmark's Crown Prince Frederik next month.
Donaldson's pre-wedding nerves should ease a little during a week-long festival before the May 14 royal wedding which includes an Australian sporting icon and the best of the country's music, food and wine.
The former Hobart lawyer and the heir to the 1000-year-old Danish throne will let their hair down on Friday May 6 at Copenhagen's Parken Stadium with 45,000 others at Rock and Royal, a concert headlined by the royal couple's favourite band Powderfinger and also featuring Aboriginal performers.
Two days later, Frederik, an accomplished sailor, will go head to head on Copenhagen Harbour in a yacht race against America's Cup winning Australia II skipper John Bertrand who will have the princess-in-waiting among his four-person crew.
During the week leading up to the wedding, Sydney chef Luke Mangan will cook at the Danish capital's michelin rated Restaurationen restaurant and prepare dishes for one of the official midweek palace dinners.
And Tasmania's Derwent Valley Concert Band will perform on the day of the wedding in the streets of Copenhagen, while Sydney string ensemble, the Tankstream Quartet will play for guests as they arrive at the reception at Fredensborg Palace.
The Tankstream Quartet will also put on a public concert and appear on Danish television and radio.
Thanks to the much-loved Donaldson, who met the prince at a Sydney pub during the 2000 Olympics, Denmark is being exposed to more of Australia than ever before.
"There is a significant increase in interest in Australia," said Australia's ambassador in Copenhagen Matthew Peek.
"I'd like to think it would translate into seriously increased trade and investment but I think that might be unduly optimistic.
"There's a few niche markets - some Tasmanian wines are doing particularly well in Denmark - the trick for them is to hold on after the initial enthusiasm passes, but I think there's a reasonable chance of that.
"Where we are going to benefit is the number of Danes going to Australia on holiday. The profile really has been raised."
Governor General Michael Jeffery and Tasmanian governor Richard Butler are expected to announce this week whether they will accept their invitations as Australia's representatives to Europe's biggest wedding of the year.
Invitations are jealously sought after, with 800 guests to squeeze into Copenhagen Cathedral but only 400 invited to the reception dinner at Fredensborg Palace, just north of the capital.
Every royal family in Europe has received an invitation, along with the crown prince of Japan, while Icelandic president Olafur Ragnar Grimsson and France's Jacques Chirac are rumoured to be the only political heads of state invited.
With so many leaders present, security has become paramount, especially in a city where hundreds of thousands of royal-loving Danes are expected to line the streets and fill Amalienborg Square in the heart of Copenhagen to greet the married couple.
"It's going to be a security challenge for them. You can't have a populace wedding without letting the populace get reasonably close," Peek said.
Danish police announced after the terrorist bombings in Madrid last month that security had been stepped up.
Link: The Australian