Margrethe II said:
I would think that surely TRH the Prince & Princess of Asturias would have a much larger following in the US than Mary & Frederik considering the very big Spanish and South American communities within the states..Was their wedding not shown on American TV or something of the sort?
"MII"
I know someone else told you that it wasn't broadcast here in the USA, but Felipe & Letizia's wedding was shown on Univision [the Hispanic channel] live [meaning it was shown here at about 3 or 4 AM, which may be why no one but me knew that it was on]. I have a satellite dish so I don't know if Univision is on cable or not- I think it is though.
And really, no royalty has a big following in the USA, save for the Windsors, and that's only when the National Enquirer finds something dishy to print about Prince William. And we also occasionally get bits of Grimaldi news, but that's only because of Princess Grace. So, sadly, our access is fairly limited- no TV shows, very few magazines, etc. All we have is the Internet and great forums like TRF. :-D
Adding my two cents to the conversation, I'm going to act puzzled like so many others. XD
I just don't get the appeal. Sure, they're a cute couple [Mary's hair is gorgeous]. They have a darling baby. They both seem reasonably well-informed and they have a brain sitting in that thing on their necks, which they use on a regular basis. They admittedly are not the hardest working of the Crown Princely couples [and my vote on that actually goes to Victoria of Sweden], but that's no crime. They seem to do a pretty good job representing Denmark- not spectacular, but pretty good.
I don't really care for Mary either way- I don't like her as a Crown Princess but I don't have some unfounded virulent hatred of her either. I'm not writing her off just yet- she needs time to find her place and role within the vast heirarchy of Europe's royalty. Perhaps I just need to warm to her, as like I warmed immensely to Maxima over this past year.
But! She does have a few areas I can see which could definitely use improvement:
-I just hate the way she holds her head- with her chin up and out. I don't know whether she realizes it or not, but it makes her look incredibly arrogant- like she's sticking her nose into the air, saying "I'm better than you." I'm pretty sure she doesn't mean to do that, but unfortunately to many people that's what it comes off as.
-She also appears to me to always look at the CAMERA and never at the PERSON. I have stacks of back issues of
Majesty and
Royalty with pictures of her at all sorts of events, and I have not yet seen one in which she is looking at the person she is talking to with any interest. Her attention always seems diverted. For example, in an article about her and Fred visiting Japan and planting a tree at a school, she has her arm around a young Japanese boy in the pictures. They are holding a shovel together, ready to plant the tree- the young boy is concentrating on trying to shovel the dirt, but she is looking directly at the camera! Not even bothering to attempt to hide the fact that she's not paying the little boy any attention at all. That- to me- just smacks of her representing
herself, and not
Denmark. Like, "LOOK AT MEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!" Ugh.
-I wish she's stop playing up the "fairytale" aspect of their relationship. I refuse to start another boneheaded Slip Inn argument, but fairytales are in books. She is lucky, certainly, and if she loves Fred like it appears she does then I am sincerely happy for her. The Grimm brothers, however, would be hard-pressed to turn that into a bestseller.
Fred comes across to me as kind of, well, dopey. XD I'm sure he's very nice, but I think he just kind of goes along with whatever, not really exerting any serious thought. On that note, I would really like to see him stop following Mary around like a lovesick puppy. It was cute for the first few years of their relationship, but now it's annoying and I, frankly, am tired of it. I'd like to see him look serious and dignified around his wife. You know, the way a future king of a country is supposed to look?
Now, everyone, those are simply my lowly opinions, and not to be taken as solid truths, obviously. :-D