It’s well-known among Danish royal circles that Princess Mary is determined to return to Australia every second Christmas.
But given that the Tassie-born royal and her family spent a precious extended festive season Down Under in 2022, it’s come as a surprise to many that the 51-year-old has apparently touched down here again.
WATCH: Princess Mary visits Bondi earlier this year
In further surprising news, it’s reported she’s in her homeland with her 12-year-old twins Prince Vincent and Princess Josephine – but has not been accompanied by her husband, Prince Frederik.
Head of the Royal House’s communications, Lene Balleby confirmed to Danish publication Billed Bladet that Mary and her two youngest children had arrived.
In a move that has raised eyebrows among royal watchers, it’s understood Fred, 55, is yet to join Mary, but may jump on a plane later in the month, after a slate of royal engagements end on December 12.
“It’s rare to see Mary travel without her husband,” says one insider.
The timing of her solo mum travel comes after a rough month for Mary, in which her husband hit the headlines for an alleged – and firmly denied – affair with Mexican socialite Genoveva Casanova.
“While Fred has sworn nothing happened and they’re just friends, having her family life under the microscope can’t have been easy on the usually private Mary,” notes one long-time Danish royal watcher.
Indeed, onlookers have found that at recent official events, Mary has not been her usual cheerful self.
Body language expert Judi James told the Mail Online she looked “hesitant and disengaged” and “didn’t make eye contact” with her husband during a joint engagement with King Felipe and Queen Letizia of Spain last month, just days after the affair allegations exploded in European media.
“In the past, Princess Mary and Prince Frederik have tended to be naturally tactile and playful,” Judi says.
Regardless of the stress of the past few months, royal insiders say Mary “rarely” misses an opportunity to come home.
“Whether it’s the chance to get away from it all at a trying time, or simply catching up with her brother, sisters and dad Down Under, trips to Australia are always healing from Mary,” says a source.
Soon after her fairytale Copenhagen wedding in 2004, Mary returned to Oz, and said, “It was a beautiful feeling to see Tasmania below me.”
At the time of press, it was not known whether Mary was in Sydney – where her nephew, Count Nikolai is based – or back in Tassie where her sister Jane Stephens lives.
