Expats toast a jewel in the crown

Aussie-born Mary’s ascension as Queen of Denmark was the jewel in the crown that will forever tie the two nations, according to expat Danes in Australia.

Australia’s modest but passionately proud Danish community was always going to celebrate the once-in-ageneration crowning of a new King and Queen.

But they did so on Sunday with added gusto for the Queen from Down Under, toasting the bonus connection with Akvavit shots and pickled herring and cucumber smorrebrod.

“The Danish community is of course very excited,“the

Danish Club vice president Lykke Borup said. “Everyone is really supporting it and, for me, (Margrethe) has been the only Queen I’ve ever known and I’m only in my 40s, so it’s definitely a once-in-ageneration kind of event.

“Having that Australian connection (Mary) is now also just making it more exciting for us here, I think. Frederik and Mary, both of them, are like such a power couple, so I think it’s perfect timing for the royal family and for them and for their son Christian, too, to step up – he’s just turned 18 – as Crown Prince. I couldn’t think of a better timing (for succession) … they will put Denmark more on the map.”

The 134-year-old Danish Club is one of the oldest cultural clubs in Australia and is usually closed this time of year but opened its Melbourne headquarters for a succession celebration.

Ms Borup, an awardwinning jeweller, has her own personal connection with the royals with her family’s jewellery business in Denmark making pieces for the royal family, including Mary.

Fellow ex-pat Dane Rasmus Fiedler, who runs social and cultural gatherings under the banner Young Vikings in Town, also has a royal connection, having met Frederik and Mary in 2011 during a royal visit to

Australia. “It’s great for us in Australia to have an Australian-born queen,” he said. “They are so popular compared to the English royal family … and to have Mary come here every year for her family is great, but I’m not sure how that will pan out now. She probably won’t be able to do that alone any more.”

Mr Fiedler said the best thing about having an Aussie queen meant you could read about her regularly in the Australian news.

“I’m not sure if you lived in Hungary you’d be reading the same about the Danish royal court and I don’t hear much about the Swedish royal court here either,” he joked.