In 1997, the future Crown Princess of Denmark experienced a tragedy - her mother, Henrietta Norton, died of a heart disease. Despite the fact that more than 20 years have passed since that day, Mary has only recently been able to talk about what happened and about her feelings. Now the princess wants to support those who find themselves in a similar situation.
On a visit to Children, Youth and Mourning, the Crown Princess shared how the traumatic experience made her stronger. The institution offers free expert advice to children and adolescents who have lost their parents, siblings and other close relatives. The royal family member shared her story with Mads Knudsen Topp, a fifteen-year-old ward of the foundation, whom the organization has supported since losing his father three years ago.
“I was 26 and my mother left too early,” Mary said. - All this is very difficult to grasp when it comes to such personal experiences. But as you get older, you learn to appreciate the time you spent together, you perceive it as a gift of fate. Loss gives a person what would not exist without it, makes him strong. " Previously, in an interview with Danish broadcaster DR in 2015, the Crown Princess noted that she “felt lonely”, grieving for her mother: “In my pain, I was all alone. As if no one understood what I was going through, and in the end I ended up in a dead end, while the whole world around me continued to move on. " Mary also noted that if it was possible to turn back time, she would like to spend more time with her mother.
Henrietta Norton died two years before her daughter met her future husband, Crown Prince Frederick. It happened at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. The ancestors of Mary Elizabeth Donaldson (that was the name of the future crown princess in her maiden name) moved from Scotland to Australia in the 1960s, and it was there, far from his subjects and reporters who constantly haunt him, that the crown prince of Denmark met the love of his life (read also: “Crown Prince Frederick: How Love Saved the Future King of Denmark ").
The relationship of the couple developed quietly and harmoniously and culminated in a wedding in 2004. Unfortunately, Henrietta did not have the opportunity to learn about the future fate of Mary, her beautiful and tender husband, a happy life in Denmark, the status of one of the most popular representatives of the royal family, as well as four children - Christiane, Isabella and twins Vincent and Josephine. However, Mary's mother-in-law Queen Margrethe does not like a soul in her. The fact that she allowed a foreign woman to wear an old veil belonging to the groom's family and intended only for princesses of the blood, to their wedding ceremony with Frederick is another confirmation of this.
The aim of the daughter-in-law of Queen Margrethe II of Denmark is to draw attention to an issue that is often hushed up. “After experiencing loss, you feel lonely. It’s like you don’t belong to any particular place and found yourself alone in the whole world. This is a big and serious problem that went unnoticed, so I'm glad I can draw some attention to it. There are many taboos around all this, and this is an issue that we should discuss,”the crown princess is convinced.
Photo: Getty Images
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