Australians celebrate their fairytale princess

By BELINDA GOLDSMITH

CANBERRA - Australians revelled on Saturday in the fairytale marriage of local girl Mary Donaldson to Denmark's Crown Prince Frederik in a glittering ceremony in Copenhagen before a VIP list of the world's royalty.

The romance between Australian commoner Donaldson, 32, and the heir to the throne of Europe's oldest monarchy, who met at a bar in Sydney during the 2000 Olympics, has enchanted Australia, a former British colony that has never had its own royal family.

Australians were full of praise for the poise and ease with which Tasmanian-born Donaldson has coped with the huge life change from working for a Sydney real estate agency to European eminence.

"It is a change she has given every indication of making with a regal grace, and that very Australian characteristic of accepting challenges as they come," said The Weekend Australian newspaper's editorial. "As fairytales go, this is a beaut."

Newspapers were full of photographs of Donaldson who looked stunning on Friday as she walked down the aisle in a gown of white duchess satin, the first Australian-born woman in line to become a queen.

The enthusiasm with which Australia embraced the wedding came as a surprise because of the nation's strong republican sentiment. Australia is keenly debating appointing a home-grown president to replace the British queen as head of state.

But republicans and monarchists alike said the nuptials attracted so much warmth, contrasting vividly with horrific events in Iraq where images of an American being murdered and US troops abusing Iraqi prisoners shocked the world.

The Daily Telegraph's commentator, Paul Kent, said the wedding had lightened the load at a dreadful time.

"Amid the world turning black, Mary Donaldson has given us a reason to keep caring, to keep picking up the newspaper or turning on the TV and seeing what good is happening in our world," said Kent.

Australians gathered at parties and bars across the country on Friday night, wearing tiaras and Viking helmets, to watch Donaldson, a law graduate, marry her 35-year-old prince.

The celebrations spilled over into Saturday with television networks replaying highlights of the event and parties continuing in Donaldson's hometown on Hobart in the southern island state of Tasmania, which invited the newly-weds for a visit.

"There's no question that all Tasmanians have every reason to be very proud of 'Our Mary' and would have delighted...in the emotional honesty of two people so obviously in love," the state's opposition leader, Rene Hidding, told reporters.

Up to 5000 people gathered in the southern city of Melbourne in a central square transformed into a Viking village to munch on Danish pastries, waving Danish and Australian flags.

The celebrations also included a princess and prince parade for children, and a theatre performance of Danish storyteller Hans Christian Andersen's fairytale, "The Princess and The Pea."

- REUTERS