Ahead of her 50th milestone birthday on Saturday, Crown Princess Mary of Denmark has launched an exhibition at the Copenhagen Zoo, titled Mary’s Australian Garden, as a tribute to her heritage. 

Joined by her twins, Prince Vincent and Princess Josephine, 11, Mary’s Australian Garden features a new aviary and is home to native animals from her former homeland. The new Australian animal enclosure will expand upon the zoo’s already existing facilities for kangaroos and Tasmanian devils. 

Princess Mary’s children were also given the honour of turning the first soil for the zoo’s expansion project, which is expected to be completed in the coming years. 

The young royals also popped by the penguin enclosure where, despite the snowy conditions, the siblings sat and took turns feeding the arctic birds. 

The family then braved a visit to the reptile room, where they held a python. 

Later that afternoon, Princess Mary was joined by her husband, Crown Prince Frederik, in opening the new science centre, named The Crown Princess Mary Centre – Solving Problems Through Research and Partnerships, at the Copenhagen University.

9News reports that Mary will join the advisory committee and their objective is to help build an “interdisciplinary knowledge environment, focused on finding new solutions for current societal challenges, with the human being at the core.”

These are just two events of the week-long schedule of festivities to celebrate the princess’ birthday. On Thursday, Mary opened a new exhibition about her life, titled HRH Crown Princess Mary 1972-2002, at the National History Museum inside the Frederiksborg Castle, north of Copenhagen.

And while the planned gala dinner at the Rosenborg Castle on Friday has been cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic, royal watchers were still treated with the unveiling of a series of stunning new portraits of Crown Princess Mary.