Up there Queen Mary: royal kicks goals in MCG debut

By William Ton and Duncan Murray 

Australian-born Danish royal Queen Mary might soon switch allegiances.

In the AFL, that is.

The Tasmanian-born queen showed off her Australian sporting genes on Tuesday as she slotted a close-range goal on the hallowed turf of the MCG.

Joined by her husband King Frederik, she mingled with Hawthorn players James Sicily and Will Day and AFLW counterparts Emily Bates and Eliza West.

The royals talked about the AFLW and the game in Tasmania before joining young Auskickers.

“So lovely to meet with the young football players and the big stars,” Queen Mary told reporters afterwards.

Asked if she has an AFL team, the Tasmanian-born Queen Mary gave a devilish answer.

“I do have, but maybe it will change in a few years,” she said, alluding to the Tasmanian Devils’ looming AFL and AFLW entry.

The royals are in Australia for a six-day visit, the first since Frederik became king in 2024.

The pair began their two-day trip to Victoria with an official reception at Government House before spending the afternoon visiting sustainable and renewable energy developments.

Royal enthusiasts managed to catch a glimpse of the king and queen, including host mother Cris who took her Danish high school exchange student Ulrich to see the pair in the inner-city suburb of Prahran.

“Catch a glimpse, perhaps a wave. Tick and tick,” Cris said.

It was a special moment for the Danish exchange student who has been to the palace for the king’s birthday and during royal events at home.

“I’ve seen them before, but not as personal as this,” Ulrich said.

“It was pretty cool, like, getting eye contact with the queen was really cool.”

Cris said the queen clearly recognised Ulrich’s red and white Danish scarf.

“She was walking and then she looked and then she looked again,” she said.

For workers Sarah Muschamp and Amelia Annat, a chance to see Danish royalty was too good to miss.

“We saw the entourage and the police and the sirens and everything in the buses and we knew something was going on,” Ms Annat said.

“We ran off and left our lunch behind … they are so close and this is too much of a good opportunity.”

Ms Muschamp likened Queen Mary’s story to an Australian fairytale.

“It’s not a normal day. It’s a bit of glamour, just fun. Although my mum would kill me if I didn’t get a glimpse of her,” she said.

The royal couple were earlier greeted by Governor Margaret Gardner and her husband Glyn Davis for an official reception and signing of the visitor’s book at Government House.

It’s their first visit to Australia since taking the throne in 2024, with the pair already meeting Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and other dignitaries in Canberra and a visit to Uluru.

King Frederik described Australia as the couple’s second home, having met the Hobart-born queen in a Sydney pub during the 2000 Olympics, before the pair wed in 2004.

The official aim of the trip is to deepen trade ties between Queen Mary’s adopted and home countries, with a focus on clean energy.

The pair are spending Tuesday and Wednesday in Australia’s laneway and coffee capital, before continuing to Mary’s home state of Tasmania, where they will spend time with the Queen’s relatives, including her elderly father John Donaldson.