Royals

Princess Mary shakes off sadness to glam up in gorgeous gown

Sep 08, 2017

Princess Mary and Prince Frederik are no strangers to a black-tie affair, as this picture from earlier this year shows. Source: YouTube/Royal Update

Princess Mary of Denmark and her husband Crown Prince Frederik have shaken off sad family news to pull out the glamour for a gala dinner.

The princess looked beautiful in a strapless gown in an eye-catching black-and-white print, with a slim-fitting bodice showing off her small waist and the lack of embellishment highlighting her gym-honed arms and shoulders. Her hair, shorter and lighter since her summer holidays, was pulled back in soft curls.

The prince, meanwhile, looked dapper in a tuxedo at the dinner they hosted for the 10th anniversary of Princess Mary’s The Mary Foundation that does many charitable works in Denmark. The dinner was held at Christian VII’s Palace, one of four separate palaces built to form a single grand home at Amalienborg, the home of the Danish royal family in Copenhagen.

Kronprinsparret var i går aftes værter ved en middag i anledning af Mary Fondens 10-års jubilæum. Middagen fandt sted i Christian VII’s Palæ, Amalienborg. Fonden kan fejre 10 år den 11. september. Steen Brogaard ©

A post shared by DET DANSKE KONGEHUS (@detdanskekongehus) on Sep 7, 2017 at 10:55am PDT

It was a sombre day for the royal couple, however, after the family announced that Prince Henrik, Frederik’s father, had been diagnosed with dementia. The 83-yer-old had been behaving erratically in recent weeks, making public statements about his frosty relationship with his wife and Frederik’s mother, Queen Margrethe.

The family issued a statement that said the prince had suffered a decline in cognitive function that was greater than expected, and could be accompanied by “changes in behaviour, reaction patterns, judgement and emotional life”. He had been examined over a number of months, according to the statement, which had clearly given his family some time to adjust to the news.

“As a consequence of the diagnosis, the prince will further downgrade his future activities, just as patronages and honorary memberships will be considered,” the statement continued. “It is the wish of the queen and the royal family that the prince will have the peace and quiet as required by the situation.”

Princess Mary’s own father, John Dalgleish Donaldson, is now retired but was a professor at the University of Tasmania in applied mathematics. He’s married to Susan Horwood, a novelist. Princess Mary’s own mother Henrietta died in 1997, when the royal was just 26 years old. Mary famously met Frederik at the Sydney 2000 Olympics and they married i 2004.