Royals

Police called over Prince Frederik incident in Brisbane

Aug 22, 2017

Prince Frederik, pictured here at an event in June, is in Australia on a sailing trip. Image: Instagram/DET DANSKE KONGEHUS/Ida Marie Odgaard, Scanpix

He’s used to being welcomed with smiling facing and warm greetings wherever he goes, but Danish royal Prince Frederik got a rude shock when he tried to enter an upmarket bar in Brisbane on Friday night.

Princess Mary’s husband is in Australia on a sailing trip and has been enjoying the sights and natural beauty of his wife’s homeland over the past week.

He and his entourage stopped in Brisbane last week and decided to hit the town, but were quickly taught a lesson in tough Australian law.

The Daily Telegraph reports that the prince tried to enter Jade Budda Bar just before midnight, but was refused entry because he didn’t have his identification card with him to prove he was over the age of 18.

Brisbane employed strict lock-out laws earlier this year in a bid to curb alcohol-fuelled violence and refuses entry after 10pm to any who doesn’t have ID.

Frederik reportedly called on seven Queensland police officers from the dignitary protection unit to convince the bar manager the prince could bypass the law because of his dignitary title.

The Daily Telegraph says the officers told the venue they had received the green light from Office of Liquor and Gaming bureaucrats to allow the Danish royal entourage to bypass the ID laws.

The incident wasn’t enough to put a dampener on Frederik’s trip though, with the easy-going royal heading north for the Audi Hamilton Island Yacht Race Week at the weekend.

The royal is a keen sailer and only recently returned from a holiday on the water with wife Mary and their four children.

The family enjoyed the end of the European summer on the sparking oceans around Denmark before the children returned the school for the first semester of the year.