A royal first: Australia celebrates Princess Mary’s historic rise to be queen consort in Denmark

SYDNEY (AP) — For the first time, Australians find themselves on the brink of witnessing one of their own, Princess Mary of Denmark, rise to the rank of queen when her husband, Crown Prince Frederik, is proclaimed king of that European nation. He will become King Frederik X of Denmark on Sunday, two weeks after his 83-year-old mother, Queen Margrethe II, announced she would be the first Danish royal to abdicate in some 900 years. The 51-year-old Princess Mary’s unlikely journey from a commerce law student in Tasmania to European royalty as the world’s first Australian-born queen has captivated Danes and Australians alike for over two decades.