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Denmark

Crown Princess Mary forced to cancel engagements because of plane problems

Following the traditional New Year’s receptions, her last public appearances, Crown Princess Mary was supposed to go back to work today with two events in Aarhus. In the morning, she was expected to open the new psychiatry unit of Aarhus’ University Hospital before going on to inaugurate the TrygFonden’s Family House at the Neurocenter in Hammel, a town near Aarhus.

But Crown Princess Mary had to unexpectedly cancel her visit because of technical issues with the plane due to take her from Copenhagen to Aarhus. It was delayed as a result and, as it was not possible to find a solution at such short notice, the Crown Princess was forced to miss the events. At the moment, it’s not known whether the royal visits will be rescheduled to a later date although both official openings went ahead without Crown Princess Mary today.

The TrygFonden’s Family House was created in order to allow the families of youngsters hospitalized at the Hammel Neurocenter following a brain injury to have a safe base near their child. The new family house can welcome eight families and they each have their own apartment plus a number of communal facilities. There are no hospital staff in the house so that children who are being treated can feel like they are at home as much as possible when they stay with their families in the facility.

Another reason why the house was created was to help families get together and support each other. Kia Stentebjerg, the mother of one of the children hospitalized said” It means a lot. We have many evenings and afternoons where our children are in reeducation, where we can talk together. Laugh a bit and find something that we have been missing for a while. We can talk about each other’s children and share a little. It’s nice to share when you’re in the same situation”

Crown Princess Mary is Patron of the Danish Brain Injury Foundation.