While Princess Marie was in Paris, France, on 28 March to open the new Galeries Lafayette building on the Champs-Elysées, she gave an interview to French magazine Point de Vue about her family’s future move to France in the summer.
On 30 January, the Danish Royal Court announced that Prince Joachim, Princess Marie and their children, Prince Henrik and Princess Athena would move to Paris this summer since Prince Joachim was invited by the French Minister of Defence to follow a high-level military training in France during the French state visit to Denmark in August 2018. He is currently a Colonel in the Reserve and a special advisor to the Chief of Defence.
Princess Marie said she never thought she would live in France again after spending more than 30 years living abroad, but she says it’s a good challenge for her children: “My children don’t see my family a lot, and they don’t know their French culture very well. Of course, I speak to them in French, but I don’t think their French-speaking level is good enough. This move will be an important transition in their life, and I’m very pleased about that. It’s also an amazing opportunity for my husband, who will experience a new way of life, and for his high-level military career.” Prince Joachim has lived in France before as he spent a year in Normandy for his studies between 1982 and 1983.
While the couple doesn’t know where they will live yet, Princess Marie revealed that their children Prince Henrik and Princess Athena would go to the bilingual school near Parc Monceau where they will follow their classes in French. Princess Marie said she didn’t want the move to be too much of a cultural shock for them considering the differences between the French and the Danish school systems but that she wanted them to have an international education like she did: “This school is a great compromise because they’ll be around children from all around the world. I always had an international education, and I think it’s amazing. It’s a gift to give to your children. It’s going to help them broaden their mind.”
She also said that her priority after the move would be her family, but she also wants to start collaboration projects between France and Denmark through her various patronages and the many causes she is involved with: “The causes are very important in both countries. The only thing that can be different is the approach we have to these causes because of cultural differences. I’m also very involved in the fight against food waste, and I hope I can continue this work with the help of the Embassy. During this French parenthesis, I will continue to do what I have always done.”
