Crown Princess Mary has begun an official visit to Greenland, visiting the capital city with her Mary Foundation.
Ahead of her arrival, Crown Princess Mary shared a message on the Danish Royal House’s social media accounts: “In a few hours I will arrive in Greenland’s capital Nuuk. I am looking forward to the reunion with Greenland and the Greenlandic people. It is an exciting and varied program in the coming days, and I look forward to the many conversations with children and young people, business partners and those I meet on my way. It will be some interesting and educational days for all of us. And of course I have many greetings from home.”
Her first engagement in Nuuk took place with the World Wildlife Fund, of which she is President—a role she inherited from her late father-in-law Prince Henrik in 2020. She joined schoolchildren from Aqqaluk, an after-school centre, to collect plastic waste and help sort it as part of an ongoing WWF Wildlife Fund project.
According to the Danish Royal House, this project involves collecting plastic waste and identifying its source and then finding ways to eliminate waste. Crown Princess Mary and some of the schoolchildren walked down to the nearby beach at Aqqaluk to collect plastic waste and stopped at the sculpture ‘Sassuma Arnaa’, which means ‘Mother of the Sea’ in Greenlandic.
Later in the afternoon, Crown Princess Mary visited the Children’s and Youth House Mælkebøtten, a residence that she first visited with Crown Prince Frederik in 2009. Mælkebøtten is an activity, resource, and support centre for young people affected by suicide, sexual assault, and other crisis issues. Her visit to Mælkebøtten coincides with the centre’s 15th anniversary.
According to the Danish Royal Court, Crown Princess Mary’s visit aims to focus on “some of Greenland’s challenges, including the well-being and rights of children and young people, handling and processing grief as well as biodiversity and nature conservation.”
The Crown Princess’s visit concludes on 25 August.
