The Crown Princess of Denmark almost found herself barefoot on the red carpet as she performed a dramatic curtsey during her official visit to the Netherlands. As she greeted King Willem-Alexander in The Hague, Crown Princess Mary curtseyed and photographers caught one of her designer shoes leaving her foot.
Mary recovered herself and within moments was curtseying deeply to Queen Maxima. Mary and her husband, Crown Prince Frederik, are good friends of the Dutch King and Queen and the two couples seemed very glad to be in one another’s company, just days after meeting up at the 18th birthday celebrations of Princess Ingrid Alexandra of Norway in Oslo.
Embed from Getty Imageswindow.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:’j560EC96SvdG5Mm4kBRNog’,sig:’hfCpTIijuDXwhiZFnOCh6GoENx0ivsqo3FmB5iHcs-A=’,w:’396px’,h:’594px’,items:’1241423626′,caption: true ,tld:’com’,is360: false })});Earlier on the first day of their two day official trip, Mary had gone practical princess as she chose a pair of trainers for her engagements. The visit is focused on business and economic ties with the couple heading a large delegation from Denmark and it began at the Dutch-Danish business conference in New Babylon in The Hague.
During his speech at the conference, Crown Prince Frederik noted ‘’ Deep and longstanding diplomatic and commercial ties characterize the relation between The Netherlands and Denmark. From farming and sea fares to green transition technologies and digital healthcare – providing prosperity and welfare have always been at the heart of our two countries’ priorities.’’
And he looked to the future, saying ‘’ With today’s business visit, we strengthen our ties in new partnerships for green transition and healthcare solutions. Many pioneering businesses are present today. Together, they represent the innovative expertise needed for sustainable societies.’’
From there, Crown Prince Frederik headed to a seminar on wind power where he took part in a panel discussion on the challenges of harnessing energy from nature in the North Sea which washes on to the coasts of both Denmark and the Netherlands.
.Crown Princess Mary took part in a seminar on ‘’HealthTech and MedTech’’ with a focus on the digitisation of the health sector and its impact on patient care.
During her speech at the seminar, the Crown Princess highlighted the similarities between Denmark and the Netherlands in approaches to healthcare and the impact the past two years have had on approaches, saying ‘’ During the Covid-19 pandemic, both of our nations looked for new MedTech and Healthtech solutions that were rolled out at unprecedented speed and built on impressive public-private-partnerships.
The pandemic also reinforced how critical a strong and well-functioning healthcare system is.’’
As the first day of their visit continued, Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary reunited for a tour of the Peace Palace in The Hague where they heard about work to ensure compliance with international laws.
Their meeting with King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima came at the Grote Kerk in The Hague, the setting for a gala dinner to conclude the opening part of their visit.
Day two will see Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary visit Delft, Leiden and Rotterdam.
