#mtour

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Crown Princess Mary’s foreign visits → France, 2019

France is close to the Danish royal family’s heart. Both Crown Prince Frederik’s father and sister in law are French born and the Crown Princely family are all members of the House of Monpezat through the late Prince Henrik. But the two nations are also important business allies, with France being the eighth largest export market for the Scandinavian nation, and it was in this capacity that they were travelling to Paris. The tour kicked off with an event promoting Danish businesses and this thread ran through the itinerary, with Mary attending seminars on investment and procurement and rubbing shoulders with business leaders at various receptions. As an added touch, these events took place in sites highlighting the link between the two countries, including a building designed by a Danish architect and a stylish Danish restaurant. While encouraging trade was high on the agenda, it wasn’t all business for the couple. Mary visited many social projects during her trip including a hospital and a nursing home. On the final day, she visited a school offering Danish classes alongside First Lady Brigitte Macron, whom Mary has met many times. The trip was a great success in both Danish and French media, highlighting the continued relationship between the countries doesn’t end with their family history. 

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Crown Princess Mary’s foreign visits → Indonesia, 2019

For her final visit of 2019 the Crown Princess made the trip to Indonesia. Most of the engagements aligned with her work as patron and task force member of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) through which she has spent the last decade raising awareness of reproductive and maternal health. This was the latest chance for the future Queen to learn about how these issues impact countries across the globe, with past trips taking her everywhere from Mozambique to Jordan. She explored these topics in Indonesia through a celebration of World Aids Day, a discussion on FGM and gender based violence with midwives, health representatives and policy makers, a visit to a mobile health clinic which offers contraception, and a tour of a public health centre to discuss sexual health of women and girls. Alongside her packed itinerary of field visits she took in some of the sights of Indonesia including a 9th century temple and rubbed shoulders with decision makers, attending a lunch at the Sultan’s Palace and dinner at the Danish Ambassador’s residence to celebrate 70 years of diplomatic relations between the two nations. 

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Crown Princess Mary’s foreign visits → South Korea, 2019

7 years after their first visit to South Korea, the Crown Princely couple made another trip to celebrate 60 years of diplomatic relations between the Asian nation and Denmark. Alongside customary meetings with the Prime Minister and President and a tour of the Demilitarised Zone, the couple attended many business related engagements with the large delegation accompanying them. The couple attended a conference where Mary tried her hand at a cooking demonstration - something she’s done everywhere from the USA to Australia - before taking part in seminars on the health industry to sustainability. But the tour also marked 2019 being designated as the Danish-South Korean Cultural Year, a campaign of which Mary is patron. As a result, culture was another major strand of the trip. Mary visited an exhibition on iconic Danish children’s writer Hans Christian Andersen (Mary had been an ambassador for his bicentennial celebrations), watched a performance by a Danish theatre group at a children’s theatre, and opened the first solo show in Asia on the late artist Asger Jorn whose work Mary had seen when opening an exhibition in Denmark in 2014. But perhaps the most significant moment of the trip came when the Mayor of Seoul granted the couple honorary citizenship of the city, show the esteem with which the country held their royal visitors 

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Crown Princess Mary’s foreign visits → Ethiopia, 2019

Crown Princess Mary has made at least 10 trips to the African continent over the last 15 years and in 2019 she undertook her latest, a trip to Ethiopia. The Crown Princess had visited the country in 2011 and 2015 with the latter two visits focusing on one of her primary passions, gender equality. On her first day the Crown Princess visited a fertility and reproductive medicine centre which works to reduce infant and maternal mortality rates, an area Mary has promoted through her position as patron of the United Nations Population Fund. This was followed by a round table on gender equality in the Ethiopian Parliament and a conversation with female entrepreneurs at company BlueMoon where Mary joined a relaxed afternoon tea. On the second day she travelled to the Tigray region, home to one of Ethiopia’s largest refugee populations. In both of her previous trips to the country Mary had met with refugees through her role as patron of the Danish Refugee Council (DRC). On her most recent trip she continued this work by meeting with various members of the refugee community, including young girls taking part in DRC funded classes to ensure they keep up with their education. The successful trip was topped off with a release of photographs taken by the Crown Princess by the royal court, a testament to the impact of the trip on Mary. 

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Crown Princess Mary’s foreign visits → United States of America, 2019

For her first overseas visit of 2019, Crown Princess Mary went solo for a trip to Texas. The Crown Princess had lived in Houston for a year as a child, starting her education there, so it is one of the many places with a special spot in her heart. The future Queen showed her diplomatic credentials as she met with the Mayor of Houston and the Governor of Texas and charmed officials with her attendance at a breakfast briefing on women’s leadership, but most of the trip was designed to promote Denmark’s exports in the lucrative American market. In her first day alone she highlighted Danish technology at a virtual reality exhibition at the South x Southwest festival; she showcased Danish food at a culinary demonstration; she promoted Danish design by visiting a performance piece with sustainable costumes designed in her country; and she drew attention to Nordic music at an event promoting promising Danish musicians. She even took part in the launches of two high profile, formal agreements between Denmark and Texas on sustainable urban development and health care. The solo visit gave Mary a chance to shine and proved once again her natural charisma and her skill as a diplomat. 

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Crown Princess Mary’s foreign visits → Latvia, 2018

During the celebrations of their 100th anniversary of Independence, Latvia played host to many royals from across European and in December Crown Prince Frederick and Crown Princess Mary added their name to the list. They completed some of the typical engagements you would expect from a meeting with the Presidential Couple to a tour of the National History Museum’s exhibition on Independence, but their itinerary had plenty of opportunities to show the link between Latvia and Denmark and highlight some of Denmark’s greatest exports: they explored Danish architecture and design as they viewed drawings from an architectural competition set up to find a design converting an old Scandinavian factory in Latvia’s capital into a cultural centre and creative incubator; they attended a conference on the creative industries delivered by a consortium of Danish and Latvian creative institutions; and in a particularly significant engagement they visited the Latvian National Library to leave a lasting reminder of their trip. All of the visiting royals in Latvia had visited the library and given a gift of a book from their country. Mary and Frederik continued the warm sentiment by handing over a copy of Danish book The Incredible Story of the Great Big Bulb.

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Crown Princess Mary’s foreign visits → Italy, 2018

Italy is one of Denmark’s largest trading partners and the Crown Prince and Princess were entrusted to lead a business delegation to the country’s capital to improve bilateral relations. During their three day trip, they had visits dedicated to both Italy’s history and its future. On their first day they had lunch at the President’s residence the Palazzo del Quirinale and toured the Caracalla baths dating back to 212 AD. Mary captured headlines worldwide when she chose to ditch her heels and scale the historical site in a pair of comfortable trainers! On their second day they focused on Denmark and Italy’s shared interests and the collaborations they could build together in the future. Mary spent the day at a series of seminars on topics from urbanisation to healthcare and tasted treats from each nation at a Gastro Event. Their final day saw perhaps the most significant moment of the tour; before visiting a children’s hospital, they had an audience with Pope Francis in The Vatican. Mary was dressed in the traditional black outfit and veil for the momentous occasion, which she later commented on enthusiastically to the press. Although the visit was a successful economic mission, it no doubt held personal meaning for Mary and Frederik as it was in Rome that the Crown Prince proposed to then Mary Donaldson. 

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Crown Princess Mary’s foreign visits → Kenya, 2018

Mary’s trip to Kenya was the latest in a long line of visits to the continent for her work in the global women’s rights movement. She has visited everywhere from Ethiopia in the North to Mozambique in the South and even made the journey to Kenya 7 years prior. The cornerstone of this visit was the launch of Deliver for Good, an offshoot of the Women Deliver conference. Mary was patron of the conference when it was held in Copenhagen and has attended launch events across the globe. But the Crown Princess always prefers to meet people on the ground and this trip was no different. She visited the Lewa game reserve to find out about their female employment programme which gives girls access to education and met local women supported by the Danish International Development Agency  to build small businesses. Her hosts were happy to see her, greeting her with songs and promptly wrapping her up in traditional Kenyan dress! The trip ended with a visit to one of Nairobi’s slums, home to 700,000 people. The Crown Princess met with a mentoring project supporting teenage  mothers and toured a Community Centre supporting children and families with disabilities. The varied trip clearly made an impression on Mary as she was spotted snapping photographs throughout. She told journalists they were to show her children when she returned home but she delighted royal watchers- and increased coverage of the visit- when she shared her favourite images on the royal Instagram page.