1 00:00:00,880 --> 00:00:02,800 Speaker 1: Jasey and Amanda. 2 00:00:02,680 --> 00:00:07,120 Speaker 2: Jam Nation Well and exciting news. Australian born Princess Mary 3 00:00:07,240 --> 00:00:10,720 Speaker 2: has been crowned Queen Consort of Denmark. It's all just 4 00:00:10,760 --> 00:00:12,240 Speaker 2: happened in the last few hours. 5 00:00:12,480 --> 00:00:12,680 Speaker 1: Now. 6 00:00:12,680 --> 00:00:16,320 Speaker 2: Technically Prince Frederick ascending to be king is huge for Denmark, 7 00:00:16,360 --> 00:00:19,279 Speaker 2: but in Australia we think it's all about Mary. What's 8 00:00:19,280 --> 00:00:22,520 Speaker 2: the goss, what's happening? How amazing was it? Hugh Whitfield, 9 00:00:22,920 --> 00:00:26,120 Speaker 2: Channel SEVENS correspondent is in Copenhagen right now and joins us. 10 00:00:26,120 --> 00:00:29,520 Speaker 1: Hello, Hugh joined the Amanda, good morning, good morning. 11 00:00:29,560 --> 00:00:33,040 Speaker 2: Now. I know that the Danish don't have a coronation 12 00:00:33,320 --> 00:00:35,560 Speaker 2: as King Charles had in that sense of the pomp 13 00:00:35,640 --> 00:00:37,760 Speaker 2: and ceremony, but it was still pretty big. 14 00:00:38,680 --> 00:00:42,360 Speaker 1: Yeah. Look, massive crowds on the streets of Copenhagen. And 15 00:00:42,440 --> 00:00:47,280 Speaker 1: this is very much a double celebration, unlike when Queen 16 00:00:47,280 --> 00:00:49,839 Speaker 1: Elizabeth died in London. You know, we had that period 17 00:00:49,880 --> 00:00:54,280 Speaker 1: of mourning and then later celebrating King Charles. Whereas here, 18 00:00:54,640 --> 00:00:58,560 Speaker 1: because the Queen Margareta has abdicated, they get to celebrate 19 00:00:58,640 --> 00:01:01,440 Speaker 1: her reign while she's still live, and then they get 20 00:01:01,480 --> 00:01:04,759 Speaker 1: to celebrate a new king in Frederic the tenth and 21 00:01:04,880 --> 00:01:09,600 Speaker 1: his wife our own Mary Donaldson, who stood alongside him 22 00:01:09,720 --> 00:01:12,760 Speaker 1: on the balcony at christians Will Palace the Danish Parliament 23 00:01:12,880 --> 00:01:17,240 Speaker 1: after the proclamation by the Prime Minister, and there was 24 00:01:17,319 --> 00:01:21,160 Speaker 1: even a kiss between fred and Mary, So the new 25 00:01:21,200 --> 00:01:24,080 Speaker 1: reign sealed with a kiss in front of tens of 26 00:01:24,160 --> 00:01:27,319 Speaker 1: thousands of people, somewhere around one hundred and fifty thousand 27 00:01:27,360 --> 00:01:30,039 Speaker 1: people on the streets of Copenhagen to watch them come 28 00:01:30,319 --> 00:01:34,240 Speaker 1: backwards and forward between the Parliament and the palace and 29 00:01:34,400 --> 00:01:37,119 Speaker 1: to celebrate. And it is a little bit pared down 30 00:01:37,200 --> 00:01:39,440 Speaker 1: compared to London, but still a thrilling day. 31 00:01:39,520 --> 00:01:42,000 Speaker 3: None only well and also the rumors of the affair 32 00:01:42,120 --> 00:01:45,319 Speaker 3: and stuff that must have been a nice distraction from 33 00:01:46,080 --> 00:01:46,560 Speaker 3: to have this. 34 00:01:49,840 --> 00:01:53,480 Speaker 1: Yeah, look, I think the kiss is probably a very 35 00:01:53,600 --> 00:01:57,120 Speaker 1: public way of saying that all of that is behind 36 00:01:57,160 --> 00:02:00,960 Speaker 1: them now and that they are very much a couple 37 00:02:00,960 --> 00:02:03,080 Speaker 1: that are going to stick together. And in fact, Frederick 38 00:02:03,360 --> 00:02:05,800 Speaker 1: in his speech after the proclamation, he stood there on 39 00:02:05,840 --> 00:02:08,360 Speaker 1: the balcony and read a speech to the people and 40 00:02:08,400 --> 00:02:10,880 Speaker 1: he said he needs to rely on the support of 41 00:02:10,919 --> 00:02:13,920 Speaker 1: his wife and his family and the Danish people in 42 00:02:14,000 --> 00:02:16,079 Speaker 1: order to be a good king. So I think some 43 00:02:16,160 --> 00:02:20,840 Speaker 1: fairly pointed remarks following on from those headlines over the 44 00:02:20,919 --> 00:02:23,600 Speaker 1: last couple of months. Is it something that people care 45 00:02:23,639 --> 00:02:27,080 Speaker 1: about in Denmark? For the most part, it seems like 46 00:02:27,360 --> 00:02:31,760 Speaker 1: they don't. And from what I'm told here, it hasn't 47 00:02:31,800 --> 00:02:37,600 Speaker 1: necessarily been a factor in Margaret abdicating. However, this has 48 00:02:37,639 --> 00:02:42,079 Speaker 1: been a good way, certainly to bring the focus back 49 00:02:42,120 --> 00:02:44,560 Speaker 1: to Mary and Frederick as opposed to Frederick and whoever 50 00:02:44,639 --> 00:02:45,359 Speaker 1: else he might have been. 51 00:02:45,720 --> 00:02:49,320 Speaker 2: Yes, because, as you say, there was a rumor that 52 00:02:49,560 --> 00:02:52,000 Speaker 2: with only two weeks notification really that she was going 53 00:02:52,000 --> 00:02:55,000 Speaker 2: to abdicate, people felt is this timing to make sure 54 00:02:55,040 --> 00:02:57,240 Speaker 2: that they stay together as a couple, and hey, let's 55 00:02:57,240 --> 00:03:01,240 Speaker 2: accelerate them to roll to here's forward and nothing to 56 00:03:01,280 --> 00:03:01,720 Speaker 2: see here. 57 00:03:04,200 --> 00:03:07,239 Speaker 1: Yeah, And we've had two weeks since the announcement of 58 00:03:07,280 --> 00:03:12,400 Speaker 1: the abdication by Queen Margaretta on me his Eve. We're 59 00:03:12,440 --> 00:03:16,359 Speaker 1: told that Frederick and his brother Kam only found out 60 00:03:16,480 --> 00:03:21,480 Speaker 1: three days before. Why has the queen advocated Well, I've 61 00:03:21,520 --> 00:03:23,760 Speaker 1: heard a couple of reasons. One of them is that 62 00:03:23,960 --> 00:03:26,639 Speaker 1: she has been unwell. She had back surgery last year. 63 00:03:27,280 --> 00:03:30,320 Speaker 1: There may have been some questioning about her judgment She 64 00:03:30,800 --> 00:03:35,000 Speaker 1: really messed up in twenty twenty two when she stripped 65 00:03:35,040 --> 00:03:39,640 Speaker 1: the titles of prince and princesses from Yokam's children, so 66 00:03:40,160 --> 00:03:43,480 Speaker 1: Frederick's nieces and nephews, and that upset the boat quite 67 00:03:43,520 --> 00:03:46,720 Speaker 1: a lot. And then add to that, Prince Christian, so 68 00:03:47,280 --> 00:03:50,120 Speaker 1: Mary and Frederick's eldest son, turned eighteen a couple of 69 00:03:50,160 --> 00:03:53,280 Speaker 1: months ago. He's now able to be the Crown Prince 70 00:03:53,360 --> 00:03:57,080 Speaker 1: as an adult, and kind of that allowed perhaps Margaret 71 00:03:57,360 --> 00:04:00,560 Speaker 1: to feel confident enough to abdicate, knowing that Frederick's going 72 00:04:00,600 --> 00:04:03,040 Speaker 1: to be fine as king and the crown Prince is 73 00:04:03,080 --> 00:04:05,240 Speaker 1: an adult, he's eighteen years old, so the heir to 74 00:04:05,320 --> 00:04:06,960 Speaker 1: the thrones ready if something goes wrong. 75 00:04:07,160 --> 00:04:10,760 Speaker 3: So why did he take those titles away? 76 00:04:11,800 --> 00:04:14,200 Speaker 1: Yeah, look, it was very controversial. It's all part of, 77 00:04:14,680 --> 00:04:19,159 Speaker 1: I guess, the kind of the rushing in some of 78 00:04:19,200 --> 00:04:23,359 Speaker 1: the royals particular and even from Charles in England, trying 79 00:04:23,360 --> 00:04:26,080 Speaker 1: to slim down the monarchy. They're trying to reduce costs, 80 00:04:26,080 --> 00:04:30,200 Speaker 1: they're trying to show to people and the populations that 81 00:04:30,560 --> 00:04:34,039 Speaker 1: they aren't bloated households with all these princes and princesses 82 00:04:34,520 --> 00:04:38,320 Speaker 1: running around. So Margareta was trying to reduce the number 83 00:04:38,360 --> 00:04:42,040 Speaker 1: of princes and princesses, reduce them back to counts and 84 00:04:42,200 --> 00:04:45,280 Speaker 1: countesses and kind of take the money away. It really 85 00:04:45,360 --> 00:04:48,760 Speaker 1: upset the apple Cart and Jokim and his wife were 86 00:04:48,920 --> 00:04:49,719 Speaker 1: not happy. 87 00:04:50,080 --> 00:04:53,799 Speaker 2: Kind's another question about what role does the royal family 88 00:04:53,839 --> 00:04:56,600 Speaker 2: play in Denmark. Is it a political role? Are they 89 00:04:56,760 --> 00:04:59,800 Speaker 2: just pr figureheads? What role does it have. 90 00:05:02,520 --> 00:05:06,359 Speaker 1: Look it's similar to Australia in the UK and that 91 00:05:06,440 --> 00:05:09,760 Speaker 1: this is a constitutional monarchy, so the king or the 92 00:05:09,839 --> 00:05:12,120 Speaker 1: queen at the time, or the head of state, but 93 00:05:12,160 --> 00:05:14,880 Speaker 1: they don't have any real power. The power is vested 94 00:05:15,000 --> 00:05:17,760 Speaker 1: in Parliament. They sign off on bills though, but they 95 00:05:17,760 --> 00:05:21,120 Speaker 1: don't really have a huge amount of political power. They 96 00:05:21,120 --> 00:05:24,600 Speaker 1: don't rule by a decree or anything like that. Importantly, though, 97 00:05:24,640 --> 00:05:28,479 Speaker 1: I think in Denmark they are a muchive, unifying figure 98 00:05:28,680 --> 00:05:31,760 Speaker 1: and a unifying family. This is a tiny country with 99 00:05:31,800 --> 00:05:35,599 Speaker 1: a very small population, and they're very proud of their 100 00:05:35,720 --> 00:05:38,200 Speaker 1: history and the fact that they still have a king 101 00:05:38,240 --> 00:05:41,160 Speaker 1: and a queen means they can rely on that hundreds 102 00:05:41,200 --> 00:05:46,479 Speaker 1: of years of history back Denmark was a great sailing nation. 103 00:05:47,320 --> 00:05:51,719 Speaker 1: You're ruling the seas in some parts, and so it's 104 00:05:51,800 --> 00:05:54,359 Speaker 1: very important I think for the National Identity Year that 105 00:05:54,440 --> 00:05:55,240 Speaker 1: they still have in the law. 106 00:05:56,080 --> 00:05:57,960 Speaker 3: Well you go on, you can you bring us back 107 00:05:58,000 --> 00:06:01,200 Speaker 3: some ice cream from Copenhagen's that in the overhead locker. 108 00:06:01,600 --> 00:06:04,680 Speaker 3: That'll be all right, that'll keep jelly what. 109 00:06:04,720 --> 00:06:06,200 Speaker 1: I've had some very good pastries here. 110 00:06:06,240 --> 00:06:06,960 Speaker 2: That's nice. 111 00:06:06,960 --> 00:06:08,479 Speaker 3: I'll tell you what you left to get on the 112 00:06:08,520 --> 00:06:10,240 Speaker 3: Channel seven treadmill when you get high. 113 00:06:10,520 --> 00:06:12,839 Speaker 2: And I was disappointed that Mary didn't do with shoey 114 00:06:12,960 --> 00:06:14,880 Speaker 2: imagine shoey. 115 00:06:14,560 --> 00:06:16,440 Speaker 3: Shoewey, or maybe that's something you could yell out from 116 00:06:16,440 --> 00:06:16,880 Speaker 3: the crowd. 117 00:06:18,960 --> 00:06:21,040 Speaker 1: Look, I think, you know, maybe maybe we get it 118 00:06:21,080 --> 00:06:23,600 Speaker 1: down to the race and didn't kit me and when 119 00:06:23,640 --> 00:06:25,279 Speaker 1: she comes out next and maybe she could. 120 00:06:25,080 --> 00:06:30,960 Speaker 3: Never go there throwing up into a handbag. Hewe It's 121 00:06:30,960 --> 00:06:32,599 Speaker 3: always great to talk to you. I watch all the 122 00:06:32,600 --> 00:06:35,320 Speaker 3: news highlights tonight at six on Channel seven. Hugh Whitfield, 123 00:06:35,400 --> 00:06:36,520 Speaker 3: thank you 124 00:06:36,520 --> 00:06:38,160 Speaker 1: Good on you get on you here.