11 March

The official visit of Crown Princess Mary of Denmark and her husband to Australia winds up. The 33 year old Hobart-born royal was a huge hit with crowds of women who turned out to greet and see her in a replay of the Diana-mania that fixated the country in 1983. Among detailed and lengthy descriptions of her glamorous wardrobe, Princess Mary was described as turning out in a “flirty white skirt” to view a mob of kangaroos in the grounds of Government House in Canberra. This again highlights the eagerness of Australian women to be seduced by the romance of monarchy and the “princess for a day” syndrome so beloved of local women’s magazines – and it does not bode well for the next republic referendum. Even mature commentators and letter writers took leave of their senses and called for Australia to become part of the Kingdom of Denmark in order to adopt Mary and Frederik as our heads of state. In contrast, the immediately following but more business-focussed and less photographed visit of Crown Princess Victoria, heir to the Swedish throne, hardly raised a jot of interest.