| Wedding Banquet Address By Crown Prince Frederik (14th May 2004) |
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| Written by Joanne Leyland | |
| Saturday, 13 May 2006 | |
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Speaker: Crown Prince Frederik Event: The Wedding Banquet of Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary of Denmark Location: Fredensborg Palace, Copenhagen, Denmark Date: Saturday 15th May 2004 "Your Majesties, Your Royal Highnesses, my Dear new family. "Dear John {Mary's father}, What a privilege, what a thrill, what an extraordinary feeling of happiness you have created in me. One might say that Mary also belongs to you, but as of today she belongs to me. And I belong to her. But there is much more to that sentence than just words.  It signifies the end of a period of freedom, of trial and error, where accountability was up to me alone. The sentence also has another side which is only just beginning. To me it means responsibility, trust and sharing. By allowing me to take Mary's hand and lead her onwards in a new life for better and for worse, you have shown me that you trust me to be capable and responsible in that act throughout life its called love. For that I am very grateful to you. I love her and I will protect her with all my heart. I will do my best to make her feel confident and at home in her new country. Dear Mary, In the year 2000 in Sydney, five Olympic rings were united for the 25th time. Australia at that time was an unknown and undiscovered continent for me, symbolised aptly by the fifth and lowest Olympic ring. I found myself in an unknown country amongst happy, festive foreigners. My only luggage at that time was my high expectations of my visit, and a certain degree of confidence. Almost 200 years earlier another Dane, called Jψrgen Jürgensen, arrived under completely different circumstances, but with just as high hopes and just as much confidence. He left Sydney quite soon after and sailed to Tasmania your own country one of the states of Australia. Here he managed to create a reputation for himself which ultimately led to his death. I had only been in Australia two days before our fates were sealed, even though neither of us was aware of it. But your radiance shone clearly for me from our very first meeting. Since then I have been blinded and totally dependent on it. Until that moment in my life, I had been striving to achieve greater independence, without limiting any of my freedom. My opportunities were plentiful, and my world was often lonely. But both were continually strengthened in time and in space because my curiosity and positive faith in the definitive, the ultimate, drove me onwards. Then you walked into my world, and already much has happened. Now, there are two worlds possibly even more which from now on we will explore together, side by side. In light and darkness, in summer, autumn, winter and spring always. The joy and strength you give me is like the sun in the daytime which, with its radiance, melts all doubts and darkness on earth. And like the moon at night, you shine with a watchful and delicate beam of gentleness, which extinguishes the mischief and deceit used by the symbols of darkness. I often like to compare the dawn's light on a new day with the rebirth of the untouched, the inexperienced, and the innocent. A little naive perhaps, but nevertheless it is wonderful to pretend that everything begins anew. A new world is born again with the light of a new day. This moment is 'us' the two of us newly together, young together, innocent together, in love together. Simply 'together'. You give me security, joy and happiness. I am almost bubbling over with curiosity as to what the near and distant future has in store for us and it is you who must answer. But I will try to control myself, for two questions have already been answered with a simple "Yes" from us both. It is an answer which will hold good for us always. And if we need light in our search for answers, all we need to do is to lift our eyes and look towards heaven. There lies eternity, which can always show us the way back to the path which sometimes we lose. I love you Mary. Come, let us go! Come, let us see! Throughout a thousand worlds, weightless love awaits. Your Majesties, Your Royal Highnesses, May I ask you all to rise, and join me in drinking a toast to my bride." Comment on this article
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