Elegant Celebrities Blog

Prince Joachim and the newly dubbed Princess Marie of Denmark:

Most of my readers will probably scratch their heads and wonder who Prince Joachim is and why his remarriage to Miss Marie Cavallier is worth commenting on by a non-Danish writer. Despite being a royalty buff (I loved Princess Diana) I probably would have never known about him or the Danish royal family, had he not married the first woman of of Asian descent to enter a European royal house, British-Chinese Alexandra Manley (formerly Princess Alexandra of Denmark, and now Countess Alexandra of Frederiksborg).

Prince Joachim and Alexandra in 1995:

Princess Alexandra immediately took Denmark by storm, becoming the “Diana of of the North.” Until Joachim’s older brother, Crown Prince Frederik married Australian commoner Mary Donaldson in 2004, Alexandra was the super-popular princess and Danish representative to the world. She was fashionable, polished, professional, had impeccable manners, and became mother of two Danish princes, Nikolai and Felix. What was there not to like?

Unfortunately, in an all-too-familiar tale nowadays, Joachim and Alexandra’s fairy tale ended in divorce after nine years of marriage. No reasons were given for the split, even though much speculation pointed the finger at Prince Joachim and Alexandra seemed to have the populace’s sympathies. I felt sadness and anger over their divorce, and wondered how their two young sons, the princes, would fare with their broken home life. I was also dismayed and felt a collective sense of shame and failure that an Asian person who had risen to such prominence failed in her marriage to a royal prince! Imagine my chagrin when not long after the divorce was final, Alexandra reportedly shacked up with her new boyfriend, Martin Jorgensen, and Joachim soon started dating Marie Cavallier. I thought their timing for a new relationship was much too soon, even though by all public appearances it seemed that both Martin and Marie were great step-parents-to-be.

Alexandra’s wedding to Martin Jorgensen last year (her two boys were her best men and even went with them on their honeymoon). With her marriage to Martin she became Countess Alexandra:

Prince Joachim also had Nikolai and Felix serve as best men (Nikolai has grown taller, and his Asian features from his mother are more prominent in this picture):

Marie did make a lovely bride today:

As with most weddings, this one was not free from gaffes:

And the groom cried:

So Denmark now has two princesses again, Crown Princess Mary (pictured below in her ruffled dress) and Princess Marie. I find Marie’s resemblance to Mary and the similarities in their names, plus the fact that they both married in May, to be eerie. Was Joachim trying to copy his older brother in his choice of bride?

I wish all of them–Prince Joachim and Princess Marie, Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary, and Alexandra and Martin Jorgensen happiness and a long-lived marriage. I really hope it will work out for them. Maybe Joachim and Alexandra have both learned from their mistakes in their first marriage and will not repeat them. For their children’s sake, I really hope so.