Princess Marie of Denmark


Princess Marie of Denmark, Countess of Monpezat, is the second wife of Prince Joachim of Denmark.

Early life

Marie Cavallier was born in Paris, France. She is the only child of Alain Cavallier, partner in an advertising agency, and Françoise Grassiot, owner of the Château de la Vernède, near Avignon. She is the paternal granddaughter of Claude Cavallier and Baroness Odile Brunet de Sairigné. She moved to Geneva, Switzerland, with her mother following the divorce of her parents.

Education and career

After her parents divorced, Marie was sent to the Collège Alpin International Beau Soleil boarding school in Switzerland, where members of the Luxembourg ruling house have also studied. She attended Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, in the US for a brief time, to study international business and economics and then went on to study economics in Geneva. Marie earned a Bachelor of Arts at Marymount Manhattan College. During her years in college, Marie worked for Estée Lauder, as assistant to the public relations manager in 1994, and as an assistant to the managing director of ING Numismatic Group SA in Geneva.
After graduating, she started working for DoubleClick Inc, an international advertising agency, in New York as international marketing coordinator. Back in France, she worked for advertising agency Media Marketing. She then worked for Reuters financial news agency Radianz in Switzerland, took a position with REInvest in Geneva and worked as executive secretary in ING Numismatic Group SA until the engagement.

Courtship and marriage

Marie first came to public attention when she was photographed on a private holiday in Avignon, France, with Prince Joachim in August 2005. She celebrated the New Year 2006/2007 with Prince Joachim, his former wife Alexandra, their sons, Nikolai and Felix, as well as close friends.
In January 2007, Marie accompanied Prince Joachim and his children on a ski holiday in Switzerland. Later that year, Marie joined the royal family for Easter at Marselisborg Palace, where she met Joachim's mother, Queen Margrethe II, for the first time. Marie increasingly made weekend visits from Geneva to Denmark in 2007.
On 3 October 2007, it was officially announced that Marie Cavallier was engaged to Prince Joachim. The first wedding took place on 24 May 2008 in Møgeltønder Church. Upon her marriage to Joachim, Marie's title is "Her Royal Highness Princess Marie of Denmark, Countess of Monpezat". Marie, who had been a French citizen and a member of the Roman Catholic Church, became, in connection with the marriage, a Danish citizen and a member of the Evangelical-Lutheran Church of Denmark. Marie's wedding gown was designed by Spanish-Italian fashion house Arasa Morelli, and was sewn by a Danish woman working for the company.
The couple have two children:

Public appearances

Marie's first engagement and trip abroad was to Morocco on 28 October 2008, when she handed out Lego toys to orphanage children in Rabat. After this trip abroad, the Princess accompanied Prince Joachim to Russia. The Princess' third official trip was to Hong Kong and China together with Prince Joachim in November 2009. In March 2010, Marie undertook her fourth official visit abroad to Mexico City with Prince Joachim. In April 2010, Marie paid a working visit to the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris as patron for the organisation.
In 2016, Marie attended Copenhagen Pride, becoming the first member of the Danish royal family to do so.

Patronages

Marie's first patronage came shortly after her son's birth, when her patronage of Tønder Festival was announced. Tønder Festival is an international folk music festival near her official residence Shackenborg Manor in Møgeltønder, where the Princess resides with her family. Shortly afterwards, Marie took over one of the Prince Consort's duties as Patron of the Annual Literature Prize that awards an annual prize for French-language literature in Copenhagen. Marie also took the patronage of ambassador to Syddansk Universitet in Odense in September 2009. In January 2010, the Danish Ski Federation named Princess Marie official patron. Princess Marie was presented on 17 November 2009 as patron of "The Danish National Commission for UNESCO".
She is a patron of the Danish Epilepsy Association and Kattegatcentret, the AIDS Foundation, and Autism Denmark.

Leisure and personal life

Marie enjoys bike-riding, running and skiing. She also shares a passion for racing with Prince Joachim.

Title, styles, honours and arms

Titles and styles

She has been awarded:

National honours