Princess Mary marks her first appearance after Queen Margrethe’s abdication

Princess Mary beamed at the Danish Royal Family’s annual New Year’s dinner banquet, just hours after Queen Margrethe announced her abdication.

The Aussie-born future queen, 51, stole the limelight as she took centre stage arriving at the Amalienborg Palace in Copenhagen with her husband Crown Prince Frederik on Monday evening, via DailyMail.

The abdication came as a shock to the Danes as it’s an exceedingly rare move in Denmark, where a monarch hasn’t abdicated since 1146 when King Eric III gave up the crown to join a monastery, according to the Royal House.

Margrethe’s eldest son, Crown Prince Frederik, will become King, while his wife, Crown Princess Mary, will become the first Australian to become Queen.

Mary was dressed in a wine-coloured velvet gown by Birgit Hallstein, one of her favourite designers. Staying true to her sustainable fashion ideology, the royal was first seen in the gown in 2007 when she was pregnant with Princess Isabella.

It was again seen on the Crown Princess in 2012 and again in 2014, when Mary added a matching choker in the same fabric. She even wore the gown for a set of official portraits in 2015.

However, her jewellery remained the same as she wore the Danish ruby parure, which has been in the royal family since 1869, but dates back to the coronation of Napoleon Bonaparte in France.