Royals

Crown Princess Mary shares a beautiful anecdote about her daughter, Josephine on International Women’s Day

The Danish royals have marked the special day in their own unique way.
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Crown Princess Mary is all about bringing power to the girls.

The Danish royal has long based her work around females – travelling to third world countries to shine a light on female education, spurring further developments and speaking out for those who aren’t able to do so easily themselves.

On International Women’s Day this year, Mary proved just how much this work, and this day truly meant to her.

In an update shared to the Danish Royal Palace’s Instagram page, Mary and her 10-year-old daughter Josephne are seen in a gorgeous image from summer 2020, the pair embrace with big smiles.

“For breakfast this morning, my youngest daughter Josephine spotted a headline saying it was International Women’s Day,” Mary wrote (roughly translated from Danish).

“She asked, ‘What kind of day is this?’,” Mary continued.

“I thought briefly about my answer and said that for her it is a day where she must believe and trust that she can come into being and do everything she dreams of without anyone or anything stopping her… because she’s a girl.⁣”

The Crown Princess added: “She did not ask any further questions, so maybe my answer was no surprise to her. Maybe it’s something she takes for granted. But that’s not the case for many other girls around the world.”

The Princess continued her post: “International Women’s Day has different meanings depending on where in the world you live.⁣ But no matter where you live, it is an important day where we not only talk about how far we have come, but also about where we have come from and where we want to go.”

She explained she had attended three separate meetings that day, including a round table discussion with UN Women about diversity and inclusion in leadership.

The Princess ended the caption: “For me, equality is not about everyone being equal, but – as I said to Josephine – [it is] about gender not having a role to play when opportunities present themselves and decisions are made… or when following one’s dreams.⁣”

Crown Princess Mary had a flurry of events to mark International Women’s Day.

(Kongehuset)

Later in the day, the Danish Palace shared another image to Instagram of Mary after filming a video with a special message for the poignant date.

The Princess filmed the clip during an online event in Denmark featuring speeches, performances and guest appearances in celebration of International Women’s Day.

As the day is marked by strong female leaders, perhaps we take a lesson from this in itself – these leading women all started from scratch somewhere.

It’s never too late to be advocates for change, particularly within gender discourse.

Happy International Women’s Day, indeed.

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