| Princess Marie | |
| Countess of Monpezat | |
| Birth Name: | Marie Agathe Odile Cavallier |
| Birth Date: | 6 February 1976 |
| Birth Place: | Paris, France |
| Father: | Alain Cavallier |
| Mother: | Françoise Grassiot |
| Religion: | Church of Denmark prev. Roman Catholic |
Princess Marie of Denmark, Countess of Monpezat, (born Marie Agathe Odile Cavallier; 6 February 1976) is a member of the Danish royal family. She is the second wife of Prince Joachim of Denmark, the younger brother of King Frederik X of Denmark.
Marie Cavallier was born in Paris, France. She is the only child of Alain Cavallier, partner in an advertising agency,[1] and Françoise Grassiot (née Moreau), owner of the Château de la Vernède, near Avignon.[1] She is the paternal granddaughter of Claude Cavallier (stepson of Baron de Limnander de Nieuwenhove)[2] and Baroness Odile Brunet de Sairigné (née Labesse).[3] She moved to Geneva, Switzerland, with her mother following the divorce of her parents.
After her parents divorced, Marie was sent to the Collège Alpin International Beau Soleil boarding school in Switzerland. 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.
Marie first came to public attention when she was photographed with Prince Joachim in August 2005 on a private holiday in Avignon, France. 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.[4] The 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". Upon marrying Joachim, Marie, who had been a French citizen and a member of the Roman Catholic Church, became a Danish citizen and converted to the Evangelical-Lutheran Church of Denmark. Marie's wedding gown was designed by Spanish-Italian fashion house Arasa Morelli,[5] and was sewn by a Danish woman working for the company.
The couple have two biological children, Henrik (born 4 May 2009) and Athena (born 24 January 2012), and Marie is stepmother to Joachim's two sons from his former marriage, Nikolai and Felix.
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.
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 Schackenborg Manor in Møgeltønder, where the Princess resided 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 became a patron of Syddansk Universitet 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".
Additionally, she is patron of the Danish Epilepsy Association, Kattegatcentret,[6] the AIDS Foundation,[7] and Autism Denmark.[8]
Marie enjoys bike-riding, running and skiing. She also shares a passion for racing with Prince Joachim.[9]
Since her marriage, Marie has been known as "Her Royal Highness Princess Marie of Denmark, Countess of Monpezat".[10]
See also: List of honours of the Danish Royal Family by country.
She has been awarded:[11]
France:
Denmark: Denmark:
Belgium: Dame Grand Cross of the Order of Leopold II
Finland: Grand Cross of the Order of the White Rose
Greece: Grand Cross of the Order of Beneficence
Mexico: Grand Cross of the Order of the Aztec Eagle[15] [16]
Netherlands: Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the Crown[17] [18]
Norway: Dame Grand Cross of the Order of Saint Olav
Spain: Dame Grand Cross of the Order of Civil Merit[19]
