Princess Mary & Prince Fred: All about our twins!

The mum-to-be glows with happiness and her husband can’t wipe the proud grin off his face. With twins on the way, Aussie-born Crown Princess Mary of Denmark and her charming Crown Prince Frederik are clearly on cloud nine – and dying to talk about it!

Knowing that the formal announcement of their baby news set Denmark and Australia abuzz, the pair seem barely able to contain their excitement as they sit down to discuss the January 2011 arrival of their two new royal bundles.

‘The scanning of Mary’s belly really blew me away!’ Frederik recalls. ‘It was pure joy for both of us when we realised there are two in there. I didn’t cry. I was very, very happy. It is double the joy and double the miracle.’

The four-and-a-half months pregnant princess adds: ‘My husband and I are just absolutely filled with joy.
‘Our facial expressions would have been fun to observe as it was a huge surprise,’ she says, recalling their initial reaction.

Frederik reveals: ‘We waited for the message that everything was fine inside. When it’s twins, you have to be a little more certain than normal. I think it’s just great that the Crown Princess’ pregnancy stirs a lot of positive attention among people.’

Double delight
The royal couple already have two adorable children, Christian, four, and Isabella, three, but Prince Frederik can’t wait to double his brood.
‘Father of four. I like the sound of that,’ he laughs. ‘But how it’s going be in reality I guess I’ll find out in about six months’ time now, won’t I? It’s working out fine with the two kids we’ve already got, so why not two more?

‘I would just like to have children. Lots of children. And then we were so lucky that the stork threw two in the chimney this time,’ he grins as he uses an old Danish saying. ‘It is something you can only dream about. But I am the one who has made them!’

The twins will be fourth and fifth in line to the throne after their father and older siblings, yet Frederik jokes that his first considerations about their double delight were not historical but practical.
‘I thought like most other parents: “Can we afford this?”’ he laughs. ‘For apparent reasons, I cannot imagine what it will be like for Mary, breastfeeding
two children!’

For her part, Mary, 38, is quick to reassure her Aussie well-wishers she’s healthy and happy.
‘I feel just fine,’ she reveals. ‘Though I am unusually tired… I will continue attending to my official duties as long as possible.’

Frederik, 42, admits he and Mary have already discussed the increased workload ahead of them when the twins arrive.
‘It’s a huge responsibility and it will be somewhat of a challenge when two little babies need to be cared for at the same time,’ he says.

Wonderful surprise
The happy couple are keeping mum about the twins’ gender.
‘The scans show that there are two children and they are well,’ Frederik explains. ‘That’s what we have been told. And that’s the important thing now.
‘When we saw them on the screen, we were very surprised. It’s fabulous. But at the same time it’s a big responsibility. Now there are two in there and one should never talk about the birth before they have come out,’ he adds, with a note of caution.

And they have already started trying to explain to Christian and Isabella about the twins.
‘We have told them that there are two little babies inside Mummy’s stomach,’ Frederik says, ‘but it’s a little hard for them to figure it all out just yet.’

Baby details revealed!

It's twin girls
Staff at Copenhagen University Hospital have let the cat out of the bag, dubbing the twins Princess A and Princess B. Doctors and midwives use the nicknames to distinguish one girl from the other and like Frederik’s maternal cousins, Camilla and Josephine, hospital sources suggest the babies are identical. Fans on The Royal Forums website are also betting on identical twin girls, saying they will arrive ‘as an early Christmas present’ before their January due date.

Choosing their names
The couple favour classic names that honour their family. With Margrethe (Fred’s mum) and Henrietta (Mary’s late mum) taken as Isabella’s middle names, Jane and Patricia would honour Mary’s sisters or Anne-Marie for Frederik’s grand-aunt. Anything wacky is out of the question – all names are subject to government approval. They must choose from a list of 7000 names or seek legal approval to deviate from the list.

Trying for two years
By the time Isabella had turned one in 2008, Mary had made up her mind to have another child. Sources confirm Mary had been ‘trying for two years’ to fall pregnant. And recently she’s admitted her cluckiness, speaking in March 2009 of wanting more children and saying she was looking forward to the joys of motherhood once again: ‘I’d like to have that experience again. That boundless freedom of childhood is so wonderful. The world is so different for a child, waking in the mornings, wide-eyed and ready to take it all in.’ And even before Frederik and Mary married, he admitted he wanted three or four kids. ‘Just imagine seeing yourself in four different versions!’ he said.

Secret treatment
The royal court and Fred have officially denied rumours Mary’s twins are the result of IVF treatment. Yet a royal Danish insider reveals Mary did have fertility treatment, taking the drug clomiphene, which is taken by women who have ovulation problems. According to IVF.com, a side effect is an increased chance of multiple pregnancy. The insider says Mary’s pregnancy has come as a relief to those close to her as ‘the treatment made her moody’.

Astrologer predictions
Danish astrologer Lejla Lindholm believes Mary’s twin daughters will be born in late December – before their due date – under the sign of Capricorn. ‘They’ll be serious little girls,’ Lejla says. ‘They’ll find it easy to fit into the royal family with the restrictions and responsibilities that entails. Both will fight for their mother’s attention from the beginning.’ It’s later in life that they’ll shine. ‘Mary is like Princess Diana – Diana had a moon in Aquarius. Mary, Diana and these babies will be similar – they’ll be trendsetters, leading into great things.’

Twins run in Fred's family
The baby news has brought Denmark’s only other royal twins, Countesses Camilla and Josephine of Rosenborg, into the spotlight. They’re the identical 38-year-old daughters of Queen Margrethe’s cousin, Count Christian.
‘We were born in ’72 and when we came into the world there was a very big focus on us, the first royal twins,’ Camilla recalls.
Josephine’s advice to the royal couple is to treat all their kids the same. She says: ‘Take care not to make these two different because they are twins, or to give them less attention because there are two. Just make sure the focus is on all the children.’
The countess believes Frederik and Mary’s twins will be even more famous. ‘It’s not usual to have royal twins and I imagine they will get a lot of attention,’ she says.