Crown Princess Mary Of Denmark Dons Camouflage For Home Guard Parade

Crown Princess Mary of Denmark, who is a lieutenant in the country’s National Guard, trained with other volunteers at the Bülows Barracks in Fredericia town over the weekend. The Dutch princess joined 5,000 other volunteers in a series of land and water exercises in the Danish Home Guard Parade.

The 44-year-old royal donned head-to-toe camouflage, a beret and five commemorative medals for the occasion. These medals consisted of birthday decorations to a Home Guard Medal of Merit awarded to the princess. The stylish royal has eight medals, which have been awarded to her over the years.

For the parade, Mary was not afraid to face some hardcore, practical exercises as she took part in an army drill. This time around, she swapped her ballgown and tiara for the military uniform and combat boots. The Australian-born princess was seen kneeling down to fire rounds from a machine gun.

She also ate with the other volunteers from the rations and attended briefings as she mingled with other ranks. She took to the water for naval manoeuvres, donned vest to operate heavy machinery too. Mary looked happy to take part in the training day.

She paraded in sunny weather conditions and also met her mother-in-law Queen Margrethe, who walked to inspect the line of troops. Mary was also pictured drinking water out of a water box like the other troops. The Home Guard is a volunteer military organization that supports the Danish army, navy and air force, both nationally and internationally. Volunteers join the military services on an unpaid basis.

Mary and her husband Crown Prince Frederik, who is a Major General in the army and air force, and Rear Admiral in the navy, were last seen together at the christening of Prince Oscar of Sweden. Frederik is the godfather of the baby boy, who is third-in-line to the Swedish throne.

The Scandanavian Royals shared the pictures on Twitter: