Crown Princess Mary mirrors iconic Duchess Sophie photo holding tiny creature - and it’s the stuff of fairytales!

Crown Princess Mary mirrored an iconic Duchess Sophie photo holding a tiny creature - and it’s what fairytales are made of! 

• The Crown Princess of Denmark has been pictured with a particularly fairytale-esque creature during an engagement on May 17.
• Photos from this special visit are very similar to one of the Duchess of Edinburgh last year as she got to grips with handling this small animal.
• This royal news comes as Queen Camilla’s sky blue outfit for her first joint post-coronation engagement featured sweet nods to two of King Charles' favorite women. 

Just weeks after Crown Princess Mary of Denmark’s coronation outfit wowed on King Charles and Queen Camilla’s big day she swapped her royal finery for practical outdoors gear for a very different type of visit. The senior European royal stepped out in Geding-Kasted Mose near Aarhus, Denmark’s second largest city. Here she took part in a special nature project counting the number of small creatures to help give an overview of their population. 

During this important engagement Crown Princess Mary mirrored an iconic photo of the UK’s Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh and it’s truly the stuff of fairytales. She was snapped holding a tiny tree frog that is Denmark’s smallest frog species and is utterly adorable. 

The future Queen Consort of Denmark was pictured with one of these frogs jumping out of her cupped hands and she looked calm and delighted to watch it head back to its wild home. Crown Princess Mary is the Patron of the WWF World Nature Fund which has been working hard to restore breeding and living habitats for these frogs. 

Not afraid to get stuck in and hold a frog herself, photos of Crown Princess Mary from the day are incredibly similar to ones of Duchess Sophie taken last year in a very different kind of environment. The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh paid a visit to East Shallowford Farm in Devon where they opened the East Shallowford Farm Development Project.

The farm introduces young people, especially those from cities, to life on a working farm, expanding their horizons and focusing on education. During their visit, Duchess Sophie was pictured holding a tiny frog carefully in her hands. The parallels between the two photos are iconic and whilst the royals are frequently associated with larger animals like Queen Elizabeth’s corgis and horses, frogs have a more fantastical regal link too.

After all, the symbolism surrounding frogs and princesses in particular is well-known, perhaps mostly down to the Brothers Grimm tale, The Frog Prince, published in 1812 and the subsequent adaptations and re-workings of the tale. It’s more modern versions of the original story that introduced the concept of the Princess undoing the spell that condemned the Prince to have the appearance of a frog. 

Both Crown Princess Mary and Duchess Sophie certainly seemed to enjoy getting to hold and learn more about these special creatures if their similar photos are anything to go by. A very famous frog even entertained the crowds at the King’s recent celebrations as The Muppets' Kermit the Frog attended the coronation concert at Windsor Castle.

Kermit even got to appear in the Royal Box alongside the beaming Duke of Edinburgh as host Hugh Bonneville declared, “And, of course, thank you your majesties, for allowing us to perform for you here. We sincerely hope you and the frog have enjoyed yourselves.”