after Queen Margrethe announced her abdication on New Year's Eve

Here are five things to know about the royal couple

1/

Australian-born Mary Donaldson met Prince Frederik

in a Sydney pub during the 2000 Summer Olympics

2/

Donaldson is a former marketing executive

She took a deportment and etiquette course

in Sydney before marrying the Danish Prince

3/

The couple married in 2004 and have four children

Their eldest son Christian will become crown prince

4/

The royal couple have been seen bringing

their children to state school by cargo bike

a popular means of transportation in the capital

(Lars Hovbakke Sorensen, Historian and Professor, University College Absalon) "One of his very big advantages is that he is very, you could say, public-oriented. He is speaking to people, he meets in a very informal way and a lot of people have said that after they have talked to him, they have forgotten that he was a crown prince.// And that's his image, and that's a really good thing today in the modern European monarchy because this is what people expect from a monarch today, that he or she should be very informal."

5/

The Danish monarchy is one of the most popular in Europe

The royal family spends roughly eight times less than their British peers

"If you look at the opinion polls, Crown Prince Frederik is exactly as popular as his mother, Queen Margrethe, which is a popularity on a very high level. Around 80% or 90% think that they are doing a very good job."