This is the awkward moment Queen Mary of Denmark appeared too busy high-fiving participants in the Royal Run to congratulate her own husband as he passed the finish line.
The royal mother-of-four, 52, beamed while wearing sunglasses as she stood towards the finish line of the 10km race in Copenhagen and greeted people who were about to complete the course.
Meanwhile, King Frederik, who had just finished the race, ran across the finish line and hugged his twin children, Princess Josephine and Prince Vincent, both 13.
As he walks behind where Mary is standing and greeting the race finishers, Frederik does not appear to interact with his wife, and the Queen does not turn around to greet him.
Photos shared in Danish media showed the King and Queen eventually greeting each other at the finish line – however they did not appear to hug.
Awkward footage from Denmark’s annual Royal Run shows Queen Mary appearing too busy high-fiving race finishers to congratulate her husband King Frederik
The awkward moment comes at the end of the annual event, which consists of a 10km run and a 5km run, and features high profile members of the royal family.
Despite apparent awkwardness between the married couple, who celebrated their 20th wedding anniversary last week, the King and Queen showed deep affection towards their children during the race.
The clip of King Frederik shows him warmly hugging his children after crossing the finish line, while photos from the event featured Queen Mary sharing a sweet moment with 13-year-old Princess Josephine.
After finishing the 10km race, King Frederik hugged his children including 13-year-old Princess Josephine
In snaps taken after their race, the Queen and teenage princess larked about as Josephine pulled funny faces at her mother, while Mary adjusted her collar and brushed back her hair.
The family outing comes after a difficult few months for the Danish royal family, following rumours of an affair after King Frederik was spotted on a night out in Madrid with Genoveva Casanova, a Mexican socialite who lives in the Spanish capital.
Spanish magazine Lecturas published photos of the pair in the city in late October and reported they had visited an old flamenco restaurant where they dined together until the early hours of the morning. After the photos were published, Genoveva issued a strong denial that they were having an affair.
Since then, during public appearances, King Frederik and Queen Mary have given off mixed signals with their body language – including several frosty appearances.
The couple displayed distance in their body language during summer holiday on the Daneborg ship as they sailed to Sweden and Norway (which also happens to have coincided with their 20th wedding anniversary).
During this trip, the couple showed signs of frostiness in their body language in moments with each other; although such signs appeared to thaw when they greeted their hosts in each nation.
Upon arrival in Norway last week, the couple looked stern-faced before they docked to meet their hosts, King Harald and Queen Sonja.
Body language expert Judi James told FEMAIL: ‘Arriving on a boat in Oslo we can see Mary back to her rather cooler facial expression with her eye-direction staring out into the distance rather than returning her husband’s glance.
‘He looks forlorn here, with one brow curled upward and the other lowered in a frown while his eye expression appears downcast and his lips barely pull into a royal smile.’
Judi added: ‘Mary’s authentic smile and more tactile behaviours when meeting the Norwegian royals only seems to add to the idea that she was looking cooler with her husband again.’
The couple’s candid body language in private moments was in stark contrast to the image projected to the world by the Danish palace on social media as it marked the couple’s 20th wedding anniversary.
A photo taken of Queen Mary and King Frederik aboard the Dannebrog showed the couple in a relaxed pose, beaming with their arms around each other while dressed in matching gilets.
Judi told FEMAIL: ‘To celebrate their wedding anniversary [the couple] do seem to have produced a pose that looks deliberately reminiscent of the way they used to behave pre-scandal.’
She added: ‘Their torsos in this anniversary pic are pressed together, albeit with a layer of puffer-gilet acting as a little air bag and their mutual smiles suggest they are enjoying each others company again.
‘Frederik has a hand on his hip to suggest a happy holiday moment and his other hand is seen grasping his wife at the neck with what looks like quite a firm grasp.’
However, the expert drew attention to the fact Mary kept her sunglasses on in the photo, meaning ‘her eye expression is masked from public view and examination’.
Despite this, Danish royal expert Kenth Madsen has revealed people in Denmark have ‘forgotten’ Frederik’s night out in Madrid with Genoveva and are jubilant at having a new King on the throne.
Meanwhile, Danish media reports appear to portray an image of a happy couple to their readers.
A report from Her & Nu, published earlier this month, described how the couple ‘practically beamed with love for each other’ as they boarded the Dannebrog ahead of their wedding anniversary.
Although the report made mention of King Frederik’s night out with Genoveva, it stressed the father-of-four had ‘buried’ any suggestion of an affair as he stood alongside his wife on the balcony at Christiansborg on the day he was proclaimed king.
The report also made mention of a declaration of love for Queen Mary that the King made in his book, Kongeord, published three days after he ascended the throne.
The quote read: ‘I love marriage, my wife, our children and the entire happy base that arises for the people who manage to stick together and persevere.’
The King and Queen of Denmark have soldiered on as Frederik ascended the throne at the beginning of the year, following his mother Queen Margrethe’s shock abdication on New Year’s Eve 2023.
The surprise announcement came two months after King Frederik had been spotted out for dinner with Mexican socialite Genoveva, who lives in Madrid.
Spanish magazine Lecturas published photos of the pair together as they headed to a traditional restaurant in the city, where they reportedly watched Flamenco performances and stayed until the early hours of the morning.
After the photos were published, Genoveva issued a statement via her lawyers in which she vehemently denied any suggestion of an affair with the Danish royal, while the Palace refused to comment.
***
Read more at DailyMail.co.uk