Princess Mary has become emotional in a heartbreaking speech at the 20th Anniversary of the Children, Youth and Grief Network this week.
The 48-year-old Danish royal spoke about loss and touched on the death of her mother Henrietta Donaldson, who died from a heart condition on November 20, 1997, when the Princess was just 25 years old.
‘It is hard, if not impossible, to find meaning in losing someone you love,’ the Danish royal posted on the royal Instagram page Det Danske on Saturday.
Princess Mary has become emotional in a heartbreaking speech at the 20th Anniversary of the Children, Youth and Grief Network this week (pictured during the speech)
The 48-year-old Danish royal (pictured) spoke about loss and touched on the death of her mother Henrietta Donaldson, who died from a heart condition on November 20, 1997
‘With those words, I began my speech at Children, Youth and Grief’s 20th Anniversary yesterday. Of course, for me it was one of the harder talks to hold.
‘But to my own surprise, I was more moved than I would have thought.
‘And so it is with grief, it can strike at any time.’
Princess Mary’s mother, Henrietta, died when the Princess was growing up in Australia, and it is the 23rd anniversary of her death next week.
While Mary has not spoken about it much publicly, she has told the Danish TV station DR that she struggled with loneliness immediately after her death:
‘I felt alone in my pain,’ she said.
‘As if nobody understood what I was going through and I had come to a standstill while the whole world around me kept moving forwards.’
In her speech at the Children, Youth and Grief network, Princess Mary went on to say that she knows that grief has affected everyone in some way (pictured outside the centre)
In her speech at the Children, Youth and Grief network, Princess Mary went on to say that she knows that grief has affected everyone in some way:
‘What touched me on the podium yesterday is a little hard to explain,’ she said.
‘It was not so much about my own loss, but more about the fact that many of us in the room had something special in common.
‘We were common about having lost and I could feel the common understanding that loss provides. It does not require words, it is just there.’
Princess Mary’s mother, Henrietta, died when the Princess was growing up in Australia, and it is the 23rd anniversary of her death next week (pictured outside the centre)
The Danish royal’s (pictured) words were met with an outpouring of support online, where others shared their experiences with grief
She added that ‘hope is the focal point’ of the work that the Grief network does, and said that volunteers find ‘meaning in the meaningless’.
‘Hope is the focal point,’ Princess Mary said.
‘The hope that you can learn to live with grief as a part of life and take the one you lost with you. I have learned that.’
The royal’s surprisingly candid and raw post struck a chord with her millions of followers, many of whom shared their own experiences with grief on Mary’s post.
‘You are an amazing woman who does not hide her emotions and you are so full of empathy for other people,’ one person posted.
‘I fully understand the grief Princess Mary went through as I lost my own mother at a similar time,’ another added.
‘What she is doing is an amazing thing.’