Mary's mission for 2014

The New Year is barely a week old and Crown Princess Mary is off on her travels.  The princess is beginning a three day visit to Myanmar where she will again spend time learning about the plight of those displaced from their homes as she works with the Danish Refugee Council on a visit to Rakhine state on the Bangladesh border.  The princess last year made a high profile and controversial visit to a camp for Syrian refugees in Jordan.

Princess Mary of Denmark is in Myanmar from 10th to 12th January 2014

The princess will also see projects linked to another cause she has promoted - women's rights.  One day of her three day visit will involve seeing a Danish organisation which is helping women with HIV and AIDS.  Princess Mary has never shied away from controversial areas when it comes to picking the areas she most visibly supports and sometimes she has drawn criticism for it.  But her presence, with her international reputation, helps shine a light on some of the most deprived parts of the globe bringing help from others with it.  And this visit to Myanmar shows that Mary's mission for 2014 is the same as 2013 - to keep highlighting the causes she feels most passionately about.

A little princess takes charge

If there was ever any doubt that the girls are in charge in the Danish royal household, then photos released today to mark the third birthdays of Prince Vincent and Princess Josephine, youngest children of the Crown Prince and Princess, dispel all them all.  The pictures, which are cute even by the super cute standards set by the Danish royals for special birthday snaps, show the little princess firmly in charge of this relationship.

He's already got the look he'll wear for a whole lifetime - Prince Vince of Denmark grins and bears it as (ever so slightly) younger sister, Princess Josephine, dictates the photo session for their third birthdays

Denmark had to wait over half a century for a princess after the birth of the queen's youngest sister, Anne-Marie, in 1946 but when the first of three little princesses arrived in 2007 there was no doubt where the regal, ruling genes had done.  Princess Isabella, Vincent and Josephine's big sister, was marked out by her parents early on as determined and forceful in personality.  And it seems that Josephine is following in her footsteps, grappling Vincent into a cuddle and holding him still for a kiss in their birthday shots - whether he likes it or not.  The little prince looks much jollier in the individual snap also released on January 8th 2014.

Sweet and smiley, Prince Vincent of Denmark in his third birthday portrait

Princess Josephine, meanwhile, oozes confidence in her individual portrait and of all the children of Frederik and Mary, this little royal is the one who has changed the most in looks since birth.  In her early months, she was the image of her paternal grandfather, Prince Henri, but now shares a resemblence but has blossomed into the most individual of the four children of the Crown Prince and Princess. And the most determined looking of the three girls born to this generation - her cousin, Princess Athena shares more of the subtle shyness seen in the photo of Prince Vincent.  These photos show that, while they may be slightly outnumbered, the girls of this royal generation are definitely in charge.

Princess Josephine of Denmark on the occasion of her third birthday, January 8th 2014