Princess Mary’s heartbreaking confession
Princess Mary has given a heartbreaking speech at the 20th Anniversary of the Children, Youth and Grief Network.
Speaking about her own experience of loss, as well as the universal heartache that comes with the death of a loved one, the Danish Crown Princess opened up in what is considered to be a rare occasion for a royal.
Taking to the Danish royal family's Instagram page to share her emotional words alongside photos from her speech, Mary reflected on how loss shapes us.
"It is difficult, if not impossible, to find meaning in losing someone you love. But what makes sense, and something that can not be taken from us, is all we had with that person," the caption reads in Danish.
"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."
The royal has experienced her fair share of loss throughout the years.
Her mother, Henrietta Donaldson died from a heart condition on November 20, 1997, when Mary was just 25 years old.
Mary has confessed before that she battled with loneliness after her mother's passing, telling Danish TV and radio station DR: "I felt alone in my pain.
"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."
Most recently, Mary lost her father-in-law Prince Henrik of Denmark in 2018.
Mary continued in the Instagram caption: "Yesterday was not 'anytime', it was the mark of an organisation that works to help children and young people through their grief and with the belief that life can become whole again, but… in a new way.
"What touched me on the podium yesterday is a little hard to explain. 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."
She went on to say that "hope is the focal point" of the work Children, Young People and Grief does, adding that the volunteers find "meaning in the meaningless".
The royal concluded by saying that she had learned something about hope herself, and how important it is after suffering a deep loss.
"The hope that you can learn to live with the grief as part of life and take the one you have lost with you," she wrote.