Crown Princess Mary and Crown Prince Frederik have paid a visit to Sydney Children's Hospital to share a passion they both know plenty about - twins.
The Danish royal couple arrived to the fanfare of a mesmerised female group, including one young girl donning a tutu and tiara, at the Randwick hospital campus on Saturday morning.
Mary and Frederik, who are in Sydney for the Opera House 40th anniversary, marked the third day of their tour by visiting the Australian Twin Registry at the hospital.
Mary, who is mum to twins Prince Vincent and Princess Josephine, has been an international patron with the Australian Twin Registry since January.
The registry has about 70,000 members, or 35,000 twins, with the oldest twin pair aged 97.
In a beige cardigan and baby blue dress, Mary greeted the small crowd gathered outside the hospital, before meeting official attendees, including Health Minister Jillian Skinner.
The crown princess received a bouquet of pink and purple blooms from Wollongong twins Charlotte and Lillian Harding.
The visibly excited sisters, 8, had been practising their curtsies ahead of their face-to-face encounter with Mary.
"We saw her last night on the news so we know she is a beautiful," Lillian said while waiting for her big moment.
Charlotte said her brush with royalty had left her friends in awe.
"We weren't supposed to tell anyone but we couldn't keep our mouths shut," she said.
Having experienced the challenges of being identical siblings for the past eight years, Charlotte and Lillian had some advice for the royal couple and their twins.
"If you are a twin, don't be identical because you get mixed up," Charlotte said.
But Lillian reminded her excited sister: "But the main thing is you get to prank people."
The royal couple have entered the hospital, where they will be introduced to Australian Twin Registry director Professor John Hopper before meeting twins and parents in the hospital playground.
In a statement, Mary said she was proud to be the international patron for both the Australian Twin Registry and Danish Twin Registry.
"Twins are special as I now know as the mother of Vincent and Josephine," the statement read.
"What is perhaps less well-known is the special contribution twins of all ages have made to medical and health research though the Australian, Danish and other twin registries."
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