Mary and Frederik dazzle Sydney crowds

Mary and Frederik dazzled the crowds in Sydney on Wednesday, on their one and only official engagement in the town where they met eight years ago, during the Sydney 2000 Olympics.

The Australian-born Danish Crown Princess and her husband were all eyes for the spanking new Victor Chang Lowy Packer Building at St Vincent's Hospital.

Princess Mary, who lost her mother Henrietta in 1997 to heart disease, is 'Honorary Life Governor' of the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute, and patron of the Danish Heart Association.

She opened the new research centre with much fanfare in the morning and returned with Crown Prince Frederik in the evening for a special dinner.

"It was with great pleasure that I accepted the invitation to open the Victor Chang Lowy Packer Building that will not only house the Victor Chang researchers but also scientists from St Vincent's Hospital," she said.

Victor Chang was a distinguished heart surgeon who was gunned down in 1991 after a failed extortion bid.

"Dr Chang was an original thinker and saw the need for research and the development of heart assist devices and, not least, he is known for his legendary caring for his patients and their families", Princess Mary added.

She also unveiled a statue of Dr Chang, and a plaque commemorating her visit.

New South Wales Premier Morris Iemma was also at the hospital to welcome Mary to Sydney, "a place where you command such affection and respect", he said.

According to The Sydney Morning Herald the princess appeared slightly nervous when addressing "the well-heeled crowd, stumbling slightly over her speech and referring to the Premier as Morris Lemma."

Mary also met with Danish researcher Filip Knop, who is working at the Institute on a fellowship named after 'Prince Christian', Mary and Frederik's son. Knop (pictured with the princess) had received the fellowship in Copenhagen from Mary.

The princely couple in the evening attended a dinner to mark the joyous occasion. The menu included a lime and cured kingfish with king prawns, a grain-fed beef fillet with cabbage roll and semolina gnocchi for main course, accompanied by red wine emulsion and fried sage leaves, Australia’s news agency AAP reported. See also report: 'Princess of hearts' opens institute' and Photoalbum.

© GPD; Photos by © GPD AP