Fairy-tale Mary eclipses Charles

Australia is in a right royal lather. Gossip columnists are sharpening their quills, the A-list is dusting off tuxedos and cocktail dresses and flags are being unfurled. The object of all this excitement is not, however, the impending visit of Prince Charles, Australia's future king.

The breathless anticipation is being reserved instead for the arrival of another royal - a former Sydney estate agent who last year married the Crown Prince of Denmark and whose visit to Australia officially starts this weekend.

That the two visiting royals are being received in such different ways speaks volumes. The Queen may still be Australia's head of state, but many people regard the Windsors with indifference, if not outright hostility.

Princess Mary, on the other hand, is a different story. She is the fairy tale come true - Australia's answer to Princess Diana.

As plain old Mary Donaldson, born in Tasmania but working in Sydney as an account director with a property company, she walked into a trendy pub one night around the time of the Sydney Olympics.

There she met her very own Prince Charming - Frederik of Denmark, dashing, good looking, a former Navy frogman and a ladies' man who previously dated supermodels. The two got on famously and four years later walked down the aisle of a Danish palace together.

As the Sydney Morning Herald put it, "She's young, beautiful and newsworthy. He isn't." The story's headline said it all: "Something about Mary makes the prince look a right Charlie."

Buckingham Palace could not have chosen a worse time for Charles to visit. He arrives in Australia on a whistlestop tour on Monday - a day after the official start of Princess Mary's visit and amid a flurry of reports ridiculing the debacle over his wedding plans.

"A big section of our readers have affection for Charles, but at the same time there is a growing swell of people who can't be bothered with the royal family," said Louisa Hatfield, the editor of two of the country's most popular women's magazines. "But they love the idea of the fairy-tale princess."

Charles hasn't even arrived yet and already his visit is under attack. Opposition Labor Party MPs expressed their outrage that Australian taxpayers are having to foot the bill for his trip.

"Most people wouldn't invite themselves over for dinner and then expect their host to pay for the cab fare," quipped one Labor senator.

Mary, on the other hand, can do no wrong. The tabloid Sydney Daily Telegraph summed it up: "Forget Charles and Camilla, the real royal excitement gripping the city is for Princess Mary and Prince Frederik."