A rolled-gold royal romantic

He proposed in Rome, he wrote a gallant letter to her father "kindly asking" for her hand in marriage, he wept as she walked down the aisle and he chose a honeymoon in Africa so they could be "just Frederik and Mary" away from the public gaze.

The future king could not keep his emotions in check during their lavish internationally televised wedding 10 months ago.

"You could hear the crowd outside sort of starting to rumble and cheer and now you're getting closer to the final countdown," he told Andrew Denton on ABC TV's Enough Rope last night.

"Suppressed feelings that I had kept within me for, I would say, maybe years suddenly could not be held back, and should not be held back.

"So I said to hell with keeping the facade. This is the moment ...

"There might as well have been no people in the church, for me it was just the two of us living that intense moment, which was quite the most fantastic part in that day I think."

Prince Frederik felt the couple would need to honeymoon somewhere like Antarctica or Greenland to get some privacy.

He surprised her with a safari in Africa.

"We were completely Mary and Frederik," his bride said.

"We just did as we pleased, went around as we pleased.

"I mean just to sit and watch the animals as the dawn's setting.It was just such a magical experience."

Princess Mary said her father was "very touched" to receive Prince Frederik's letter proposing marriage.

"He was very happy to receive the letter in that traditional sense of being asked in that formal way," she said.

"Also very pleased for me to be so happy and to be getting married to the person that I love."

She said she felt no sense of obligation to produce an heir because "it's something that we very much want to do. We do want to start a family and there's no secret with that," she said.

"When it happens it will happen."

Recalling their meeting during the Sydney Olympics, she said: "I gave Frederik my telephone number and he rang me the next day, so you could say something clicked.

"It wasn't the fireworks in the sky or anything like that but there was a sense of excitement."

Her husband added: "There was definitely that sense that I've met somebody special that was definitely worth another call, at least one call."

"I got to the second round," laughed Princess Mary.

She said the things she missed most about Australia included family and friends, the coastline, funny Australian characters and her "childhood love" Fruit Tingles.

ROYAL COUPLE `TOUCHED' BY RECEPTION: Page 2