Gladiator II's Connie Nielsen may be more familiar to fans as one of the faces of the Roman Empire, but she's actually a proud Dane.
It wasn't until four years after 2000's Gladiator, however, that she debuted in a film made in her homeland, with 2004's Brødre (Brothers) ultimately nabbing Nielsen Denmark's coveted Bodil Award – one of the oldest film accolades in Europe.
But there was a special Australian touch that made 2004 even more memorable for Nielsen and her fellow countrymen: the wedding of Tasmanian-born Mary Donaldson to then-Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark.
Watch the video above.
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Danish actress Connie Nielsen, pictured here at the Gladiator II premiere in Sydney, has many invisible strings tying her to Queen Mary of Denmark. (Hanna Lassen/Getty Images)"She's a lovely, lovely woman," Nielsen, 59, tells 9honey Celebrity with a smile when asked about her Australian-born Queen in Sydney.
It's quite poetic when you notice the invisible strings tying Nielsen to the now-Queen Mary of Denmark – 2000 saw Nielsen breakout to household name status after her acclaimed performance as Lucilla in Ridley Scott's Gladiator, a blockbuster that also saw Australia's own Russell Crowe soar to stardom.
That same year, a chance meeting between Mary and Frederik at the Slip Inn in Sydney during the Olympics set Mary's life on a path she could never have imagined.
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Four years later, both Nielsen and Mary were marking monumental milestones again – Mary with her royal wedding, and Nielsen with Brødre.
And this week, both women found themselves in Sydney: Mary for a top secret visit to see her family, and Nielsen for the premiere of Gladiator II.
"I want you guys to know that the Danes take very good care of her," Nielsen, whose bright blue eyes widen with a sense of gravity, says to the backdrop of the Opera House.
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Mary, pictured here with her husband, was greeted with a roar of cheers when she made a surprise appearance on the palace balcony during King Frederik X's proclamation in January. (WireImage)It's something Australians kind of already knew, but is always nice to hear – after all, we all had front-row seats to how American Meghan Markle's marriage into the British royal family went.
The reality of Mary and the Danish royal family, however, could not be more different.
When King Frederik X acceded to the throne in January after Queen Margrethe II's shock abdication, Mary made a surprise appearance on the balcony of Christiansborg Palace, sealing her husband's proclamation with a kiss to the cheers and screams from the roaring crowd below.
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"They love her. And she's just a very, very popular Queen in Denmark," Nielsen, who has met Mary and Frederik "several times" through her work, says.
Another thread tying Nielsen to Mary? Her Romanesque cream blouse, which she cheerfully informed me was Zimmermann's Illustration Lace Edged Blouse when I sat down to greet her.
Zimmermann is, of course, a luxury fashion brand that hails from Sydney, and is a favourite of Mary's as well as Catherine, Princess of Wales, the Duchess of Sussex, and Queen Máxima of the Netherlands.
"She's just a really lovely person," Nielsen says of Mary, before quickly adding of her Denmark-born King, "And so is her husband."
Gladiator II hits Australian cinemas on November 14.
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