Stark contrast in 'battle royale'
SYDNEY, Australia (CNN) -- You might say a "battle royale" is shaping up Down Under.
Australia is being treated to not one, but two, royal visits this week -- and the contrast could not be starker.
First off the mark were Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark and his Australian-born wife, Crown Princess Mary, who launched their two-week tour with a sailing race on Sydney's famed harbor on Sunday.
It is the royal couple's first official visit to Australia since their wedding in Copenhagen last May, and the pair is said to be surprised and touched at the flurry of public excitement at their visit.
Meanwhile, Britain's Prince Charles -- and likely future king of Australia -- is making his first visit Down Under in more than a decade.
He touched down in the Western Australia state capital of Perth Monday night, just weeks after the bombshell announcement of his plans to wed long-time lover Camilla Parker Bowles.
But it seems Australians are more enamored with the young royals from Denmark, who met at a Sydney public house when the city was hosting the 2000 Olympic Games.
It's a meeting that's often described as a modern-day fairy-tale.
"It's an extraordinary story that's captivated this country," Australian Women's Weekly Editor Deborah Thomas told CNN Tuesday.
"Mary has captured the attention of everyone. She's young, she's glamorous ... and she seems quite humble at the same time," Thomas said of the former Sydney real estate agent.
"She's not sitting back and saying, 'Hey look at me, I'm living the life of luxury'. She's really amongst the people."
The couple is scheduled to spend the most of their visit in Sydney where they will attend a series of charity events, before heading to Canberra, Melbourne and then Mary's home state of Tasmania.
"These two people seem to be in love and they are living this fairy tale together. It's basically overshadowed Prince Charles' tour. If he'd brought Camilla it might have been different," Thomas said.
Although perhaps eclipsed by the more modern royals from Denmark, many Australians are still keen to glimpse the man who is a potential future head of state.
Charles is scheduled to visit Melbourne and Sydney later this week before flying to Canberra and then to New Zealand and Fiji.
In the lead-up to his visit, the media has been filled with reports of Charles' upcoming wedding on April 8, and notably, the decision by his mother, the Queen of England, not to attend the ceremony.
Charles also had to move the venue from the magnificent Windsor Castle to the local town hall after he realized that the castle did not have a wedding license, and if granted one, any commoner could marry there for the next three years.
