Yesterday was a day you couldn’t make up. Daisy’s school (AAGE) played host to the Mary, Crown Princess of Denmark, who came along to give a speech and formally give her blessing to a couple of benches near the playground.

AAGE had been renting the building it’s now based in. Not the loveliest looking buildings. A former engineering faculty for the university, I think. But a generous donation from the Salling Foundation (Aarhus’ big posh department store) and other big Danish businesses made it possible for the school to buy the building. So yesterday was the day to celebrate the opening.

The event couldn’t have been more low-key if it tried. There were a few plastic bollards outside the main entrance to the car park but no evident police. A group of parents, dressed relatively smartly, waited outside the school before being ushered into the big gymnasium.

No bags were searched. Nobody even questioned whether you’d been invited to attend.

Minutes later, Crown Princess Mary of Denmark entered the room to a polite round of applause. She smiled and waved before taking her seat next to Karin Salling (the widow of the former Salling owner), Peder Tuborgh (CEO of Arla Foods), Per Bank (CEO of Dansk Supermarked) and Jacob Bunsgaard (the Mayor of Aarhus). Alongside was the Director of the school, Charles C Hanna, a friendly sounding and warm spirited American.

Daisy wasn’t in the gym. She was upstairs in her classroom, where the Princess was expected to visit.

After some great mini performances - a poetry ‘slam’ and a song written specially for HRH - there were speeches from the honoured guests. All were excellent. The Princess seemed genuinely lovely and the businessmen and mayor spoke of their passion for the school. The reason AAGE is so popular is that it addresses a fundamental need: a place for incoming employees to educate their families using the International Bac syllabus.

After a closing speech from the Director, the Princess left, stopping to sit and chat with some of the kids, who showed no nervousness in approaching her.

Upstairs, she visited Daisy’s classroom. When she asked, in that Royal way, what the class was working on, it was (unsurprisingly) Daisy’s hand that shot up with the explanation. She showed the Princess her iPad, which had Mary’s picture on it. Good move.

We knew all this had happened because Miss Cree, Daisy’s teacher, came up to us at the playground fence a while later, just as the Princess was commemorating a friendship bench and Mrs Salling was planting a tree.

Finally, as we waved our AAGE and various national flags, it was time for Mary to leave. Sarah and I were determined to press the flesh and we got a warm, strong handshake from HRH as she left.

She struggled to get into the car as many of the kids were posing for selfies with her. She almost seemed to encourage it.

Her black limo had a really good number plate. Just a crown logo and the number ‘8’.

There were a couple of police around but none of them prevented anyone getting close to the Princess.

No helicopters. No road blocks.

Anyone who knows me will be asking how the UK’s biggest republican and Royal critic could possibly have written all this without the sarcasm button being pushed in really hard.

But I have to admit, it was a great day.