Engagement comes as royal surprise for family
FAMILY and friends of Discovery Bay resident Alexandra Manley are looking forward to her November wedding to Prince Joachim, the second son of Denmark's Queen Margrethe and one of the world's most eligible bachelors.
The playboy prince, rumoured to have impressed many Hong Kong women during his 10-month stay in the territory last year, proposed to Ms Manley, 30, during a dinner party in the Philippines.
He told the Danish press: 'I proposed on my knees.' Ms Manley, who lives in Greenfield Court, Discovery Bay, is delighted and very much in love, according to the family's amah.
'They hadn't been dating for very long but it was clear this was something serious,' said Delma Delanter, who has worked for the Manleys for the past 15 years.
'They met just before Christmas so it has been a whirlwind romance,' she said. 'The engagement was a surprise for the family but they are very happy.' Ms Manley is on holiday with her fiance and her parents, Richard and Christa Manley, in Vienna. She has two sisters, Nicola, 28, and Martina, 25.
She was trained as an economist at schools in Hong Kong, Vienna and London, and works as a section head for investment company GT Management Limited.
The romance is believed to have started just before Christmas when the prince and Ms Manley met at a private dinner party in Hong Kong.
Prince Joachim, 25, spent 10 months in Hong Kong from October 1993, when he worked at the Danish shipping firm, Maersk Hong Kong limited.
During his stay, the prince was seen in the company of a bevy of beauties, including former Miss Denmark, Maria Hirse.
Ms Manley's former school teacher described her as 'cool and sophisticated'.
'She attended Island School throughout secondary school and seemed to be a typical expatriate student. She was sophisticated but very friendly and popular with the other students,' deputy principal Chris Forse said.
'She was an attractive girl but I never would have picked her for a future princess.' At school, Ms Manley excelled at sports and played on the school hockey team.
She also excelled at languages and speaks French, German, Japanese and basic Cantonese.
Prince Joachim was educated in Denmark, where he undertook military service. He is now a second lieutenant in the Danish Army.
He inherited an estate and castle in south Jutland in 1993.
'Danish people are very excited that he has found a nice girl,' the Danish Consul-General, Peter Rosting, said.
'He is very popular in Denmark and I'm sure the Danish community in Hong Kong is very happy he has chosen a local girl as his bride.' The wedding will be held in Denmark in November.
Ms Manley has said she will renounce her Anglican religion in favour of the Danish state religion of Lutheranism and seek Danish citizenship.
What remains to be seen is whether the girl from Discovery Bay adapts easily to royal life with her modern-day Hamlet.
'I think she will adapt very well to life in Denmark,' her family's maid said. 'She has always been fond of Danish pastries.'