AP Photo COP802
By JAN M. OLSEN
Associated Press Writer
COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) - Royal gun salutes echoed through the Danish capital Saturday as Australian-born Crown Princess Mary gave birth to a baby boy who one day is expected to assume the throne of Europe's oldest reigning monarchy.
With Crown Prince Frederik by her side, Mary delivered the healthy child at 1:57 a.m. Saturday at the Copenhagen University Hospital, two weeks before her scheduled due date, the royal palace said. Both mother and child were doing fine.
``It is a tremendous joy,'' Frederik told reporters at the hospital. ``It is impossible to describe that feeling for me and my wife, who is doing fine.''
The crown prince said he cut the umbilical cord. ``I was of great help, if I can say it myself,'' he said.
The little prince is 20 inches and weighs 7.7 pounds, the palace said. The royal couple has not announced his name, but it is likely to be Christian in line with Danish tradition. Since Christian II, who died in 1559, Danish kings have alternately carried the name Christian or Frederik.
``It is wonderful,'' Queen Margrethe, Frederik's mother, told Danish television after briefly visiting the hospital.
Mary Donaldson, 33, married Frederik in a lavish wedding in May 2004 at Copenhagen's Lutheran Cathedral. The couple met in a bar during the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. Frederik, 37, is next in line to the throne.
Like its Scandinavian neighbors Norway and Sweden, Denmark, a nation of 5.4 million people, is a constitutional monarchy where the royal family has only ceremonial functions.
Australian Prime Minister John Howard and his Danish counterpart, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, congratulated Mary and Frederik on their first child.
Following Danish tradition to mark a royal birth, 21-gun salutes were fired at noon Saturday from batteries in Copenhagen and from the Kronborg Castle, north of the capital. Danish flags were hoisted on all government offices and public buildings, as people lined up at the downtown royal palace to hand over teddy bears, toys and flowers as gifts to the newborn.
In line with a Bronze Age tradition, a chain of up to 350 bonfires was lit by members of the Danish Home Guard on Saturday evening, starting in Copenhagen and continuing across the country to spread the news of the birth.
``Denmark has a little prince,'' the newspaper B.T. proclaimed on its Web site.
Unlike some other European royal houses, the hugely popular Danish royal family has been relatively scandal-free. But Frederik's younger brother, Prince Joachim, divorced from his wife, Princess Alexandra, earlier this year - Denmark's first royal split in nearly 160 years.
The royal family traces its lineage back to the Viking king Gorm the Old, who died in 958.
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On the Net
Frederik and Mary's official Web site:
http://www.kronprinsparret.dk/english.php
Her Royal Highness Crown Princess Mary of Denmark has given birth to a healthy baby boy at a Copenhagen hospital at approximately 1:57 am local time this morning, ending many months of waiting for the Royal Family, the Danish public and much of the world. The baby weighed in at 3.5 kilograms and 51 centimeters long.

The royal pregnancy was made public on 25 April 2005, and in that period, many Danes speculated the gender of the child. The Crown Princess had experienced contractions in mid-September. The royal couple has not announced his name, but it is likely to be Christian in line with Danish tradition. Since Christian II, who died in 1559, Danish kings have alternately carried the name Christian or Frederik.

The child will become heir apparent styled as HRH The Crown Prince when his parents ascend to the Danish throne as King Frederik X and Queen Mary.