Princess Mary’s nephew Count Nikolai, 24, reveals the advice his royal aunt gave him prior to arriving in Australia

Princess Mary’s nephew Count Nikolai has revealed the advice his Australian-born aunt gave him before he arrived Down Under. 

Nikolai, 24, who is studying for a semester at the University of Technology in Sydney, spoke to The Daily Telegraph on Monday. 

Nikolai revealed that Hobart-born Mary gave him a ‘survival list’ for his time abroad. 

‘She gave me a long list, an itinerary of what to do and what not to do, I can’t remember it now but I have it at home,’ Nikolai said. 

The Burberry model went on to say it was ‘survival’ stuff.  

‘Basic ”survival skills”, I would say clap your boots before putting them on, stuff like that, flush the toilet before you use it. I do not (want a snake or spider),’ he added. 

Nikolai is Down Under with his girlfriend, Benedikte Thoustrup. 

The pair will stay in the Harbour City from August to November. 

Nikolai, whose father is Prince Joachim of Denmark, is seventh in line to the Danish throne.

His own father spent time in Australia when he was younger, working at a farm outside of Wagga Wagga, in New South Wales.  

‘She gave me a long list, an itinerary of what to do and what not to do, I can’t remember it now but I have it at home,’ Nikolai said. He went on to say it was survival stuff. Here: Princess Mary

In March, Count Nikolai of Denmark launched a new Instagram account to promote his modelling career after being stripped of his ‘HRH’ status by his grandmother, Queen Margrethe.

It was a tumultuous year for the Danish Royal Family after the monarch controversially took the title from Prince Joachim’s eldest son, as well as also taking the prince and princess titles from his younger children Athena, 11, Prince Felix, 20, and Prince Henrik, 13.

They are now Counts and Countess and referred to as Their Excellencies – and in January this year the Danish Royal Family updated their website to show the new status.

The Queen insisted the move will be ‘good for them in their future’ and allow the children – who have maintained their positions in the line of succession – to ‘shape their own lives without being limited by the special considerations and duties’ that a formal affiliation with the Danish Royal Family involves.

Nikolai is Down Under with his girlfriend, Benedikte Thoustrup. The pair will stay in the Harbour City from August to November. Pictured 

Following his grandmother’s move to strip him and his siblings of their titles ‘for their own good’, Count Nikolai said that he was sad, shocked and confused.

‘My whole family and I are of course very sad. We are, as my parents have also stated, in shock at this decision and at how quickly it has actually gone,’ he told Danish newspaper Extrabladet.

‘I am very confused as to why it has to happen like this,’ he told reporters from outside the Copenhagen apartment where he lives with his girlfriend.

Countess Alexandra, mother to Count Nikolai and Count Felix, was also ‘very sad’ and ‘shocked’ about the decision.

It was a tumultuous year for the Danish Royal Family after the monarch controversial took the title from Prince Joachim’s eldest son, as well as taking the prince and princess titles from his younger children Athena, 11, Prince Felix, 20, and Prince Henrik, 13 (all pictured) 

‘She can’t believe why and why now, because there’s no good reason,’ Helle von Wildenrath Løvgreen, press secretary to Countess Alexandra told CNN.

‘They would lose their titles anyway when they get married one day.

‘Her sons are young men so maybe they might get married in the near future so why shouldn’t it wait until that day so that the titles would disappear on a happy day?’

Prince Joachim told Ekstra Bladet that his children had been ‘hurt’ by the decision – and claimed he had only been given a few days to break the news to them before the announcement was made publicly.

Prince Joachim, the brother of Frederik, Crown Prince of Denmark, is now married to Princess Marie of Denmark.

Following his grandmother’s move to strip him and his siblings of their titles ‘for their own good’, Nikolai said that he was sad, shocked and confused. Pictured: Queen Margrethe II