COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — The father of Denmark's Australian-born Queen Mary, John Donaldson, has died in Tasmania, the royal house in Copenhagen said Sunday. He was 84.
Donaldson died in Hobart, a royal statement said, without giving further details. It said that his health had been declining over the past few years, and that the queen last visited him at the end of March.
John Dalgleish Donaldson, born in Scotland on Sept. 5, 1941, was a professor of applied mathematics.
Mary became Denmark's queen in January 2024 after two decades as crown princess when her husband became the Scandinavian country's monarch. He was proclaimed King Frederik X following the abdication of his mother, Queen Margrethe II.
Frederik and Mary met during the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. They married in 2004.
Sunday's statement quoted Mary as saying that “my heart is heavy.”
“But I know that when the grief settles, the memories will brighten my day, and what will remain strongest is love and gratitude for everything he gave me and taught me,” she added.
Mary's mother, Henrietta Clark Donaldson, died in 1997. Her father married Susan Moody in 2001.
The statement said the family will hold a private memorial service for Donaldson “at a later date.”
FILE - Stepmother and father of the bride Susan Moody and John Donaldson pass press photographers on their way to the Royal Theater in Copenhagen on May 13, 2004. (AP Photo/Heribert Proepper, File)
FILE - Denmark's Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary, center, pose with parents Susan Moody, Prince Hendrik, Queen Margrethe and John Donaldson, from left, on the Amalienborg Palace balcony following the wedding ceremony in Copenhagen on May 14, 2004. (AP Photo/Heribert Proepper, File)
FILE - John Donaldson, center right, father of Mary Donaldson, the fiancée of Denmark’s Crown Prince Frederik, and his wife, Susan Moody, center left, speak to the crowd in front of the Danish Parliament in Copenhagen, May 13, 2004. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo, File)
ISLAMABAD (AP) — The United States and Iran ended face-to-face talks on Sunday without an agreement to end the war, leaving a fragile two-week ceasefire in doubt.
U.S. officials said the negotiations collapsed over what they described as Iran’s refusal to commit to abandoning its nuclear program, while an Iranian government spokesperson blamed the U.S. for talks breaking down without specifying the sticking points.
Neither side indicated what will happen after the 14-day ceasefire expires on April 22. Pakistani mediators urged all parties to maintain it.
“We need to see an affirmative commitment that they will not seek a nuclear weapon, and they will not seek the tools that would enable them to quickly achieve a nuclear weapon,” Vice President JD Vance said after the 21-hour-long talks.
Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said the talks fell apart over a “gap between our opinions over two or three important issues.” He told state television that the Strait of Hormuz was among the topics discussed and blamed “U.S. overreach.”
He did not mention nuclear weapons, though the broadcaster earlier mentioned Iran's nuclear program as a core dispute. Iran has long denied seeking nuclear weapons but has insisted on its right to a civilian nuclear program. Experts say its stockpile of enriched uranium, though not weapons-grade, is only a short technical step away.
Since the U.S. and Israel launched the war on Feb. 28, it has killed at least 3,000 people in Iran, 2,020 in Lebanon, 23 in Israel and more than a dozen in Gulf Arab states, and caused lasting damage to infrastructure in half a dozen Middle Eastern countries. Iran’s grip on the Strait of Hormuz has largely cut off the Persian Gulf and its oil and gas exports from the global economy, sending energy prices soaring.
Pakistan Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said his country will try to facilitate a new dialogue between Iran and the U.S. in the coming days.
“It is imperative that the parties continue to uphold their commitment to cease fire,” Dar said.
There was no word on whether negotiations would resume, though Iran said it was open to continuing the dialogue, Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency reported.
The United States and Iran entered talks with sharply different proposals and contrasting assumptions about their leverage to end the war. Before negotiations began, the ceasefire was already threatened by deep disagreements and Israel’s continued attacks against the Iranian-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Iran’s 10-point proposal ahead of the talks called for a guaranteed end to the war and sought control over the Strait of Hormuz. It included ending fighting against Iran’s “regional allies,” explicitly calling for a halt to Israeli strikes on Hezbollah.
Pakistani officials told The Associated Press in March that the U.S. 15-point proposal included monitoring mechanisms and a rollback of Iran’s nuclear program. Speaking on condition of anonymity as they weren’t authorized to discuss details, they said it also covered reopening the Strait of Hormuz.
Indeed, Iran’s closure of the strait has proved its biggest strategic advantage in the war. Around a fifth of the world’s traded oil had typically passed through on over 100 ships a day.
During the talks, the U.S. military said two destroyers transited the critical waterway ahead of mine-clearing work, a first since the war began. Iran’s state media, however, reported the country's joint military command denied that.
“We’re sweeping the strait. Whether we make a deal or not makes no difference to me,” Trump said as talks extended into early Sunday morning.
The impasse raises new questions about fighting in Lebanon. Israel pressed ahead with strikes after the ceasefire was announced, saying the agreement did not apply there. Iran and Pakistan claimed otherwise.
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported six people were killed Sunday morning in an Israeli strike in Maaroub, a village near the southern coastal city of Tyre. Though Israel’s strikes over Beirut have calmed in recent days, its attacks on southern Lebanon have intensified alongside a ground invasion it renewed after Hezbollah launched rockets toward Israel in the opening days of the Iran war.
Negotiations between Israel and Lebanon are expected to begin Tuesday in Washington, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun’s office has said, after Israel’s surprise announcement authorizing talks despite the lack of official relations between the countries. Protests erupted in Beirut on Saturday over the planned negotiations.
Israel wants Lebanon's government to assume responsibility for disarming Hezbollah, much like was envisaged in a November 2024 ceasefire. But the militant group has survived efforts to curb its strength for decades.
The day the Iran ceasefire deal was announced, Israel pounded Beirut with airstrikes, killing more than 300 people in the deadliest day in Lebanon since the war began, according to the country's Health Ministry.
Metz reported from Ramallah, West Bank, and Finley from Washington. E. Eduardo Castillo in Beijing, Collin Binkley in Washington, Samy Magdy in Cairo and Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut contributed.
In this photo released by the Pakistan Prime Minister Office, Iran's Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, left, meets with hand with Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, in Islamabad, Pakistan, Saturday, April 11, 2026 (Pakistan Prime Minister Office via AP)
Vice President JD Vance, second left, shakes hands with Pakistani Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar, as Pakistan's Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, left, Pakistan's Chief of Defence Forces Chief of Army Staff Field Marshall Asim Munir, third left, and Charge d'Affaires of the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad Natalie A. Baker, right, look on, as he prepares to board Air Force Two after attending talks on Iran in Islamabad, Pakistan, Sunday, April 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, Pool)
Vice President JD Vance arrives for news conference after meeting with representatives from Pakistan and Iran, Sunday, April 12, 2026, in Islamabad, Pakistan. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, Pool)
Vice President JD Vance, right, speaks during a news conference after meeting with representatives from Pakistan and Iran as Jared Kushner, left, and Steve Witkoff, Special Envoy for Peace Missions listen, on Sunday, April 12, 2026, in Islamabad, Pakistan. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, Pool)
