Long distance ends Prince's relationship

After a ten month relationship characterised by long telephone calls, e-mails and shared vacations, Prince Joachim and his French girlfriend Marie Cavallier have called their relationship quits.

'We're not dating any longer,' Cavallier told weekly magazine Billed-Bladet.

Royal correspondents for the magazine speculate that Prince Joachim's recent divorce from Princess Alexandra may have played a role.

Historian and royal family expert Jon Bloch Skipper said that although the private details of royal relationships are guarded carefully, the early debut of the relationship in the Danish media likely made the pairing difficult.

'There were several media outlets which after only a few weeks began referring to Marie as 'the princess.' That was wrong and quite unfortunate. I think it was a private relationship that needed a little more time to develop. All relationships can be ruined when the two involved can't set the tempo themselves,' said Skipper to daily newspaper B.T.

The Royal Court is not commenting on the split.