Denmark's Crown Prince Frederik was denied entry into an upmarket Brisbane bar after he wasn't recognised by staff, and suffered the nightmarish fallout of the Australian states' tough new ID laws.
Crown Prince Frederik and his entourage were turned away from popular nightspot Jade Buddha around midnight at the weekend, but returned 15 minutes later with seven police officers and was let in.
Jade Buddha co-owner Phil Hogan told NewsCorp the prince further surprised staff when he eventually made it inside.
"At the end of it all, they go up into the room and he is surrounded by his security, and no one expected him to actually walk up to the bar himself," he said.
"So while the venue manager is racing around like a lunatic organising cocktail waitresses for his group, the prince just walks up to the bar and the guy that served him said 'hey, dude, what can I get you?"
"He bought a dark and stormy - so to give him credit he seemed like a very nice fellow."
Mr Hogan descried the scenario as akin to a "scene from Monty Python" to Brisbane radio station Triple M.
"The doormen didn't recognise him and they were asked 'don't you know who he is?'".
He said staff were confident that it was the Danish prince after cross-checking via Google, "but they could have been terrorists for all we knew".
"I said to my brother, 'If we do let him in, we're breaking the law and we're breaking the law in front of 5 or 6 coppers".
The Danish royal is married to Tasmanian-born Princess Mary, and was in the region for the Hamilton Island V8 Supercars Race Week.
The state's ID laws have been heavily criticised by the hospitality industry, after concerns they would affect patron numbers and experiences.
In July, Queensland introduced new ID laws, which force all patrons to provide ID for scanning to enter all late-night licensed venues in Safe Night Precincts across the state.
The laws require venues to scan IDs after 10pm if they trade past midnight, but have been blamed for long lines at venue, issues with scanning foreign passports and business suffering losses from would-be punters being turned away or giving up on lengthy wait times.
Mr Hogan said he had tried to resolve the problem, and called for foreign dignitaries to be excluded from the rules.
"It's a stupid law. We always thought it was going to be a nightmare", he said.
"It's happening all the time and the whole thing has been a nightmare from a tourist point of view. It's just nonsense. It's a real overreaction."
Chief executive of the city's economic development board Brett Fraser said it wasn't a good look for the city.
"It's certainly not the headline we want going around the world", he said.
Newshub.
