IN A scene from a fairytale, a sparkling gold stiletto was left behind by a mystery woman after a royal ball at Christiansborg Palace.

Prince Christian of Denmark celebrated his 18th birthday at the weekend with a glitzy gala dinner, whose guests included future queens.

One attendee, 18-year-old Danish student Anne-Sofie Tornso Olesen, seized the opportunity to gain the attention of one of Europe’s most eligible bachelors, leaving her high heel for him to find.

Staff discovered the shoe while clearing up after the party.

But rather than visit each household in the kingdom, and slip the shoe onto the foot of every woman, the palace had a more modern approach to finding its owner.

At Prince Christian’s request, the palace shared a picture of the lone stiletto to social media.

Anne-Sofie Tornso Olesen, an actress who appeared in Danish TV series BaseBoys, later told local outlet Se Og Hør: “It was meant to be a fairytale ending à la Cinderella.”

The palace posted a picture of the gold shoe perched at the top of a flight of red velvet stairs on Instagram.

Its caption read: “Is it Cinderella who forgot her shoe last night?

“When the guests at Her Majesty The Queen‘s gala dinner went home yesterday, this lonely stiletto shoe was left at Christiansborg Castle.

“The owner is welcome to contact us to get it back.”

Royal fans were thrilled by the post, with one chiming in: “No no y’all need to send Prince Christian out to try it on all the invited girls in the kingdom. Otherwise you risk evil step sisters coming in as owners!”

Another wrote: “The girl who has ‘forgotten’ it is genius – she deserves the prince and half the kingdom.”

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Someone else said: “I think Christian needs to go out and see who the shoe fits – imagine if it was a real love story.”

Anne-Sofie, the daughter of a wine merchant, told the Daily Mail she was invited to the party to represent the area where she lives, outside of the Danish capital.

She said: “I won the invitation in a tombola.”

The 18-year-old wore a nude and black dress to greet Denmark’s Queen Margrethe II, her son Crown Prince Frederik, and his son Prince Christian at the reception.

She told local media outlet TV2: “It’s not because I think that now I’m going to marry him, but I kind of hoped that someone would think it was funny, and then it also creates attention for the royal house.”

It was, according to the actress, “a chance you won’t get again”.

Unfortunately for those hoping for a fairytale outcome, the prince is rumoured to be dating someone else – an Italian heiress.

Speculation started when Prince Christian and Princess Marie Chiara of Bourbon-Two-Sicilies, 18, from the defunct Italian royal family were spotted together at the Monaco grand prix earlier this year.

Many believe the princess shut down the rumours when she wrote on Instagram, “while we all enjoy dreaming of fairytales, what truly matters is reality.”

She also told Italian paper Corriere: “We’ve known each other since we were little, my father Carlo is godfather to his younger sister.”

The Danish royal family is yet to comment on the speculation.

Queen Margrethe II has ruled Denmark for more than five decades and has a large number of family members who help support her with royal duties – including her eldest son and Denmark’s Crown Prince Frederik André Henrik Christian.

Eighteen-year-old Prince Christian is the eldest child of Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary.