after obtaining her master's licence in 1994, she became interested in working in the cruise industry, joining cunard lines as a deck officer in 1997. over the next 13 years, she worked her way up through the ranks. in 2010, she was named as the captain of cunard lines' ms "queen victoria". this was the first time a woman had been made captain of a cunard lines vessel. she was subsequently made captain of the ms "queen elizabeth" in 2011. when not at sea, thorhauge lives in svendborg in southern denmark.