Well, this is a turn of events! We only talk about the Swedish royal family – the House of Bernadotte – every so often, and usually that’s just when there’s a big wedding or something. Princess Victoria is the crown princess in Sweden, and her eldest child, Estelle, will one day be crown princess too. Victoria and her husband Prince Daniel have a second child, Prince Oscar, who is three-and-a-half right now. I suspect they’re done after two kids. Victoria has two siblings: Prince Carl Philip and Princess Madeleine. Both are married with kids. Madeleine has basically been in a constant state of pregnancy for years now! No, Madeleine has three kids and Carl Philip and his wife Sofia have two sons. And now all of those kids are no longer titled. Wow.
The Swedish royal palace has announced that the children of Princess Madeleine and Chris O’Neill, and Prince Carl Philip and Princess Sofia, will no longer be members of the royal house. This means that Princess Leonore, five, Prince Nicolas, four, Princess Adrienne, one, Prince Alexander, three, and Prince Gabriel, two, will lose their style of Royal Highness and, in the future, will not be expected to perform duties incumbent on the head of state.
In an official statement from Fredrik Wersäll, the Marshal of the Realm, the communiqué read: “His Majesty The King has decided on changes to The Royal House. The purpose of these changes is to establish which members of The Royal Family may be expected to perform official duties incumbent on the Head of State or related to the function of the Head of State. His Majesty The King has decided that the children of Their Royal Highnesses Prince Carl Philip and Princess Sofia, and the children of Her Royal Highness Princess Madeleine and Mr Christopher O’Neill will no longer be members of The Royal House.”
Despite losing their style of Royal Highness, the statement noted that Madeleine and Chris’ three children – Princess Leonore, Prince Nicolas and Princess Adrienne – and Carl Philip and Sofia’s two sons – Prince Alexander and Prince Gabriel – will continue to retain their titles of Duke and Duchess previously granted by their grandfather, King Carl XVI Gustaf, upon birth.
King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia’s two younger children Princess Madeleine, 37, and Prince Carl Philip, 40, will continue to perform royal duties. Madeleine, who is based in Miami, works for the World Childhood Foundation, the organisation that her mother Silvia co-founded. Carl Philip and his wife Sofia will also continue to support their charity, Prince Carl Philip and Princess Sofia’s Foundation.
Personally, I never thought Madeleine’s kids needed prince/princess titles anyway. I’m not sure how titles work in Sweden, but Madeleine married a (wealthy) commoner who didn’t take a title when they married. At most, their kids should have been lords or ladies or whatever the Swedish equivalent is. But I’m shocked that Carl Philip’s sons are no longer going to be princes! That’s very strange. I kind of wonder if this kind of title-culling will happen in the House of Windsor at some point.
Photos courtesy of WENN, Avalon Red.
It’s kind of interesting that this wasn’t decided at birth, and instead changed later. I don’t have a lot of knowledge on the inner workings of royal hierarchy. I wonder if there’s some sore feelings in this situation, or if it was a group decision.
They keep their Prince and Princess titles and remain members of the Royal family but will not be HRH working Royals.
The problem has arisen because of money. The King has repeatedly asked for more taxpayer funding (apanage) with the motivation of the increasing costs of his children’s’/grandchildren’s growing household costs. However – he refuses to declare how this taxpayer funding is spent which has caused a conflict with Parliament. The next generation now has 7 children who under current rules would be entitled to taxpayer funding. There have long been calls to streamline the monarchy and this is the compromise.
Interesting. That all makes sense, so thank for the explanation! And it’s not like the kids are teenagers or anything, so their idea of titles probably isn’t all that important to them anyway. Plus they get to keep the prince/princess styling, so it’s not a huge adjustment.
Ah. It’s all about the money. Thanks for the explanation, Lunde! I’m surprised there hasn’t been more talk about booting CP and Sofia off the payroll. I thought Madeleine only got paid when she worked for the Crown. I didn’t think she got an allowance or anything anymore since she lives outside Sweden.
There has been plenty of talk about it, particularly from political parties who are demanding to see the King’s accounting records. It wasn’t expected that CP and his wife would stay on the royal dole.They aren’t supposed to be working royals.
When their engagement was announced, there was a weird Palace announcement that Sofia was being hired to be an assistant to the king. That was how they tried to play it at first, to make sure the king would keep funding them via the taxpayers. They flat out abandoned that silly idea in the face of criticism.
in other words-all the perks, but no responsibilities?
I would love to know how all of these discussions went down behind the scenes. I wonder what the feelings were for Carl Philip and Madeline, or if they even cared that their kids no longer have titles?
This interests me as Carl Philip was always his father’s favorite.
I think CP Victoria’s daughter is named Estelle. And Prince Carl Philip’s wife is Sofia.
Estelle, is CP Victoria’s daughter’s name.
It’s shocking but if you think about it not really. The Swedish royal family isn’t as popular as say the British or Danish. Victoria is popular, but the King is not so much. Madeline is unpopular because she dares to marry someone who didn’t want a title and lives off his money in America (so she’s royal but not enough but costs too much). Carl Philip would rather race cars and design bowls than do his royal work, Sofia is unable to pick up a lot of patronages other than ones given down by Queen and her own charity.
They’ll still be Prince/Princess, right? Just not HRH? so people wouldn’t have to greet them as “your highness?” Or do they just become Duke of X (I saw their specific dukedoms on twitter but don’t feel like double-checking right now) with no prince/ss?
Anyway, I think this is interesting, are the Swedish royals popular, or is this likely a move to try to preserve the monarchy itself by “slimming it down”?
I wonder if Charles will issue a similar statement when he becomes king, or if he will just kind of let things go on without an official statement – the only young HRHs are the Cambridge kids, so the monarchy is naturally going to slim down as the older generations stop working.
I think they’ll be like the Kings sister: Princess Christina. She’s got a title but not a member of the royal house or line of succession. So they’ll make appearances occasionally, like Nobels, but not work on behalf of the royal house. Although who knows Christinas kids don’t attend nobels.
They’re already a slim monarchy. But went from 3 in line to 10 with the grandkids, so it’s 5 without CP and Maddes kids.
Daniel made several comments about difficulty getting and staying pregnant, so Maddie’s first child was seen as the spare to Estelle. Many people thought Carl Philip would have to leave the royal line to marry Sofia. Plus the sexist king couldn’t give titles to his Poor Rightful Male Heir’s kids if he didn’t give them to Maddie’s first. Otherwise this title conversation would have come up sooner.
CP and his wife are not supposed to be working royals and this title change may reflect rising anti-hanger-on-royals attitudes in Sweden. This may also remove the requirement for Maddie to return to Sweden when her kids are school age.
The King made Victoria & Daniel wait to get married because he didn’t approve of gym owner, Daniel. He had no problem accepting Sofia, whose past was that of a soft porn model/actress. Some say Victoria was at risk for fertility issues due to her age and former eating disorder. There was concern she might not be able to conceive a heir. It made sense to make Leo Estelle’s heir. Not so much now.
CP and Sofia can do no wrong in CG’s eyes so I’m legit shocked their kids aren’t being allowed to live on the royal payroll for the rest of their lives. I’m happy for Madd and her kids.
I still think The King is okay with Sofia because he is interested in her in a non daughter in law way. She fits his type to a tee.
The king gave CP’s son the only Duchy (Sodermanland) that has any financial benefit attached to it. Oscar was born first, has higher rank, and should have been given that Duchy. The king held out and gave it to CP’s firstborn son who arrived a few weeks after Oscar.
Stenhammer Palace was donated to the state by a private family. A special low-rent lease is made available only to a male Bernadotte especially one who is also Duke of Sodermanland. He doesn’t technically inherit the property outright, but CP’s son gets the right to rent the massive house for something like $100 a year for life because he has that title. With upkeep paid by the taxpayers of course.
@nota – Uh, CG sucks.
I’m so confused from this. They’re no longer royal but they’re still called princes in the article? As others have said, Victoria’s daughter is Estelle. Side note: I’ve never really followed how French this royal family is but they are clearly Francophiles.
This family is actually French originally. Napoleon created the Bernodotte family as the royals of Sweden. Obviously many kings married in Swedish Queens so less so now.
The Swedish government gave the crown to one of Napoleon’s generals, Jean Bernadotte, who was defacto adopted by the childless King Charles XIII in 1810. He assumed the name Karl XIV Johan as king.
This wasn’t as much of surprise in regards to Madeleine. It had to happen. Madeleine and Chris were supposed to return to Sweden this year if Leonore was going to remain in the line of succession. They didn’t. The family just settled into a new house in Florida. The fact CP and Sofia’s boys were also excluded is shocking. CP is the favored child and was the heir until the laws changed.
It’s due to optics. They (monarchy) know they had to treat CP’s and Madeleine’s children equally. Sweden is progressive in that way, even if the King is a sexist fool.
Maybe he didn’t care and him and Sofia thought it would be better for the kids. I mean it does give them more freedom to do what they want for a career and not have to worry about duties for the monarchy when they are most likely never going to be King even if they left the succession line. It’s not like they still aren’t rich and have a good life.Sofia wasn’t born royal so she may have been all for this. They may have looked at his youngest sister happy and in Florida, and thought well my kids should be able to do what they want, live where they want, and not have to worry about this. I personally think it is the smartest decision and won’t be surprised if Charles does this as for the House of Windsor when he becomes King obviously it saves money.
I do not think they are out of the line of succession they jut do not have a HRH. This is no different than the status of Zara & Peter Phillips except they have a non-royal title of Duke or Duchess.
Without an HRH and being part of royal house they are technically out of succession. Different rules for different families.
They remain in the line of succession, they just aren’t part of the official Royal Family and will not be working royals. Traditionally princesses in Sweden would lose the “Her Royal Highness” title when they married, and switch to “Her Highness” instead.
This move is similar to what Felipe did in Spain. He declared the Royal Family to be himself, his wife, their two daughters. That doesn’t exclude his sister or their children from being in the line of succession. Norway is similar, with Martha Louise changing her title to “Her Highness” in her mid-twenties.
I always wondered about the Swedish royal family and how all the grandchildren automatically got the prince/princess title at birth. I was especially surprised that Princess Madeleine’s children got it since Chris O’Neill refused a title and they are currently raising their children outside of Sweden. It seems weird to do it after the birth of grandchildren though. They’re still young so at least they didn’t do it when the kids were older and more aware of the importance of titles. But why insist they aren’t part of the Swedish royal house? Anyways feels like this should have been discussed way before Princess Victoria and Daniel got married.
They remain part of the private royal family, they just aren’t part of the taxpayer-funded Royal House. They also remain in the line of succession, regardless of whether they are HRH, HH, or have any titles at all.
It’s not that weird that they got the title of Prince/Princess at birth since they are the grandchildren of the reigning monarch. It’s the same in the British royal family (grandchildren get that title) which is why Beatrice and Eugenie are princesses. (Princess Anne declined the titles for her children.).
BRF – Only male line grandchildren of the sovereign are automatically HRH. Female grandchildren are NOT automatically HRH.
They’re members of the Royal Family but not the Royal House. Same thing happens in Norway and Denmark. This is how you streamline the RF. The RH consists of Monarch+spouse, Heir/ess + spouse and their children.
So, they’re still princes/ses of Sweden, and they retain their Dukedoms, but they’re not HRHs. Therefore they will not receive public funds nor be required to “work” for the Monarchy. This gives them the freedom with a lot of perks. I’m sure Prince Oscar’s children will get this deal, too.
Sounds like a sweet deal to me,like benefits minus responsibility.I doubt they will be living a hard life anytime soon.
Plus it’s a good deal for the people of Sweden who pay for it. Less people to pay for. I mean look at the House of Windsor, all the Queen’s kids- 4 plus spouses, Charles’ family, – William’s family and Harry & Meghan, plus Andrew was always trying to get Bea and Eugenie working royal too do although they didn’t. Seriously, that’s expensive. At some point it does need to be paired down.
Just a tidbit: Princess Madeleine married Chris O’Neil (British-American), Chris O’Neil’s mother is Eva O”Neil (British). Eva O’Neil supposedly had an affair with Prince Charles in the mid to late 1980’s.
Ooh juicy….
I must also say, Maddie’s husband Chris is so devastatingly handsome to me. Every time I see a photo of him, I sigh. 🙂
With Madeleine’s children it’s not surprising. In order for their kids to retain their titles, they have to go to school in Sweden or something like that and her husband Chris doesn’t seem like he’s interested to all of these royal stuff.
But with Carl Philip’s case, it’s shocking. Since he’s the King’s favorite and him and his wife seems like they enjoy being royals and doing royal works even bringing their kids on some of their engagements.
Where was it reported that Carl Philip is the King’s favorite child? I really want to read up on the Swedish Royals.
I have always thought that Carl Philip is the best looking living Royal.
The King was not at all happy with the line of succession rule was overturned and CP was knocked out of the running as he was male. There have been persistent rumors that The King made life difficult for Victoria (especially not giving approval for her and Daniel to marry and extending the impossibility of them conceiving children) in hopes that CP can get back to the rights that he felt he deserved.
I’ve always assumed he was the favorite for sexist reasons. Supposedly King Carl thought CP should be king because he’s a male, not his eldest daughter Victoria….which is pretty messed up in my opinion. King Carl after all was made king because he was the only male in a family of all sisters. The laws changed by the time Victoria was born.
The King made a comment a few years ago (3-4 years ago) that he still thinks Carl Philip should’ve been the heir to the throne not Victoria or something like that. Can’t really remember the entire statement.
CP was born The Crown Prince, this is a fact. The law changed months later and it was decided , I suppose by Parliament, that the law should be applied to the existing generation of royal children thus making Victoria The Crown Princess instead. CG made the argument that this was unfair (stripping his son of a title he already had) and should be applied to his grandchildren instead.
He did have a point, however, he went the wrong way about it and continued to express that his son was the rightful heir, not his daughter. I’m sure this caused a lot of friction and strain in his relationship with Victoria.
I don’t know about the particulars, but I know he’s gone down on record as saying it wasn’t fair that it was changed AFTER Carl Phillip was born. Like, when CP was born he was the heir, even though Victoria was older, and then the rules got changed after that. I think the King has said that he was okay with the change in rules in general (first born becoming next monarch, regardless if male or female) but that he didn’t think it was fair to apply it to CP, since he was the heir from birth until the change(I’m not sure when it changed so not sure what difference it made to him lol.)
That’s one of the reasons GB changed the rules before Kate gave birth to George – presumably the rules would have been changed at some point, so changing them before she gave birth eliminated the possibility of what happened in Sweden repeating itself.
I think. I could be completely wrong. Ha!
Interesting. I guess I could understand his point of view if the law was changed when CP was a teenager and had been raised with the expectation of being King one day. But if it was changed when he was just learning to roll over, that’s dumb.
The change of the law was already in the dicussion process when Carl Phillip was born. He initially got the Crown Prince title because the change hadn’t gone through yet, but it’s not as if they suddenly came up with the idea to change things after he was born.
It wasn’t any more “unfair” to take the throne away from a baby boy due to a change in the law, than it was “unfair” to take the throne away from Victoria because a brother was born a few years after her. I mean, Victoria herself was the heir upon birth, and that only changed (for a short time) a couple years later when a boy was born. The change in the law simply restored what Victoria already rightfully had. Her father is just a sexist, cheating, sus scrofa
I wonder how Sofia feels about this. She did not get into this to have her children not be in the Royal House.
Mte.
We always have tea on Kate. Can we get some more tea on Sofia? (eats popcorn)
If he’s really the favorite I find it hard to believe it wasn’t discussed, but I mean she still has the life. I agree with someone above he is the best looking royal alive. She should live her life of ultra privilege and let her kids have fun. I think monarchy’s in the future if they exist will be so different anyway it may not be worth it.
Her boys are still Princes. Will live in a palace. Have the best education. Best of everything. And instead of cutting ribbons can do whatever they want growing up and use their connections and titles to help. They’re going to be just fine.
I doubt Sweden has a monarchy left long in it. The King should abdicate for popular Victoria now. He’s a gross philanderer, sexist with ties to criminals. If the tides turn before, there will be none after him.
That Carl Phillip is a looker. That’s all I’ve got.
I read the statement released by the Marshall and it further clarifies that The King, Queen, CP Victoria and Prince Daniel are “Sweden’s highest representatives within the Realm and other States”. The King determined that Carl Philip, Sofia and Madeleine will be allowed to carry on with their foundations and only perform official duties “to the extent decided by His Majesty”
I wonder why this was decided and how it will affect CP’s funding.
The present Queen of BRF should follow suit and kick Andy and family to the curb. Same for Anne and Ed although I don’t think they would care so much. Pedo would have a major meltdown.
They are all very attractive. That’s all I’ve got.
I’m not sure how I feel about this! I guess in modern age it sort of makes sense but I really loved all their royal children. So is Sofia still a princess???
Everyone is still a Prince and Princess of Sweden. The kids are no longer HRHs but retain all of their titles – they only lost the style.
Sofia is still HRH and Princess.
I’ve never understood why such a progressive country as Sweden still has a royal family at all.
This is they way to go. Next step is to get rid of all of them!
I agree. Specially if you’re being funded by the people’s money.