Swedish Royal Family - Prince Consort

Prince Consort

On 24 February 2009, the Swedish royal court announced that Victoria, Crown Princess of Sweden would marry commoner Daniel Westling. Sweden has practiced gender-blind primogeniture by law since 1979 (SFS 1979:932). This means that Victoria's is the first case in which first born will inherent the title of King or Queen regardless of their gender. Thus, some questions arose after the announcement as to how the Crown Princess's husband would be known after the wedding.

When Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden married Silvia Sommerlath in 1976, he discontinued the established norm that Swedish princes must marry royalty in order to keep the right to inherit the throne and their royal titles. But men, royal or not, had only twice before, in the 13th and 17th centuries, obtained new title or rank as the spouse of a Swedish princess, and even the queens regnant left no clear precedent : one of them was a king's widow, one unmarried and the latest abdicated so her consort could be king. In Westling's case, the Swedes are now treading on new ground.

The Swedish court announced that upon his marriage to Princess Victoria, who is Duchess of Västergötland (Westrogothland), Westling would receive the titles of "Prince Daniel" and "Duke of Västergötland". This corresponds in form to the style used by previous Swedish princes, including Victoria's younger brother Prince Carl Philip, Duke of Värmland, i.e. Prince + Given name + Duke of Somewhere. The novelty was that Westling's elevation occurred in conjunction with marriage, so his ducal title refers to the same province as Victoria's (which also is something new for men). Daniel Westling was also accorded the style of Royal Highness (HRH), to which Victoria is already entitled, and the full title "Prince of Sweden". They were wed on June 19, 2010.