Can a royal who grew up third in line to the throne marry a wealthy American and transfer over there? Swedes have been right here earlier than: Princess Madeleine, sister to the Crown Princess, did this just a few years in the past. She now lives in Florida, and her instance might be instructive to Prince Harry and Meghan.
Like Harry, she first tried love at dwelling, however it didn’t work out: her 2009 engagement to Jonas Bergström, a lawyer, was damaged off after rumours of him dishonest on her. The information rocked Sweden and when she moved to New York shortly after, it was seen to be fairly comprehensible.
After which she simply stayed there. She labored for a charity her mom, Queen Silvia, had arrange, fell in love with American-British financier Chris O’Neill and even gave start to her daughter abroad (though lots of people remarked that it’s unusual certainly {that a} princess might be born in a rustic with out kings and queens). O’Neill selected to not turn out to be a Swedish citizen which might have allowed him to be titled Prince.
So now he’s simply Mr O’Neill. He has no have to turn out to be a member of the royal family, in contrast to the lady who married Madeleine’s brother, Prince Carl-Philip. Sofia, well-known from the Swedish equal of Love Island, reportedly agreed to take away all her tattoos with a laser to get a seat on the royal desk.
Princess Madeleine’s American exile goes fairly nicely. She has lived overseas 9 out of the final ten years, and Swedes don’t appear to thoughts. She returns to Sweden rather a lot, spending final summer time there. She provides interviews with magazines like Mama, which portrayed her as an incredible mom. She’s virtually as adept at Instagram as Meghan, and shares photos of happy half-Swedish children on sunny Florida beaches.
They’ve additionally agreed to forfeit royal titles for his or her kids. On the finish of final yr, Sweden’s King determined that kids not in direct line of succession shouldn’t be known as “royal highness” nor anticipated to carry out official royal duties, and due to this fact they gained’t obtain cash from the state. He was apparently impressed by Prince Charles. An excellent instance of slimming down the monarchy in fairly a non-radical approach.
The royal household in Sweden will get roughly £12m per yr from taxpayers and the King decides the way to cut up it throughout the household. Whereas there aren’t any public figures detailing how a lot every member often will get, it’s understood that it’s in proportion to their royal duties. Princess Madeleine’s home in Florida is just not paid for by the state (she has a wealthy banker husband to fund all of that) however she does get compensated for showing up on Sweden’s National Day in traditional dress. Appears solely truthful.
So why can’t Prince Harry do the identical? If he desires to maneuver to Canada with Meghan, get a job and attempt to reside a traditional life – and if the burden on the taxpayers might be restricted to compensating him for the royal duties he performs – I don’t see any the reason why not. Their recognition may solely enhance from what it’s now.
Each Princess Madeleine and Prince Harry have an older sibling with two (or extra) kids, to do the royal heavy lifting (with out complaining). Prince William and Victoria, Sweden’s Crown Princess, give the general public all of the “younger royal household” drama they’ll need. Madeleine has established an essential precept: the place their youthful siblings reside or what they do is admittedly of little curiosity, so long as they’re not dwelling extravagant taxpayer-funded lives. She has pioneered a sublime approach out of the monarchy and in a foreign country. The street is there for Harry to observe.