Sweden royal birth: Prince Daniel of Sweden announces the birth of his first child to the press at the Karolinska University Hospital in Stockholm, on Thursday. Sweden's Crown Princess Victoria gave birth to her first child early Thursday, a baby girl that is second in line to the throne, her husband, Prince Daniel, said. (AP/Jonas Ekströme)
Sweden's
Crown Princess Victoria gave birth to her first child early Thursday, a baby
girl who will be groomed to one day become the country's figurehead monarch.
Victoria's husband, Prince Daniel, said the
girl, who is second in line to the Swedish throne, was born at 4:26 a.m. (0326
GMT) at the Karolinska University Hospital
in Solna, a suburb of Stockholm.
She was 20 inches (51 centimeters) long and weighed 7.23 pounds (3.28
kilograms).
"When I left the room the little princess was sleeping on her mother's
chest and they were looking very cozy," an emotional Daniel told
reporters. "The little daughter and the crown princess are doing very
well."
Victoria
married Daniel, a commoner and her former personal trainer, in June 2010. In
August last year, the Royal Court
announced that Victoria
was pregnant.
Sweden's
top news sites proclaimed the royal birth with bold headlines Thursday, as TV
stations broadcast live from the hospital. The country had eagerly awaited the
announcement all night after the Royal
Court confirmed after midnight that Victoria had checked in
to the hospital.
Daniel said he was "pretty nervous" during the birth and that he
cut the baby's umbilical cord. The girl's name would be announced later this
week, he said.
Victoria, 34,
is next in line to the throne held by her father, King Carl XVI Gustaf, since
1973. Sweden changed the
constitution in 1980, three years after Victoria
was born, to allow the eldest heir to inherit the throne, regardless of gender.
Before that female heirs were excluded.
Like in neighboring Scandinavian countries, the monarch is primarily a
figurehead, representing the country as the head of state but whose powers are
limited to ceremonial functions. One of the Swedish monarch's most prominent
duties is to hand out the prestigious Nobel Prizes at the annual award ceremony
in December.
Victoria
is widely admired by Swedes for being down-to-earth and unassuming. It's not
uncommon to see her and Prince Daniel venture out of their lakeside palace for
a stroll in a nearby public park, with security guards in tow.
Dr. Lennart Nordstrom, who was present during the delivery, said there were
no complications. The royal couple had specifically requested that they should
not receive any special treatment, he said.
"Both the crown princess and Daniel have been adamant that they should
receive the same care as everyone else," Nordstrom told The Associated
Press.
The royal family in general, and Victoria in particular, are highly popular
in Sweden, which helps explain why the centuries-old monarchy has survived even
though the concept of inherited privilege runs counter to the egalitarian
character of modern Swedish society.
However, voices calling for a republic have been emboldened in recent years
following the scandal surrounding an unauthorized biography of the king in
2010, with claims of seedy night club visits and an extramarital affair.
A close friend of the king caused him further embarrassment when he was
caught on tape negotiating with mobsters in an apparent attempt to keep
unflattering information about the king's entourage from the public eye.
The Swedish monarchy rests on traditions stretching back to the end of the
Viking age, more than 1,000 years ago, but the current dynasty was founded in
1810, when French marshal Jean Baptiste Bernadotte was elected as successor to
the throne.
