Event
June 2013 wedding of Swedish royal Princess Madeleine and British-born American financier Christopher O'Neill
The wedding of Princess Madeleine, Duchess of Hälsingland and Gästrikland, and the British-born American financier Christopher O'Neill took place in Stockholm on 8 June 2013.
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Text from the Wikipedia article “wedding of Princess Madeleine and Christopher O'Neill”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
The wedding of Princess Madeleine, Duchess of Hälsingland and Gästrikland, and the British-born American financier Christopher O'Neill took place in Stockholm on 8 June 2013.
Princess Madeleine is the second daughter and youngest child of King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia of Sweden. As such, she is currently ninth in the line of succession to the throne. In 2009, she was engaged to marry the Swedish lawyer Jonas Bergström, with whom she had been in relationship since 2002. The wedding was set to take place in 2010, shortly after the June wedding of Princess Madeleine's elder sister and heir apparent to the throne, Crown Princess Victoria. In April 2010, however, the wedding was canceled and the engagement was broken off. Madeleine subsequently moved to New York City, where she met the British-born financier Christopher O’Neill. The first time they appeared in public as a couple was in January 2011. Their engagement was announced on 25 October 2012. The wedding was both publicly financed and paid by for by the king (who did not reveal how much he paid). The wedding cost an estimated 3 million kronor.
The ceremony was held at the Royal Palace chapel in Stockholm on 8 June 2013. Lars-Göran Lönnermark, Chief Court Chaplain of the Royal Court and Bishop Emeritus of Skara, and Michael Bjerkhagen, Vicar of the Royal Court, conducted the ceremony. SVT, TV4 and TV4 News broadcast the wedding live throughout the entire day for Swedish viewers. Madeleine wore a wedding dress designed by Italian fashion designer Valentino Garavani. She wore a private tiara called modern fringe tiara. Madeleine was escorted halfway down the aisle by her father King Carl XVI Gustaf. She and Chris walked together for the other half. At the left of the altar sat the crown of Hedvig Elisabeth Charlotte, Queen of Norway and Sweden, the same crown that was present at the baptismal font at Princess Madeleine's christening.
The cake was made of 700 macarons stacked into a pyramid shape.
Princess Madeleine did not adopt the surname O'Neill and instead remained without a surname, allowing her to retain the style of Royal Highness. Christopher O'Neill also did not change his last name, unlike his brother-in-law Daniel, husband of Crown Princess Victoria.
In May 2013, the Marshal of the Realm Svante Lindqvist announced that O'Neill had asked not to be granted royal status and to remain a private citizen. O'Neill wished to retain his UK and US citizenships and his business as Head of Research at an investment firm in New York City, while relinquishing both the citizenships and business are necessary to become a member of the Swedish Royal Family. O'Neill therefore did not become Prince of Sweden or Duke of Hälsingland and Gästrikland. On the website of the Swedish Royal Court he was listed as a member of the royal family until the site was updated.
O'Neill is Roman Catholic and the couple intended to continue residing in New York immediately after their wedding (but later moved to London, England for a few years), but their children will have to be raised in Sweden and as Lutherans, like their mother, in order to have succession rights. On 7 October 2019 Madeleine's father the king issued a statement rescinding the royal status of her three children in an effort to more strictly associate Swedish royalty to the office of the head of state; they are still to be styled as princesses and prince, as well as duchesses and duke of their provinces, and they remain in the line of succession to the throne. Madeleine commented that her children now will have greater possibilities to format their own lives as private persons.
In August 2018, the Swedish Royal Court announced that the princess and her family were to move to Florida.
The following members of foreign royal families attended the wedding:
Text from the Wikipedia article “Wedding of Princess Madeleine and Christopher O'Neill”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.