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ROYAL BABY

ROYAL FAMILY

Chris O’Neill tells of joy over new Swedish prince

New dad Chris O'Neill told reporters on Tuesday morning of the family's baby joy after his wife, Princess Madeleine of Sweden, gave birth to their second child yesterday afternoon.

Published: 16 June 2015 08:24 CEST
Chris O'Neill tells of joy over new Swedish prince
Chris O'Neill with his eldest child, Princess Leonore of Sweden. Photo: Jon Olav Nesvold/NTB scanpix/TT

“I am tired but very happy,” O'Neill told reporters on Tuesday morning. The dad-of-two smiled and gave a thumbs-up as he left Danderyd Hospital north of Stockholm just before 8am.

Madeleine gave birth to the couple's baby boy on Monday afternoon, just two days after her brother Prince Carl Philip married Sofia Hellqvist in a busy week for the royal family.

“They were overjoyed and there were tears of happiness. It was very beautiful,” head doctor Sophia Brismar Wendel told reporters at a press conference on Monday.

The new little prince was born at 13:45 according to a press statement by the Royal Court, weighing in at 49 centimetres and 3,080 gram.

He is sixth in line to the Swedish throne and is the second child of the Swedish princess and her British-born American financier husband O'Neill. The couple's first child, Princess Leonore, was born in New York in 2014.

READ MORE: Tributes pouring in for Sweden's royal baby

It has been an eventful few days for the Swedish royal family, with Prince Carl Philip marrying Sofia Hellqvist in a lavish ceremony on Saturday. The occasion was attended by his then heavily pregnant younger sister.

Sweden's new prince is the third royal baby to be born in Sweden in three years. Victoria gave birth to Princess Estelle in 2012.

Madeleine, 33, and her American husband, 40, were married in Stockholm on June 8th, 2013. The pair returned to Sweden from the US earlier this year but announced last month that they were planning to move to London after the new baby's birth.

“The whole family intends to move to England at some point in the autumn…The plan has always been that the family eventually would move on. Chris' business is mainly in England,” royal press spokesperson Margareta Thorgren told Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet, which broke the story.

O'Neill's mother Eve O'Neill lives in central London, while his sister Tatyana is based on an eighteenth century estate just outside the city.

The royal couple are currently living in an apartment owned by Sweden's royal family in central Stockholm.

WORKING IN SWEDEN

Swedish Royal Guards scrap ceremonial helmets over safety concerns

The King’s mounted Royal Guards will no longer be able to wear their iconic ceremonial helmets on parades, after the Swedish Work Environment Authority warned of serious safety concerns.

Published: 7 July 2023 13:53 CEST
Swedish Royal Guards scrap ceremonial helmets over safety concerns

“We take the safety of our employees extremely seriously and we are going to address this immediately,” colonel Stefan Nacksten, head of the Royal Guards, wrote in a statement. 

Employed by the Armed Forces, the Royal Guards are the King’s cavalry and infantry units and are a well-known sight at ceremonies in Sweden, including at the changing of the guard at the Royal Palace of Stockholm every day in summer – a popular spectacle for Stockholmers and tourists alike.

The helmets will no longer be used by Royal Guards on horseback from July 7th, as they do not conform to safety standards for riding helmets, although guards parading on foot will still be permitted to wear them.

They are part of the 1895 parade uniforms and were last modified in 2000. The Armed Forces will now create an entirely new helmet which looks the part, but is also safe for riding.

“We’re working on finding an alternative solution as quickly as possible which meets safety requirements and can also be used during parades,” Nacksten said.

“We’ve been working long-term with this issue but now that it has been assessed [by the Swedish Work Environment Authority] we need to take measures immediately,” he added.

“This is good, and now we’re working to make sure something good comes out of this and we can get a safe riding helmet for parades in place as soon as possible.”

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