Weirdly, I didn’t cover Princess Madeleine of Sweden when she gave birth a few months ago. How did I miss that? I think it was a Friday or something. Because I did cover the pregnancy announcement, which came really quickly after Madeleine got married. Like, this was a honeymoon baby. So, Madeleine gave birth to a daughter in February. Madeleine and her Swiss-American husband Chris O’Neill named their daughter Leonore Lilian Maria. I didn’t think Leonore would have a title because O’Neill declined a title (plus the baby was born in America!), so I really thought the little girl would grow up as Leonore O’Neill, an American girl with big Swedish roots. But as it turns out, she does have a title – she is Princess Leonore, Duchess of Gotland.
Madeleine, Chris and Leonore live permanently in NYC too, which means that Princess Leonore won’t be spending that much time with her cousin, Princess Estelle. Estella is two years old now – Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel welcomed Estelle in February 2012. And the Swedish royal family has just released two lovely photos of Estelle spending time with her two-years-younger baby cousin Leonore. Adorable!
After the photos were released by the royal family’s press office, Madeleine reposted them on her Facebook with the message, “A cousin is a ready-made friend for life… These pictures were taken in mid-April when Princess Estelle met her new cousin Princess Leonore for the first time, in the Crown Princess couple’s visit to the United States.” Leonore will be christened in Sweden on June 8th, which happens to be Madeleine and Chris’s one year anniversary.
I’m also including some months-old photos of Princess Estelle. She is killing me! She has such a wise, distrusting, take-no-prisoners face.
Photos courtesy of WENN, the Swedish royal family.
Oh, that last picture is precious.
I love Estelle and Victoria and Daniel. Their christmas video was ADORABLE. And all the pictures of Estelle at recent events-that kid had personality to spare.
http://vimeo.com/81750146
That video was the cutest thing ever! Thank you for posting!
Ah when Daniel asks her ‘how does the pig go’ and she makes that little pig snort noise-that is so cute!
Love it!!
Adorable! Thanks for sharing
She is so cute!! both are her little face 🙂
Estelle looks a Lot like her papa! So cute, I Like Royals Coverage! From the nice (Swedes and Norwegians and House Orange) To the Lazy (Brits!) to the Trashbags (Monaco) to the Scandalous ( Spain) and the Wannabes (Chantal and her Greek)
Ha! Me too-give me more royals and less Kardashian.
Yes, more other royals, please. I know a little about all of them except the Wannabees. Who are the Wannabees? Sounds juicy!
Hmmm: Wannabes are the Greek royals.
The Greeks were deposed and voted out in a referendum though they retain their titles in exile.
The current Greek *Crown Prince couple are Pavlos and Marie Chantal.
Question to the Royal CBERS: considering the exiled king is referred to as Ex- King blah, blah, isn’t the ‘Ex’ also applicable to the crown prince couple? Being Prince(ss)es will never be taken from them by dint of the usual rules, but insisting on hierarchy when they will never rule again is ridiculous, no?
Unless this is to satisfy the inner workings of the ‘royal’ club.
I’m told that over time almost all people with atleast 50% greek can be easily and directly traced to 1 of the loads of bloodlines that were in line to the throne in Greece. It would be as if I took up a title one day and demanded it be honored because at 1 point my family would have ruled.
Don’t forget that The Greeks are also Princes of Denmark and that Monarchy is still alive and kicking.
Chantal is the modern version of the ‘Dollar Princess’ (impoverished royalty/nobility chooses a rich wife whose mothers have usually plotted and planned their course to royalty )
Camilla wife of Prince Carlo of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, also fits the category
@LAK
Many thanks! I am aware of Marie Chantal many years ago in Vogue along with her 2 sisters.
@Flower
That seems to fit right in with heiresses marrying up into royalty. I had no idea that she, too, was a dollar princess!
Flower: i’d forgotten about their Danish titles. Thanks for the reminder.
And the reminder about the ‘dollar princesses’. Their mother tried so hard to marry all her girls to super wealthy or titled men. I think only Marie Chantal is holding on to her title.
Hmmm: I remember as well when the sisters were the ‘in’ thing for marrying so well.
I’m with you on this one! More royals, please, branching out from our usual Kate coverage.
Joining the chorus. You guys, you know this means we’ll have to comment up a storm if they do the stories!
Yes! More of these stories…….please.
yes please!
speaking of Australia, Danmark’s crown princess is Australian! and much more remarkable than Kate!!
Too cute! I like that Madeleine is living in NYC. That’s pretty neat. Quite a few other royals have done this too. When you really get into royal life, the British Royals seem like their lives are wayyyy less fun (?). A lot of other Royal families around the world get so many perks and freedoms that members of the BRF don’t have.
That is an interesting and (from my observations) accurate insight. The majority of the world’s royals just get on with their lives, smile, and still work with charities, but the BRF seem to carry this reluctance with them. The press attention is more global with the British monarchy than with other houses, +stiff upper protocol, but that’s not a great excuse.
Agreed. I’m not sure if the stuffy ways of the BRF are self-inflicted or due to their higher profile. Right now, the only less fun royal family I can think of is Japan. It is absolutely strict.
Look at those sweeties. I want to kiss their cheeks. So cute!
Those are some strong features between mother and daughter, wow! And I mean that in a good way–both look like they will tell you to get your purse and go home because life is too short for your crap.
Being a cousin and having cousins are amazing. Pre-practice for kids (if you’re into that), can take them to get in sorts of all (safe) trouble, and rag on them because they’re family (ok, so maybe that’s just my family). Don’t see each other in forever? Who cares! Hi Friend! Mice are Friends, not Food!
(Edit: to explain, there’s a song called Hi Friend! by Deadmau5, used as a standard call-answer greeting between all the cousins under 35 in my family).
That is adorable! can I be adopted as your cousin please, MonicaQ?!
super cute. 🙂
Estelle is a beautiful little girl with a lot of personality and Leonore is a pretty little baby (and I never say that about babies)! These pictures are so precious. I really admire Victoria for not hiding Estelle away and allowing her to grow up comfortable in her role. The Scandinavians really have this parenting thing down.
Cannot praise Victoria and Daniel ENOUGH for this. I think they’ve found the perfect balance of letting her get accustomed to dealing with the public and keeping her private.
She really has found the balance. They seem so genuine in their love as a couple and dotting as parents
Estelle gives the BEST faces! Always glaring like she’s more intelligent than we know and she just tollerates us.
I need more of this family!
Who’d have thought that Moe Berg would marry a Princess – TPOH rocks 🙂
GoodNames!
Smocking!
I saw! I saw! I’m in baby clothes heaven! 🙂 🙂 🙂
Smirk mocking? Or are smockings clothes?
See the little pink dress? Smocking is on the chest. First, the fabric is threaded and then pulled tight to make little rows of ruching, which you can leave plain, or hand stitch with a design. I just love it for some reason, in fact I learned how to do it, I love it so much.
Oh! Her dress detailing is also adorable, but I couldn’t take my eyes off those little toes!
It’s curious that they live in NYC without title (?) and yet the baby is styled a princess. Does that mean she is called Princess Leonore in the states? It’s confusing.
Strong featured and strong willed women all, those Swedes. And I say that as an absolute compliment.
Lovely, lovely photos. The Swedes do put out more press photos than the Brits, which I guess makes them more accessible.
If you’re into Swedish royalty, the saga of Princess Victoria’s brother and his girlfriend is full of gossip potential!
And he’s hot too!
Totally agree with you, Suze. I like Victoria from what I’ve seen. Her husband too.
+1 Let’s get some articles on Carl Philip!
Suze
Is he still dating that former pr0n star? I remember reading a rumor they were engaged.
He’s so handsome, but ugh. I wouldn’t want to touch him without having boosters for all my shots again.
Carl Philip girlfriend is not a pr0n star, she was in a reality tv-show and then she posed topless or in a bikini in magazines a couple of times. Everyone can make bad choices in life and I think she realises that. She seems to be a good person.
No, I must be thinking of another than. This one did a soft core video I believe.
FLORC, I think you *are* thinking of Sofia Helqvist, his current girlfriend. Some people consider what she did p0rn, others don’t. The massive cleanup campaign on her has already begun. If you look hard enough, you can find the evidence for her living off of a succession of wealthy men in NYC. And proof that she co-opted someone else’s charity, ran the charity money through her own bank account, and clearly only started doing “charity” work to improve her negative image.
CP Victoria, Daniel & Estelle are my favorite royals. As a matter of fact, it probably could have been said (with some accuracy) that Princess Estelle has had more “working dates” than certain members of the British Royal family prior to their Australian tour.😊
There is also a cute video and picture out there of Princess Estelle shaking one gentleman’s hand. It is so cute. It really is. She seems to be well poised for a 2-year old. Perhaps being a princess / figurehead for a country is something she was born to do😛.
is this the photo you meant?
she met Jonas Bjorkman, one of my fave tenis player…
http://24.media.tumblr.com/d43d9d5311f2f13ce1a474395259eebe/tumblr_mv0wkjzBBU1r6jme9o1_1280.jpg
Apart from the adorable factor, I get the serious vibe. Baby girl is being groomed for the top spot, with love, and is acing it better than Waity. So different from the British Royal Family dramarama.
Yes, lower-case deb, that’s the picture. I love seeing little Estelle. She is so adorable and looks to have a lot of personality.
Thanks for finding and posting it.
Awwww. That’s really cute.
And Dena, that’s probably true!
That picture of her shaking his hand is SO cute!
Princess Estelle reminds me of Angela Merkel. She really does. I even think Princess Estelle looks like her. Both have the same considering “look” about themselves and you can see the intelligence and the quiet deliberation in emanating from both their faces.
Princess Estelle is such an adorable little cutie. She seems very curious and intelligent.
All kinds of adorableness in that family.
Chris & Madeleine will eventually have to move back to Sweden. I think by the time Leonore is 6, so she can be raised Swedish. It’s all part of keeping her place in line to the throne.
Aww so much cute! And baby feet!
Estelle is my favorite royal baby. She has so much personality; her at Madeline’s wedding killed me.
Still waiting to see how much of a “bruiser” George is really going to be.
Also it’s only the Brits that still do the patriarchal title passing.
Royal or not these girls are precious. And for me the Swedish Royals are easily my favorite out of the European group. So yes to more coverage.
Estelle makes the best expressions! She’s actually my favorite royal heir (sorry George), and I would love to get more English articles on her and all the Swedish royal family. Crown Princess Victoria seems much more media savvy and hard working than Britain’s Prince William.
Totally adorable children.
We need more coverage. Not only does this royal family look and act adorable, but they work hard and have huge scandals. This is top notch royal gossip and cute baby pictures rolled into 1!
By far my favorite royals! I wish we got to see more of them!
Estelle has her father’s facial expressions haha! And his face. Daniel looks like a pleasant and friendly guy but he has such a serious face. Estelle looks a lot like that.
Late to the game, but I’m just chiming in to say that I agree with everyone above that requested more royal coverage.
Add me to the list of loving more stories about this family! Loved Estelle in her little princess chair at her aunts wedding! Also what about Victoria keeping her schedule even while with her foot in a boot from a skiing accident. Little Estelle skiing photos were adorable too!
I just hope that Leonore and her family can continue to live in privacy in NYC. There were photos of Madeline’s parents visit to NYC after she gave birth and how unassuming they were going out to dinner, etc,, not an obvious protection officer or caravan of vehicles in sight. Very refreshing!