A few days ago, some of the Swedish royal jewels were stolen in what was called a “daring heist.” A small collection of the crowns and other bejeweled beauties were on display at the Strängnäs Cathedral. Thieves stole two crowns and an orb. The thieves made their getaway in spectacular fashion, on a motorboat, like Bond villains. To be clear, these were not *THE* crown jewels, they were some pieces in the vast vault of crown-owned jewelry. But it does feel like the Swedish royals are like “f–k this noise, if they’re gonna take my jewelry, maybe I don’t even want to live in Sweden anymore.” That’s just what happened with Princess Madeleine, the younger sister of Crown Princess Victoria. Or maybe Maddie pulled the robbery and now she’s getting the f–k out of Dodge (Stockholm) with a couple of crowns and an orb in her suitcase?!
It’s official: America is getting a royal family. A Swedish royal family, to be exact. Today, the Royal Court announced that Princess Madeleine and her family will move to Florida in the fall.
“The time and opportunity for the United States is good for the family when the children are still in preschool age,” it said in a press release. At first blush, it may seem like a crazy move: After all, Florida is about 5,000 miles away from Sweden—not to mention the different cultures and climates. But Madeleine and her husband, Christopher O’Neill, are actually very connected to the States.
O’Neill is British-American, and he met Madeleine in 2010 while the princess was working in New York City. After they got married in 2013, they stayed in the States for a brief time and welcomed their first child, Princess Leonore. In the years after, they decided to decamp to London and Stockholm, where they had two more children: Adrienne and Nicolas.
The Royal Court confirmed that, upon their move, the family will leave the British capital but still keep a residence in Sweden. Which city or town in Florida is still unknown—however, the Palm Beach Daily News reported that O’Neill’s mother lives in Palm Beach, so perhaps the family of five will be moving closer to her.
My guess is that Madeleine and Christopher aren’t going to be pulling the U-Haul up to a house in Daytona or Fort Lauderdale. My guess is that they’re moving to one of the wealthiest enclaves of the state, Palm Beach or Key Biscayne or whatever (I don’t know a lot about rich Florida enclaves, you got me!). Wherever Athina Onassis and the horse culture people live, that’s probably where Madeleine will set up. As for the move and what it means… I don’t think it means all that much in the grand scheme of things. Christopher O’Neill’s work was always going to take him out of Sweden, and Madeleine knew that when she married him. She was happy living in New York and London, and I got the feeling they only moved back to Sweden to appease her family and the Swedish people, but it was only temporary. Anyway, welcome to Trump’s Murica, Maddie. It’s going to be awful here for a while.
Maddie: Babe, hide this orb for me.
Chris: Where should I put it?
Maddie: YOU KNOW WHERE.
Photos courtesy of WENN, Avalon Red.
By this point, almost half of my extended family lives in Florida. And…I just can’t. Florida is so wholly not my jam. The only thing that would make me move there is if the actual Golden Girls set up a room for me and let me take part in their midnight cheesecake bitch sessions. I would walk around in flow-y silk pajamas all day.
Yes and entertain gentlemen callers on the lanai 🌴🍹
Dream come true honey. I’d be more than willing to hook up with Stan.
Wellington is in Palm Beach County –
https://www.businessinsider.com/steve-jobs-bill-gates-kids-compete-florida-horse-playground-2018-3
I was going to say Wellington or Mountain Lake in Lake Wales.
Lake Wales?? That’s a dump in the middle of nowhere. Are you confusing it with something else?
I feel like the florida climate is going to be an adjustment after Sweden, New York and London, lol.
^This! Also, they need to brace themselves for the storms that come through.
And the humidity! Ugh, after growing up in CA and living in FL 10+ years now, I still haven’t gotten used to it :-/. Plus, FL is kinda a wackadoo state, plenty “News of the Weird!”
Madelaine and Chris are my favorite royal couple. In interviews they never pretend to be perfect as individuals or as a couple. But Florida? I don’t get that.
He already owns a home here. They met there. There’s some history.
Plus perfect place, free of press, to catch tans and enjoy kids before Lenore has to start official school and they all have to move back to Sweden.
Plus his mom lives there so it sounds like they want to be closer to her for at least a few years.
No state income tax. A lot of wealthiest people in the world have residency in Florida but only spend time there during the “season” which is October/November to February/March. It is gorgeous weather near the southern coasts and the breezy nights are a welcome change from icy New York or other wintery, grey places. A lot of the polo/horsey set love it then. They don’t stick around for the agony of the summer weather.
When I moved to Florida, it was a little different than I expected. I thought it would all be like Miami and Orlando, with palm trees, pretty flowers, and pretty houses like the Golden Girls. I couldn’t have been more wrong. There’s more little towns, filled with little houses, horse farms, pine trees,pawn shops and dollar stores, than there are fancy towns. I live in Orlando and spend weekends in Palm Beach, and they are nothing like most of the other slow, country, small towns
Hello, neighbor, I live in Jacksonville : )
Repin’ DUUUUUVAL
*throws up peace and love signs*
My in-laws live in Cape Coral and I just love it there…but it is crowded, it’s actually larger than Fort Myers and everyone has heard of Fort Myers but no one has heard of Cape Coral.
I grew up in Tallahassee! Any other North Floridians on CB?
Ocala resident here! It’s great to see so many Floridians on CB! *waving hello*
Lake Mary FL! Hi!
Jville resident here. I’ve lived in FL since 2004; odd state, more serial killers and weirdos than anywhere else in this country of ours. Oh, and the hurricane season goes on forever. I miss the seasons (from Michigan originally), but Florida is never DULL.
Another Seminole county resident here!
Hear hear Beth! ITA.
I grew up in West Palm Beach. Not my thing. I have lived just about everywhere in this state and have happily settled a few hours north of Orlando. Quiet, boring, everybody knows everybody, old oak trees with Spanish moss, southern accents… Pretty nice 🙂
I am most familiar with South Florida. I have relatives in PB, Delray, and Naples. Mostly snowbirds though. My grandparents have gone there since the 50s. I have a cousin in Boca and one in Jupiter and a friend whose parents live in Sarasota. I kind of like Florida in the winter.
The “ one who shall not be named” is probably chomping at the bit to have a photo taken them at Mar-a Lago
Interesting choice, but if I had the means to live anywhere in the world that I wanted Florida wouldn’t even be close to the top of the list (actually, it wouldn’t be on my list at all). To each his own and all that…
Seriously this.I lived a brief time in Sweden and my dream is to go back with my family for a long stay.I have also been to Florida many times.There is no comparison IMO.The people,culture,architecture,history,landscape,environment-Sweden is one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been and will always be my favorite.
The Swedish press go out of their way to call her spoilt and her husband a failed business man who’s not happy at home. All because she married a man who did not take a title and moved (lots of royals have lived outside they’re counties). While they’re so positive about others in the family, they’re petty about this couple. I don’t blame them wanting some distance before moving back to Sweden permanently.
I don’t blame them for wanting to get out either. They are treated horribly and the tabloid lies are hurting his business.
Same here. Give me Sweden any day, they can have Florida.
I am counting the days until I can get out of Florida. She can have it
People are up in arms because her kids have HRH status and per the constitution, they need to live within the realm in order to keep it. With all that wealth and connections, why in the world would you want to move to Florida of all places?!
The affluent places in Florida are chock full of multi-millionaires and billionaires, aren’t they? Maybe they’ll live in the private, gated places.
If they want their kids to keep their titles and place in the succession, they have to follow certain requirements (wducated in Sweden after a certain age and a particular religion). It isn’t illegal for her to move them out of the country and raise them somewhere else. Her kids don’t need titles and will never ascend the throne. If Crown Princess Victoria was moving to Florida it would be noteworthy. It isn’t for Madeleine.
If they moved full-time to Sweden the tabloids would yell even louder and cause more trouble for their bottom line. Chris has to support this family and the attacks hurt his business. For their future and their kids’ future, they are better off outside of Sweden. Plenty of money management firms are leaving the UK with Brexit anyway.
What have the tabloids been saying to hurt his business? I’m curious.
Madeleine is rich – she inherited a nice little sum from Lilian and I am sure she has other private funds. Chris is rich, too. They will be more than fine living outside of Sweden and away from the media. It’s refreshing to see a royal couple prioritizing their little family over everything else.
I also agree her children do not need titles and styles but maybe it was more about being equal with all of his children and that’s why King Douche granted all of his grandchildren the same rank.
You are right about Brexit. He is being smart and thinking ahead. I wrote about it before but the British part of my family has been in the UK for centuries and they are moving their financial interests out of the country. They are in the economic/finance/banking sector and know what is coming. Apparently, he does too. If the Swedes have been mean to them why wouldn’t he go to a state that is a tax haven for someone like him? There are loads of Europeans in Florida so he probably already has connections and there are plenty of New Yorkers there too. Madeleine probably knows people.
Chris actually has a house in Florida that he’s been trying to sell for a while now, I guess they decided they might as well live there instead of paying the crazy rents of London. People are upset about the status of their kids since the royal family has added 9 HRHs in just a few years, instead of doing what they did in Denmark or Norway where only the crown prince family has this title. The taxpayers are fed up with paying for the royals.
Who the hell willingly moves to Florida if they’re not 65+?
I get the weather in Sweden isn’t ideal, but why not some rich suburb of LA, where the weather and culture and people and politics are better?
Someone who is completely out of means…
The suburbs of LA are not nearly as glamorous as Palm Beach or some areas of Florida. There is another side of Florida that is somewhat hidden and it usually surprises people when they learn about it. The traffic is horrendous in LA and it takes 45 minutes to get places that would usually take someone 15. Plus it is ugly in most parts. No one has ever accused LA of being picturesque unless you live in the canyons or on the coast and even then the culture of Southern California isn’t for everyone. Generally speaking, the East Coast is more European friendly. You can fly from NYC to London in 6-7 hours as opposed to 10-11 hours from LA. Those last 3-4 hours really do make a difference.
The horse stuff is all in Wellington. I wonder if they will move there
Ocala, Florida is known as the horse capital of the world. Horse farms, horse shows, horse statues everywhere. Can’t go anywhere in Ocala without seeing a horse! John Travolta has a house in Ocala, but it’s not really a royalty town
“Wellington is fancier and harder to “break into” as a professional or a compeitor – it’s also a LOT more expensive… Also, Ocala gets a LOT colder and even hotter! It gets down below 30 pretty frequently in Ocala and i have had to break ice on water troughs many times… In Wellington it RARELY gets below 50 and, since it’s still fairly close to the ocean, there is usually a good breeze so it never seems as hot as Ocala does….. “ https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080301094013AArPHKi
See also link I posted above. Daughters of Gates, Jobs, Bloomberg, Springsteen live and compete in Wellington.
Did Athina Onassis move back there or did she stay in Belgium? Would she want to live in the Florida house where her ex-husband conducted his many affairs?
I once had to work in Boca for the summer. Half the people had no clue what an MBA was or how the intern could be making $40 an hour. And it seemed like the entire security industry was based there, probably because of all the houses.
But weird people and disgusting weather aside, there’s a lot to be said about paddle boarding as your morning exercise and going to the beach everyday
I live in S. CA…a much better option for that lifestyle!!! and ah, our politics are much better!
Ugh. Florida? No offense FLA bitches. The 30A is gorgeous, and perfect for vacations, but living there, full time??
After a while, you get used to it. I live near Disney, and its funny to see winter tourists shivering in the cold weather because they dont realize that in the sunshine states winter, it does get cold enough for heavy coats and gloves. I grew up in Massachusetts, and summer there was just as hot and humid as it is in Florida, it just didn’t last as long.
I have family in St. Pete. The beaches are sooo pretty, and you can’t beat the Gulf. My parents and sister absolutely love it there, and visit frequently. My sister plans on retiring early and living on the beach. I live in S. CA, near Laguna and we have the gorgeous beaches, but the water is cold and dark…I wish we had the clear water and warmth of the Gulf!
What is it with royals and those god awful ankle tied espadrilles?
She’s on grass, probably more comfortable to wear than heels.
Hush, I just bought a pair and think they’re very cute and comfortable.
Also…I’m a klutz and can’t walk in heels.
I thought I read the kids had to be educated and living in Sweden to keep their HRH status? Interesting they are choosing to move so far to Florida. I get Chris’s mom is there, maybe she is older and he wants to keep an eye on her for a little bit. I don’t see the big deal, Madeleine is the third child and she and her kids will never ascend the throne. Good for them! They’ll have nice humid weather year-round, apart from hurricane season (which has already started).
My parents live in the Boca area and I loathe Florida. The flatness. The weather. The alligators terrify me. One killed a woman a few weeks ago and all she was doing was walking her dogs. The details are horrific. I’m paranoid near every little stretch of water because of those terrifying creatures. I’ve had to go there with increased frequency as my parents are both in poor health and I dread it every single time.
I’m watching baby gators playing in my backyard lake right now. Ugh! The mating moaning and groaning kept me awake every night for months, and now these tiny babies are growing too quickly. Be careful, because wherever there’s water, there’s gators, and the parents are extra protective of the babies. My dad with dementia forgets that fact, and I worry when he fishes at the pond when he visits me
I lived in FL from 7-10 years old and couldn’t understand how the world could be round. Everywhere is flat. Thankfuly we moved to the Bay Area after. But those white sand beaches and moss dropped oak trees still haunt me.
I loathe the the humidity, the mosquitoes, the politics, pretty much everything. And the crazed people…there’s a good reason for the Florida Man meme.
Florida is all kinds of crazy! The horrendous drivers without insurance, the masses of gold diggers, the humidity etc. etc. SO happy to be out of there!
IIRC, they moved back to Sweden to preserve the royal status of their children, but also see the writing on the wall with regards to long term, hence the move. O’Neill declined a title of his own when they were married.
Chris co-owns a house in Palm Beach and my guess is that they are moving to that home.
Wellington is where Palm Beach horse country is.
The Swedish Royal family is so gorgeous.
Madde is such a sweetheart and he is always such a grump who looks like he wants to be somewhere else.
He suffers from the manly version of Bitch Resting Face. Have you seen their wedding video? He broke down and cried with happiness when he saw Madeleine walking into the church. And watch their joint interview from Skavlan (you can find it on YouTube).
Aww that sounds sweet. I don’t know much about them.
Aww that sounds sweet. I don’t know much about them.
Aww that sounds sweet. I don’t know much about them.
They are a gorgeous family. But is there a rule somewhere that all royal ladies must dress at least 30 years older than their age?