Countessmeout
Imperial Majesty
- Joined
- Sep 19, 2011
- Messages
- 13,072
- City
- alberta
- Country
- Canada
What is the criterion to define who is a "prince or princess of Sweden" ? In the Netherlands for example, the law ordinarily restricts the title of "prince/princess of the Netherlands" (with the accompanying H.R.H. style) to:
Other grandchildren of the monarch who are not born to the heir apparent may by law get other titles (e.g. "prince of Orange-Nassau" with a lower HH style), but, since Queen Beatrix's accession, they have been given non-royal titles of nobility instead (e.g. "count/countess of Orange-Nassau" for the children of prince Constantijn and prince Friso).
- A former monarch upon abdication.
- The heir apparent to the throne.
- Legitimate children of the monarch.
- Legitimate children of the heir apparent.
- The consorts of the monarch and of the heir apparent.
In Sweden, on the other hand, it appears that the king decides on his own who should be an H.R.H or not. That is fine as long as the number of people in the line of succession is small (as it is the case now), but, in the future, as the number of direct descendants of King Carl XVI Gustaf grows, I imagine the Swedish Parliament will have to pass specific legislation limiting membership of the royal house or, otherwise, there will be an explosion in the number of "princes/princesses of Sweden".
I wonder what the Swedish citizens on this group think about this issue.
By Swedish law, any descendents of the current king, who are Lutheran, who marry with permission of the state, and who do not come to the throne of another country.
The Dutch limit membership to the royal family in the same way, children and grandchildren of the sovereign. In fact it limits to within three, so if Bea had become a great-grandmother while still on the throne, her great-grandchildren would have been in the royal house. Both her younger son's children were entitled to be Prince/Princess. Friso's lost his place in succession because of his marriage. Constantijn's children were granted lesser titles, by royal act, not by succession laws. His children were in line for the throne until his brother became king, and now they are not.
I don't see the need for them to limit membership. There is something like 500 people in line for the British throne. It isn't like they get money from the state and special priviledges. Sweden is not going to have to pay for any of these children. The king is the only one who gets tax money, he pays out of his money for his kids and grandkids.
The king decides on titles. It was the king who announced Leonore would be a HRH Princess and Duchess. While she would have been in line for the throne either way, her titles were for her grandfather to decide.