Category: Prince Daniel

To this American, Sweden’s Prince Daniel seems like a good guy. He’s the “commoner” who married Crown Princess Victoria after a lengthy courtship. By all appearances, he is a loving father and dutiful consort to the crown princess. He never seems intemperate or inappropriate. If anything, he comes off as a bit too guarded and reserved, but maybe still waters run deep. In February 2022, there were rumors in the Swedish gossip media that Daniel and Victoria were on the verge of divorce, and that they were close to announcing their formal separation. They took the extraordinary step of issuing a public statement denying the rumors. But the rumors persisted… for a short time, and then people just sort of forgot about them. Daniel turns 50 years old on September 15 – this Virgo King shares a birthday with Prince Harry, remarkable! In advance of his big 5-0, Sweden’s public broadcaster put together a documentary about Daniel, and he’s interviewed in the show. He spoke about those rumors last year and why he and Victoria issued a statement.

Prince Daniel of Sweden is shutting down speculation that his marriage to Crown Princess Victoria is on the rocks. On Tuesday, The Times reported that the 49-year-old royal debunked the gossip in a rare interview with SVT, Sweden’s national public broadcaster.

The comments came in the televised special “Prince Daniel 50 years,” local outlet Expressen reported, which aired ahead of his 50th birthday on Sept. 15. During the sit down, Daniel spoke about the reports of impending divorce that emerged last year. The couple later made a statement disputing the allegations.

“Many friends from across Sweden and overseas have got in touch and things arrived at a certain point where we felt we could no longer accept it,” Prince Daniel told SVT, per The Times. “I don’t think there is any reasonable person who believes in this rumor.”

Crown Princess Victoria’s husband added that the “mean, false rumors” created “serious consequences” for his family.

According to the outlet, Stoppa Pressarna alleged that the marriage was in crisis over “incredible betrayal” in early 2022, and the statement soon came from the Swedish Royal House. Despite the denial, The Times said the celebrity news site has continued to run related reporting, perhaps prompting Prince Daniel to speak out again.

[From People]

“I don’t think there is any reasonable person who believes in this rumor.” I mean… that’s not the strongest denial ever, especially since (as the Times of London reports), Stoppa Pressarna stood by their reporting, with reporter Daniel Nyhlen saying: “We had very credible informants, including special police guards and other staff close to the couple. I really had no qualms about it. This is about Sweden’s constitution.” Yeah, I actually thought there was some grain of truth to the reporting. Maybe it wasn’t a huge falling out, maybe they weren’t actually talking about divorce, but it did feel like something shifted and that their marriage was suddenly a bit shaky. I don’t know though, I’m just going off vibes.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid.

In February, there was a surprising story coming out of Sweden’s tabloids. It was very specific, and yet vague in some notable parts. The tabloids claimed that Prince Daniel had betrayed Crown Princess Victoria in some way, and that there were high-level discussions about what would be done if Victoria and Daniel split up. They said that arrangements were already being made to allow Victoria and Daniel to live separately, and that she was still making up her mind about whether she wanted a divorce. Then something extraordinary happened: Daniel and Victoria issued a joint statement on social media, telling the world that their marriage was and is fine and the tabloids were wrong.

Within all of this was the fact that Victoria and Daniel had barely been seen together in recent months, and Daniel had begged off a big, important event in late December. That seemed to be the catalyst for the tabloid stories, the lack of highly visible joint appearances. Daniel and Victoria’s joint statement happened on February 19th. Since then, they’ve stepped out together twice, once on February 24 (at the Swedish Institute for European Policy Studies) and then today at the Stockholm School of Economics, the photos of Victoria in the burgundy suit. Vicky and Daniel made sure to be seen arriving together at both events, wary of the “living separately and only reuniting for events” conversation.

So, was it all just some random false gossip from Swedish tabloids? Are Victoria and Daniel fine? Was there any kind of betrayal? Is Daniel on the verge of being sh-tlisted and divorced? Hm.

February 24th photos:

Photos courtesy of Backgrid.

So… what’s going on with Sweden’s Crown Princess Victoria and her husband Prince Daniel? They’ve always seemed happy together and adoring of each other in an almost wholesome way. They’ve been together for about twenty years, and married since June 2010. They have two children, Princess Estelle and Prince Oscar. There’s never been a whiff of scandal about them since their marriage, or at least not a whiff of scandal which has made it mainstream. But they posted this Instagram (above) with this message. Here’s the version translated by People:

“It has come to our attention that there are widespread negative rumors about our private relationship. Allegations are being spread about betrayal in the relationship and an impending divorce. Normally, we do not comment on rumors and speculation. But in order to protect our family, we wish to make it clear, once and for all, that the rumors that are now spreading are completely unfounded.”

[From People]

So what is this all about? This is the first time where Victoria and Daniel have issued any kind of joint statement to combat negative press or gossip about their marriage. But then again, I’m not aware of much bad gossip about them anyway. It’s more than possible that the Swedish tabloid/gossip press has been running stories about the state of their marriage for years though, and that the goss has just never gone mainstream.

Speaking of, we were sent this story from a Swedish tabloid (I think it’s called Stop the Press), which claimed that Victoria and Daniel have been in crisis since Christmas, when she learned of an “incident” involving Daniel. This is why Daniel didn’t go to The Swedish Academy’s Christmas show (the palace claimed he had a cold and that’s why he didn’t go). Since then, Daniel and Victoria have been in crisis talks and couples therapy, and Daniel has also been talking to his father-in-law, King Gustaf, about what would happen if Victoria decides to divorce him. Victoria has also informed her father that she’s considering divorce too. According to these sources, Vicky and Daniel’s marriage woes have been an open secret among staff, especially since Daniel has basically moved out? The king bought a country villa, Villa Loviseberg, which will be Daniel’s home if Victoria divorces him, and Daniel has already been “seen” at the country home several times over the past month.

So… there seems to be some really detailed gossip about the state of their marriage, so much so that they issued the denial. Given the tabloid story, doesn’t the denial kind of read as terse? I don’t know. It could be that Victoria hasn’t decided whether or not she wants a divorce. Or it could be that they have had some problems and they’re working through them and all of this hit way too close. Or maybe it’s all bullsh-t.

While Victoria went solo at the Swedish Academy thing on December 20th, she and Daniel were together at an event on January 27 (Vicky in the black pantsuit). And before that, they were together at the Nobel Prize ceremony on December 10th. Hm.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid.