Today the Danish weekly magazine Billed-Bladet could reveal that Princess Nathalie is pregnant, and that the baby is due in July. More details are expected in the printed version, which will be published on 25 March. According to the article, Princess Benedikte and her husband are, not surprisingly, very happy on the young couple's behalf, and they are thrilled by the thought of a baby at the palace in Berleburg.
The Danish Royal Court, which made a formal announcement of the engagement on 4 January 2010 - Princess Nathalie is a niece of the Danish Queen Margrethe II - has as far as I know still not commented on the story. The news surely comes as a big surprise, if not a shock, to most royal experts and diehard monarchists, as marriage first, baby second, is still "the golden rule" in royal circles, although one can of course find a few exceptions.
Now it also appears, cf. an article published by Euro Dressage News today, that Princess Nathalie and Alexander were married in a civil ceremony shortly after the engagement was announced, which of course means that "the golden rule" has been followed after all. The church wedding is to take place in 2011. Hopefully a formal statement, with more details on the civil wedding, will be issued soon.
Correction: According to the printed version of Billed-Bladet published on 25 March 2010, the civil wedding will take place before the baby is due in July, which obviously means that the information in Euro Dressage News that the civil wedding has already taken place is wrong.
Updated on Thursday 25 March 2010 at 15.10.
The news surely comes as a big surprise, if not a shock, to most royal experts and diehard monarchists, as marriage first, baby second, is still "the golden rule" in royal circles, although one can of course find a few exceptions.
ReplyDeleteIt should be the "golden rule" amongst commoners as well, sir.
I quite agree with the remark made by J.K. Baltzersen. The rule applies to EVERYBODY!
ReplyDeleteMy intention was to point out that it is (still) rather uncommon for royals to have children before marriage, not to open a discussion about family arrangements in general. It was a descriptive comment, not a normative.
ReplyDeleteFor (most of) the reigning royal and princely families a baby born before marriage will have constitutional implications. Princess Nathalie, though, is a commoner and has no succession rights, so constitutionally speaking it wouldn't matter whether her child is born before or after. But the news of her pregnancy has surely raised a few eyebrows... She is getting married before giving birth, though.