Preparations for royal birth in Sweden

Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel of Sweden are expecting to become parents for the first time in early March. In this connection the Swedish Royal Court has issued a press statement explaining how the birth will be announced and the traditions attached to it.

The first thing that is going to happen is that the Marshal of the Realm will inform the leaders of the realm and then make the news public at the royal website and the Royal Court's Facebook page.

A formal witness confirmation will take place the day after the birth, or if the birth takes place on a Saturday, the witnesses - the Speaker, the Prime Minister, the Marshal of the Realm and the Mistress of the Robes - will sign the confirmation on the first Monday. The witness confirmation is in other words a document with a seal and signatures of the above-mentioned persons.

The King will also convene the Council of State, in which he will formally inform the members of the government of the royal baby's title, names, call name and which ducal title he or she will receive. The Council of State will, as with the witness confirmation, take place the day after the birth or on the following Monday if the birth takes place on a Saturday.

We can also expect a 2 x 21-gun-salute from Skeppsholmen in Stockholm as well as from "the salute stations" in Boden, Härnösand, Karlskrona and Gothenburg. According to the ceremonial instructions of the Swedish Armed Forces (Instruktion för Försvarsmakten, ceremonier; Cerl FM 2010), the salute will take place as soon as the Swedish Armed Forces is formally informed about the birth, but not between 9 p.m. and 8 a.m. and not on Sundays between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m.

In addition a traditional Te Deum - a thanksgiving church service - will take place in the Royal Chapel the day after the birth, unless the birth takes place on a Saturday, as the Te Deum then will be on the following Monday. Invited guests are members of the closest family, representatives of the Riksdag (the Swedish Parliament), the Government and other representatives of the official Sweden as well as members of the court. Invitations to the Te Deum have already been sent out.

See also The Local's article on the same subject, published earlier today.

Postscript 7 February 2012: The Royal Court of Sweden has now provided a translation of the said press release, "Tradition and customs on the occasion of a royal birth".

Updated on 7 February 2012 at 00:15 (postscript added).