28 March 2021

Sweden: Prince Julian Herbert Folke, Duke of Halland

The Marshal of the Realm announced earlier today that the King in the Council of State held at the Royal Palace in Stockholm had announced the name and ducal title of Prince Carl Philip and Princess Sofia's third son, who was born on Friday 26 March:

Prince Julian Herbert Folke, Duke of Halland

The call name will be Julian. I was not too surprised that Prince Carl Philip and Princess Sofia didn't land on a more traditional royal name. When you get so far down in the line of succession you obviously have more freedom. Personally I think the name goes well Julian with Alexander and Gabriel. It is not among the most popular names in Sweden. Julian was no. 77 in the list of male names chosen for babies born in 2020, down from no. 74 in 2019. Folke was no. 83, while Herbert was not in the top 100 list at all.

All in all, as of 31 December 2020 there are 4444 men who have the name Julian in Sweden, while 3060 of them have Julian as their call name, i.e. the name in daily use. Julian is also a female name - in 2020 there were 22 of them, while 17 had Julian as their call name. And there are 6 people who has Julian as their surname. What about Herbert and Folke? The numbers are 5484 (623) named Herbert and 17388 (3809) named Folke with the call name in parentesis.

The genealogist and author Ted Rosvall has in a message in the Facebook group Royalty Digest Quarterly pointed out that Herbert is the second name of Princess Sofia's maternal grandfather Janne Herbert Ribbe Rotman (1934–1996), so that could be an explanation for the name. See my previous blog article on Princess Sofia's ancestry for more details. 

The third name Folke is easier to explain, as it is the third name of Prince Julian's grandfather King Carl Gustaf Folke Hubertus. The king was named after the diplomat Folke Bernadotte, Count of Wisborg (1895–1948).

Prince Carl Philip's great uncle Prince Bertil (1912–1997) was Duke of Halland, and as Prince Carl Philip and his family are now residing in Prince Bertil's old home at Djurgården in Stockholm, Halland is a good choice.

Prince Julian was the first member of the family to be born after the King in 2019 decided to «downsize» the Swedish Royal House, meaning that Prince Julian is not a member of the Swedish Royal House, only a member of the Royal Family. 

The now 2-days-old prince was born as no. 7 in the line of succession to the Swedish throne. The complete line is now as follows:

  1. HRH Crown Princess Victoria (b. 1977)
  2. HRH Princess Estelle (b. 2012)
  3. HRH Prince Oscar (b. 2016)
  4. HRH Prince Carl Philip (b. 1979)
  5. Prince Alexander (b. 2016)
  6. Prince Gabriel (b. 2017)
  7. Prince Julian (b. 2021)
  8. HRH Princess Madeleine (b. 1982)
  9. Princess Leonore (b. 2014)
  10. Prince Nicolas (b. 2015)
  11. Princess Adrienne (b. 2018)

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