Sweden: More about the name of Princess Adrienne

I wrote the article about the name of Princess Adrienne on Tuesday evening because I didn't have the time to blog on Monday when the Council of State, in which the name was announced, took place. But I still managed to miss out on some additional information about the name, so I will have to write another blog article on the subject.

The Swedish magazine Svensk Damtidning wrote on 12 March 2018 under the headline «Svensk Damtidning avslöjar – hemligheten bakom Madeleines namnval» («Svensk Damtidning reveals – the secret behind Madeleine's name choice») that Adrienne was a name Queen Silvia had loved for many years. According to the Swedish pastor Adrienne Riddez on her Facebook wall (her message seems to have been deleted), they met eachother some time in the late 1990s and the queen had said: «Oh, is your name Adrienne, that is such a beautiful name. I should have given that to Madeleine!» And a generation later the name was given to Princess Madeleine's third child.

The head of the information department at the Royal Court in Sweden, Margareta Thorgren, seems to have confirmed the story, but also stressed that Princess Madeleine and Chris O'Neill had chosen the name for the simple reason that they liked it. «They chose Alice after Princess Madeleine's grandmother [«mormor» – «mother's mother»] and Josephine after Chris' grandmother [«mormor» – «mother's mother»]. But the name Adrienne stands on its own.»

The last piece of information is quite interesting. Naturally most commentators, myself included, pointed at Queen Josephine of Sweden as the source of inspiration for the name. I should of course have double-checked the ancestry of Chris O'Neill before I published my article on Tuesday night. After all, some information about his family has been published at the Nobiliana forum in the thread «Ancestors of Christopher O'Neill» (too many contributors to mention them all). Svensk Damtidning, and/or Ms. Thorgren, has messed up a bit, though. It is Chris' farmor («father's mother») who was named Josephine, not his mormor: Josephine Cesario, b. around 1896.

Sweden: Princess Madeleine engaged to marry Chris O'Neill

The Royal Court in Stockholm announced today, 25 October 2012, the engagement between Princess Madeleine, youngest child of King Carl Gustaf and Queen Silvia, and Christopher "Chris" O'Neill:

Engagement between Princess Madeleine and Mr Christopher O'Neill
The Marshal of the Realm is delighted to announce the engagement between Princess Madeleine and Mr Christopher O'Neill.

After His Majesty The King of Sweden had given his consent to the marriage between Princess Madeleine and Mr Christopher O'Neill, His Majesty requested the approval by the Swedish Government, in accordance with the procedures set out in the Swedish Constitution.

The wedding date has not yet been decided but it is planned to take place during the summer of 2013.

Svante Lindqvist
Marshal of the Realm

The court also published an interview with the couple as well as Chris O'Neill's CV. The latter informs us that Princess Madeleine's fiancé was born on 27 June 1974 in London, England as the son of Paul O'Neill (d. 2004) and Eva Maria O'Neill, née Walter.* His mother has been married four times and has given Chris two half-sisters: Tatjana and Natascha. Chris also has three half-sisters - Stephanie, Annalisa and Karen - on his father's side.

Christopher, who has both British and US American citizenship, but is not seeking Swedish nationality, attended boarding school in St. Gallen, Switzerland before obtaining a bachelor degree in International Relations from Boston University. He also has obtained a Master's degree in Business Administration from  Columbia Business School in New York.

After graduating he has worked in the finance sector, working for firms such as NM Rotschild & Sons and Steinberg Asset Management. Today O'Neill is a Partner and Head of Research at Noster Capital, which is an investment firm with offices in London and New York City. We are also told that O'Neill enjoys downhill skiing, tennis and golf, while among his other passions are music, literature and - of all football clubs - Chelsea FC.

Chris O'Neill's father is from New York originally, but moved to London in the 1960s. He has Irish, Scottish and Italian ancestry, while Chris' mother is Czech/German.

Mr. O'Neill proposed to the princess in early October. The wedding is planned for the summer of 2013. The couple has for now decided to continue living in the United States.

Princess Madeleine was earlier engaged to Jonas Bergström, but the relationship ended in 2010.

Some news articles today:

• Expressen.se: Prinsessan Madeleine gifter sig med Chris (with links to many other articles in Swedish)
• Aftonbladet.se: Madeleine och Chris har förlovat sig (with links)
• Thelocal.se: Princess Madeleine engaged to Chris O'Neill

* Besides the details from the Royal Court, information for this article is gathered from the thread Ancestry of Christopher O'Neill, at Nobiliana.de, sub-forum Ancestry & Descendancy, with contributions by Netty Leistra, Hein Bruins and the signature "Ronald66".

Photo © The Swedish Royal Court/Ewa-Marie Rundquist.

Updated on Friday 26 October 2012 at 14:10 (mistake corrected, see comments section). Last time updated on 13 June 2013 at 15:00 (Eva Marie O'Neill's nationality was earlier presented as Austrian, but now corrected to "Czech/German", cd. Expressen 4 June 2013. Mrs. O'Neill was born in Karlovy Vary in the then Czechslovakia in 1947, but was brought up in Germany).