Three weddings and a pregnancy

I haven't been able to update my blog lately, so here is a short summary of recent wedding and pregnancy news:

• Prince Muhammad Ali of Egypt married Princess Noal Zaher Shah of Afghanistan at the Çirağan Palace in Istanbul, Turkey on Friday 30 August 2013. Prince Muhammad Ali, b. 1979, is the son of the former King Fuad II of Egypt and his former wife Fadila, née Dominique-France Loeb, while Princess Noal, b. 1978, is the only daughter of Prince Muhammad Daud Pashtunyar Khan of Afghanistan and his wife, Princess Fatima Begum. The bride's father is the fifth son of the late and last king of Afghanistan, Muhammad Zahir Shah (1914-1933-1973-2007). For photos, go here and here (the latter is King Fuad II's official Facebook page).
• Andrea Casiraghi and Tatiana Santo Domingo Rechulski were married at the Princely Palace, Monaco on 31 August 2013. Andrea, b. 1984, is the eldest son of HRH The Princess of Hannover (Princess Caroline of Monaco) and the late Stefano Casiraghi, while Tatiana, b. 1983, is the daughter of Julio Mario Santo Domingo and  Vera Rechulski from Colombia and Brazil respectively. Andrea and Tatiana became parents to Sacha Casiraghi on 21 March 2013 in London. Upon marriage Sacha entered the line of succession to the Monegasque throne due to the rather liberal succession law. See Huffington Post and the Telegraph for photos and more information.
• Gustaf Magnuson and Vicky Andrén were married at Ulriksdal Palace Chapel on 31 August 2013. Gustaf, b. 1975, whose full name is Carl Gustaf Victor Magnuson, is the eldest son of Princess Christina of Sweden and Tord Magnuson and thus a nephew of King Carl XVI Gustaf. Vicky Elisabeth Andrén, whose parents are Elisabeth Malm and Kenneth Andrén, is born in 1983. Among the many guests were King Carl Gustaf, Queen Silvia, Crown Princess Victoria, Prince Daniel, Prince Carl Philip, his girlfriend Sofia Hellqvist as well as Queen Sonja of Norway, who is one of Gustaf's sponsors. See photos at Expressen and Svensk Damtidning.
• The Royal Court of Sweden announced on 3 September 2013 that Princess Madeleine and her husband Chris O'Neill are expecting their first child in early March 2014: "Princess Madeleine and Mr. Christopher O'Neill are delighted to announce that The Princess is expecting their first child. The birth is expected to take place in beginning of March of 2014. No changes to the schedule of The Princess's engagements and work for Childhood are planned during the fall of 2013." (See also Expressen.se.) Princess Madeleine and Chris O'Neill were married at Stockholm Palacce Church on 8 June 2013. As of now the couple lives in New York City, and as far as I know the court has not revealed if the couple plans to move to Sweden before the birth. This could be interesting constitutionally speaking, as the Swedish Act of Succession Article 4 says among others that "princes and princesses of the Royal House shall be brought up [...] within the Realm". However, the poorly formulated article doesn't say anything about what consequence it would have if a prince or princess is brought up outside the realm. Then again, one might ask if the text should be taken literally. Will non-titled children be affected? Personally I would be surprised if the future child becomes a Prince of Princess, but surely we will get more information from the court on this in due time. The preparatory works to the changes to the succession law in 1979 (Prop. 1977/78 no. 71) mentions the possibility of conditional consent to marriage, but I haven't heard anything about such a clause in the marital agreement.

Pretenders to the former monarchies of Egypt, Tunisia and Libya

It has been fascinating to witness through the media how the unrest in Tunisia, which ended with the fall of the dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, has spread to other Arab countries this winter. President of Hosni Mubarak of Egypt was the next one out, and it is today obvious that it is only a question of time before the regime lead by the "Guide of the Revolution" and de facto head of state, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, goes into history too.

As of today most Arab monarchies seem to be safe, including the monarchy of Morocco. The weekly magazine Time published an interesting article on the subject on 22 February 2011, Protests in Morocco: Just Don't Call It a Revolution. But it is impossible to predict what could happen in the weeks and months to come.

Monarchists and "royalty watchers" are discussing the possibility of a restoration of the throne in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya in various forums. I sincerely doubt that there is any considerable support of restoration in any of these countries, but the pretenders might play a role in their respective homeland if they should wish to.

As far as I know the former King of Egypt, (Ahmed) Fouad II, has not publically commented on the events in his home country since the Mubarak regime was toppled. He doesn't seem interested in the question of restoration at all, but its idea has at least some supporters, and two Facebook groups have been created, Restore the Egyptian Monarchy and King Fouad II. The Wall Street Journal's online version had an interesting interview with the former king last year, by the way.

I have not read any news about the pretender to the Tunisian throne, who according to the Royal Ark is Prince (Sidi) Muhammad Bey, b. 1928, but there could of course be articles in Arabic on the subject.

But the pretender to the Libyan throne, Crown Prince Sayyid Muhammad, b. 1962, a grand-nephew to the last King, Idris I, has got some media attention lately, including giving an interview to the TV channel Al Jazeera last week. He didn't rule out the question of restoration, but wisely enough wanted to focus on how to stop the bloodshed. He appeared to be a well-meaning and sympathetic man, although somewhat powerless. It is difficult to say how well-known he is in Libya and how large his contact net is, but if he really wants to build up a support base he needs to travel to the Eastern part of Libya, now controlled by the opposition, and start from there. The Sanussi dynasty has its roots in the Eastern part - Idris was Emir of Cyrenaica before he became King of Libya. Regardless of the chances of restoration, it is nice to see that the flag of the Kingdom of Libya now has become a symbol of freedom and will most likely replace the current flag in due time.

Updated on Monday 28 February 2011 at 23.00 (typo corrected).