Swedish Princess Madeleine has become engaged to her U.S. boyfriend Chris O’Neill and the couple plan to marry next year, the royal court said Thursday.
“Chris proposed to me in the beginning of October,” the princess said in an interview posted on the palace website, adding that the wedding was planned “sometime in the summer of 2013.” King Carl Gustaf and Queen Silvia said they were “very happy” over the news, as were Madeleine’s siblings Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Carl Philip, and O’Neill’s mother, Eva Maria.
The king had consented to the engagement and has sought approval from the government in accordance with the procedures set out in the Swedish constitution, the palace said.
The couple have been dating for two years and live in New York.
O’Neill, 38, who has US and British citizenship, is a banker. He was born in London and has five half-sisters. His father, Paul, died in 2004.
Madeleine, 30, is the youngest of King Carl Gustaf and Queen Silvia’s three children.
The princess works for the World Childhood Foundation (WCF), a charity set up by the queen. She moved to New York after she broke off a previous engagement to a Swedish lawyer in 2010.
“For the time being we will continue to live in New York due to both of our current obligations. However, we will not exclude the possibility of moving to Sweden in due course,” Madeleine said.
Madeleine is fourth in line to the Swedish throne after her older sister, Crown Princess Victoria, Victoria’s daughter Estelle, and Prince Carl Philip — brother of Victoria and Madeleine.
