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Princess Estelle

February 25, 2012 by · Comments Off on Princess Estelle 

Princess Estelle, Sweden’s newborn princess and future monarch has a name: Estelle Silvia Ewa Mary.

King Carl XVI Gustaf announced his granddaughter’s name, and said the baby girl, who was born Thursday to Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel, will receive the title Duchess of Ostergotland, a province in southeast Sweden.

As Victoria’s first-born child, she is second in line to the throne.

Estelle, a name of French origin, is unusual in Sweden and took royal watchers by surprise, though it isn’t unprecedented in the royal family, which has French roots. Estelle was the name of the American-born wife of the king’s godfather, Count Folke Bernadotte, a U.N. mediator in the Israeli-Arab conflict who was assassinated in Jerusalem in 1948.

Silvia is the name of Victoria’s mother and Ewa is Daniel’s mother’s name.

Mary is not common in the Swedish royal family, but it’s the name of Denmark’s Australian-born crown princess.

The king didn’t explain the reasoning behind the names.

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