Royal You Should Know About: Prince Carl Philip
Official Title: His Royal Highness, Prince Carl Philip of Sweden, Duke of Varmland
Place in Order of Precedence: Prince Carl Philip is the only son and the second of three children of King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia of Sweden. He is fourth in the line of succession, after his older sister, Crown Princess Victoria (who we talked about in this post), his niece Princess Estelle, and his nephew Prince Oscar.
Romantic History: Prince Carl Philip dated Emma Pernald from 1999 to 2009, who worked in PR. In April 2010, rumors started to come out that he was dating a former “glamour model” (in European speak, this is someone who does sexier modeling versus high fashion) and reality star, Sofia Hellqvist. In August 2010, the palace confirmed the relationship in a statement. They announced their engagement on June 27, 2014 and were married just about a year later on June 13, 2015.
Sofia was a scandalous choice for a royal bride, given her past. When she was 20, she had posed for photos wearing nothing but a bikini bottom and a boa constrictor, photos that definitely made the rounds when her relationship was made public. She also made it to the finals of Paradise Hotel, a popular reality show in 2005. After the show, she made a big pivot and moved to New York to study accounting, specializing in business development. She has also studied global ethics, child and youth science, children's communication and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in theory, and in Swedish practice at Stockholm University.
Children:
Prince Alexander, Duke of Sodermanland (4)
Prince Gabriel, Duke of Dalarna (3)
Sophia is currently pregnant with her third child and due any day!
In October of 2019, the King issued a statement that they were removing the royal status of Prince Alexander and Prince Gabriel in an effort to limit the size of the Swedish royalty. Their HRH styles was removed, but they are keeping their titles as princes and dukes, and they stayed in the line of succession.
Work and Key Patronages:
Prince Carl Philip and Princess Sofia's work is mainly done through their Foundation, which they established to mark their wedding marriage in 2015, a bulk of the focus is to combat bullying, which Carl Philip was subjected to because of his dyslexia, and which Sofia experienced when they were dating.
The Prince Carl Philip Racing Cup was founded in 2013 and aims to help young people with karting talents progress within the sport. The Prince along with the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences conducts a range of visits to companies, with focus on the companies' creative work.
He is also a patron of several organizations like The Swedish National Dyslexia Association, The Swedish Rural Economy and Agricultural Societies, The International Union for Conservation of Nature, The Royal Swedish Motorboat Club.
Why You Want to Have Tea with Him:
Prince Carl Philip is one of the most handsome royals in Europe - and the Swedish royal family is one of my favorites! When he was born, he was the heir to the throne, but seven months later, a change in the constitution came into effect which made natural birth order the basis for succession to the throne. His elder sister Crown Princess Victoria became heir, with Carl Philip becoming second in line.
He attended several schools in Sweden, but most interestingly to me, in 1994 he attended Kent, a boarding school in Connecticut, although he did not graduate from there. He also studied graphic design at the Rhode Island School of design for a year, and completed a degree in Agricultural and Rural Management at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences in Alnarp.
Prince Carl Philip is very athletic and in 2003, even completed the historic Swedish "Vasaloppet", the longest cross country ski race in the world. He also enjoys racing cars and has a special license that allows him to compete - he’s taken part in the Porsche Carrera Cup Scandinavia, and since 2013 he has raced in the Scandinavian Touring Car Championship.
Like most European royals, he completed military service, and he joined the Amphibious Battalion at Vaxholm Coastal Artillery Regiment as a combat boat commander in 2000. In December 2002, the Prince was promoted to second lieutenant, and in 2004 to the rank of lieutenant in the Swedish Amphibious Corps. In 2007 and 2008 he attended the Swedish National Defense College. The course was divided in three weeks autumn 2007 and three weeks spring 2008. After that course he was appointed captain. On 1 October 2014, Prince Carl Philip achieved the rank of major.
I love that he is a race car driver, intense athlete, graphic designer and military man. He is also extremely close with his sisters and very supportive of Crown Princess Victoria. She even planned his “stag weekend” - whisking him away on a surprise trip to Greece with friends before his wedding!