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Royaltynseems very odd to me, perhaps because I’m an American. It seems sonodd that a thoroughly modern country like Sweden still has a king andnqueen, princes and princesses, and laws about who inherits the crown.
Royaltynseems very odd to me, perhaps because I’m an American. It seems sonodd that a thoroughly modern country like Sweden still has a king andnqueen, princes and princesses, and laws about who inherits the crown.n
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nLetnalone the fact that each member of royalty has, in addition to his ornher birthday, a name day—the day of the year associated with his ornher name. March 12 happens to be the day associated with the namen“Victoria,” so it is the name day of Victoria, Crown Princess ofnSweden, Duchess of Västergötland,nalso known as Victoria Ingrid Alice Desiree. (Whew! What a name!)
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Victorianis called the “crown princess” because she is the heir-apparentnto the Swedish throne. (That means that, after her father King CarlnXVI Gustaf dies, she will be crowned queen of the nation.) Swedennused to award the crown to younger brothers instead of older sisters,nbecause of that old-time sexist rule that kings were better thannqueens (despite some amazing examples to the contrary, such asnElizabeth I), but the nation changed that rule in 1980, and now it isnthe eldest born, girl or boy, who becomes the heir-apparent. n
Victorianis called the “crown princess” because she is the heir-apparentnto the Swedish throne. (That means that, after her father King CarlnXVI Gustaf dies, she will be crowned queen of the nation.) Swedennused to award the crown to younger brothers instead of older sisters,nbecause of that old-time sexist rule that kings were better thannqueens (despite some amazing examples to the contrary, such asnElizabeth I), but the nation changed that rule in 1980, and now it isnthe eldest born, girl or boy, who becomes the heir-apparent. nn
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nYou’dnthink that this Swedish princess would have ancestors who were allnpretty much from Sweden…but you’d be wrong! Victoria has somenSwedish ancestry, of course, but her mom was German, and she also hasnBrazilian ancestry, including a connection to Chief Tibirica, anfamous Amerindian chief from Brazil.
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nAlso,nstrangely, Victoria’s predecessors include a tie to the Queen ofnEngland, Elizabeth II. Because of this tie, Victoria is in the linenof succession to the British crown. But there are 204 people ahead ofnher in the line-up to be the King or Queen of the United Kingdom, sonthere would have to be a huge catastrophe for her to wear THAT crown.
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nSee?nIsn’t royalty weird?
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| Snowy Sweden |
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nAlsonon this date:
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nAnniversary of the appointment of a 12-year-old Park Commissioner
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nBirthday of Charles Boycott (the bad guy in the story of how the word boycott was coined)
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