Christopher O’Neill denied a royal title when he married Princess Madeleine of Sweden in 2013. Even though he has accompanied his wife on official engagements several times, this is one of the first times Mr O’Neill has spoken to the press.
Chris O’Neill has given an exclusive interview to the Swedish magazine about men’s fashion, King. The next edition of King will be up for sale next week. It is only the second time, the husband of the Swedish Princess Madeleine has given an interview and talked to the press. It is, however, the first time he has talked about being part of the Royal Family and being married to a Princess.
When asked about what it felt like to be married to a Princess, he said: “I’ve met the woman of my life, the woman I love. But it is clear that it has its challenging sides to be married to a princess. Of course, it has complicated my life, for obvious reasons.”
Marrying a princess also brings along lots of media attention. Princess Madeleine had stated before that it was easier to cope with the press when they still lived in New York, but when the family comes to Sweden, they are followed around a lot. Christopher O’Neill spoke about this in the new interview: “I have no desire to achieve any kind of fame, nor have any benefits of it in my professional life. It happens that I’m mad about Madeleine. But in the end, you learn to live with it.”
In the interview, Christopher O’Neill talked about how much respect he has for his wife. He also spoke about the negative reactions his wife sometimes gets, definitely when it comes to Princess Madeleine being lazy. Christopher said: “It happens that I read in the media and react to insinuations that she does not really work as Princess of Sweden, and I get upset on her behalf. She sometimes chooses not to use her princess title in what she does, which means that much of her work can happen behind the scenes, which in turn means that the press rarely draws attention to it. And why should they? She has made an effort just to avoid it.”
After Mr O’Neill was asked about his job, he was interviewed about what the family does in their free time. Chris said: “Pilates, trips, playing with the children, skiing and dinner with our friends,” when asked how they choose to spend the weekends.
He also revealed Princess Madeleine loves to watch Suits (the series in which Meghan Markle plays Rachel Zane) and The Crown, the show about the life of Queen Elizabeth II and her family. Christopher prefers to read and listen to music and is not such a fan of watching tv series.
Then it was time for a question the couple always gets. According to the Swedish law, for the children of Princess Madeleine and Chris to remain in line to the throne, they need to be schooled and live in Sweden from the age of six. Thus the couple, who currently lives in London, is always asked whether they plan to move to Sweden anytime soon. Christopher O’Neill revealed the couple is keeping all their options open as he said: “Good question. The answer is that we do not know, and therefore we take all steps to prepare them for what we could call a normal life. A good education, for starters. We are in the queue for schools in London, which we need to do four years in advance, but we take a year at a time.” The couple’s older child, Princess Leonore is to turn four later this month.
