Theirs was a love borne of friendship. A quiet love that grew louder based on the foundations of a close companionship. And after seven years, the future queen of Sweden and her commoner boyfriend announced their engagement—even though he wasn’t sure she’d say yes!
Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden, the future queen of Sweden, and her personal trainer boyfriend, Daniel Westling, announced their engagement on 24 February 2009 amidst much press speculation.
Earlier in the day, King Carl XVI Gustaf announced to the nation: “As you may have guessed, there is something very special I would like to convey: namely, the public announcement today of the engagement of Crown Princess Victoria and Mr Daniel Westling. In the past years we have of course got to know Daniel and have understood that he is a young man who works hard and takes life seriously. That is why it is especially gratifying to extend a welcome. It was with pleasure that I gave my consent and, in line with the constitution, accepted the consent of the government. It is of course a special day for us but it is also a special day for Sweden.”
Later in the day, the newly-engaged couple sat under a portrait of King Charles XVI John, the first Bernadotte king—when Crown Princess Victoria ascends to the throne, she will be eighth monarch of House Bernadotte—and shared their love story with the country.
Crown Princess Victoria and Daniel Westling first met in 2001, when the future queen signed up for a gym membership and landed Daniel as her personal trainer. They began a friendship that deepened as time went on.
As Crown Princess Victoria would recall in her engagement interview, it wasn’t love at first sight between the couple. “We were very close friends, and this friendship grew and became love, and it’s a great security to have that base to stand on,” she said.
Asked if there had been a ‘click’, like how King Carl XVI Gustaf once spoke of meeting Queen Silvia for the first time in 1972, she confirmed: “No click, I’m afraid.”
Crown Princess Victoria was in the midst of studying for her future duties as queen and Daniel was building his business, and the two were trying to navigate a relationship without the glare of the press. They were pictured kissing at a friend’s wedding in 2002 and soon the media descended upon Daniel to find out all they could about the future queen’s beau.
In 2004, Crown Princess Victoria spoke of their relationship for the first time, saying in a television programme that “Many unfair things are written. I understand that there is speculation, but some day justice will be done there, too.”
Their relationship continued quietly for several more years. Daniel would join the Swedish royal family at private events in a personal capacity and got to know Victoria’s siblings, Prince Carl Philip and Princess Madeleine, quite well during this period.
He also became close with his future in-laws, though the press would speculate that their lengthy relationship was because King Carl XVI Gustaf disliked Daniel and his commoner background, though Daniel would reveal that “I feel that the king and queen have accepted me with warmth and have supported me so incredibly from the first moment.”
In 2008, Daniel moved into a rented apartment at Pagebyggnaden on the Drottningholm Palace estate. The Royal Court publicly shared the news, and the press began to speculate that an engagement was imminent.
Finally, on 24 February 2009, King Carl XVI Gustaf shared the news that Crown Princess Victoria and Daniel would marry. The future queen said: “With Daniel by my side I feel secure. You have probably noticed in recent years that I have seemed stronger and happier. And now the time has come to begin preparations for starting something of our own and creating a family.”
The wedding date was set for spring or summer 2010, to coincide with both King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia’s wedding anniversary and for the 200th anniversary of the House of Bernadotte.
Later that afternoon, the happy couple sat for a press conference. Crown Princess Victoria opened with a heartfelt thanks to their country “for the support and for the warmth which both Daniel and I have felt during all these years.”
Daniel proposed to Crown Princess Victoria in the gardens at Drottningholm on a sunny winter day where “the ice made a crunching sound in that lovely way it does once in a while,” he’d reveal. “It was a fantastic atmosphere,” he continued, “and I was a bit nervous, of course, and I was hoping that she would say yes, but I wasn’t all that certain of it.”
“And I went ‘Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!’” Crown Princess Victoria confirmed. She added that “It was a beautiful day…in the outdoors. That was all that I wanted.”
Daniel proposed with a brilliant-cut solitaire diamond set on a white gold band, though the couple was secretive about its provenance. “It’s a ring that means so tremendously much to me, but I can’t tell you more than that!” Crown Princess Victoria said, showing off her ring.
Speaking about their long courtship, Daniel said that he wouldn’t have been able to propose after a year of dating Crown Princess Victoria, calling it ‘quite naïve’ to assume it would have worked out. “Quite simply, I have needed this time.”
Crown Princess Victoria agreed, “We have felt that we needed this time. It has been a time when we have not only got to know each other very, very well, but also a time for us to be together with the official duties, and a time to prepare ourselves.”
The couple were asked to share what they loved most about each other, and Daniel, charmingly, got lost simply looking at his future wife. “Don’t you see? You just need to look at her to understand me! But I think that the Crown Princess has a fantastically big heart…I can’t mention one thing in particular, but it’s just all of her and a perfect personal chemistry.”
“With that fantastic security and also that we have so much fun together, we can’t go wrong!” Crown Princess Victoria said.
Crown Princess Victoria and Daniel Westling married on 19 June 2010, the 34th anniversary of her parents’ wedding, at Stockholm Cathedral. The period between Sweden’s National Day on 6 June and their wedding day was known as Love Stockholm Days and became a festival celebrating love and Sweden and their marriage.
After their wedding, the commoner from Ockelbro became Prince Daniel, Duke of Västergötland and devoted his royal work to business, entrepreneurship, health and exercise.
Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel are the parents of Princess Estelle, born in 2012, and Prince Oscar, born in 2016.
