Royal baby joy! Prince Gustav and Princess Carina of Denmark welcome first child via US surrogate
Prince Gustav and Princess Carina of Denmark have announced that they have welcomed a baby boy with the help of an American surrogate mother.
The couple, both 54, have been together for more than 19 years and married in a lavish ceremony in Germany last summer.
Gustav – Queen Margrethe’s cousin – and Carina fought for years against a strict inheritance rule set by the Prince’s Nazi grandfather in the 1930s that prevented them from tying the knot.
The Danish royal family issued a statement on behalf of the couple earlier this week confirming their happy news.
The statement read: “The newborn prince was born in the United States with the help of a surrogate mother.
Prince Gustav and Princess Carina of Denmark pictured together in 2010. Until last year, the couple was not allowed to get married due to a rule by the royal family’s grandfather, Prince Gustav Albrecht.
“Both Prince Gustav and Princess Carina were present at the delivery.
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Prince Gustav is the son of Princess Benedicht, the sister of Queen Margrethe, and her husband Prince Richard, who passed away in 2017 at the age of 82.
Until last year, Gustav and Carina were not allowed to marry due to a legal clause from the grandfather of the royal family, Prince Gustav Albrecht.
In the 1930s he drew up his will to prevent relations from inheriting family property if they marry someone who is not of Protestant, noble or Aryan descent.
In 1944 he went missing while serving as an officer in the German army, on a mission near Orsha, Belarus. The soldier was declared MIA and no one asked for an official death certificate until Gustav was born in 1969.
Gustav’s father, Prince Richard, was able to inherit property because his wife – Princess Benedicht of Denmark – met the strict and controlling criteria.
However, 54-year-old Carina Axelsson, an American author best known for the teen fashion detective series Model Under Cover, has Swedish and Mexican ancestry and therefore did not meet the will’s agenda.
Before meeting Carina at a dinner party, Gustav was engaged to Elvire Pasté de Rochefort, who came from an aristocratic French family.
Crown Prince Frederik (far left) and Princess Mary (far right) attended the couple’s wedding at Berleburg Castle in Germany
However, their wedding was called off just two months before the wedding.
Gustav reportedly met Carina in 2003 and the author later moved with him to the Schloss Berleburg estate.
“She even often appeared wearing a sparkling ruby and diamond cluster ring on the ring finger of her left hand,” reports The Court Jeweler. “But marriage, it seemed, was out of the question.”
After Prince Richard’s death in 2017, Gustav faced a legal battle when his great-uncle Prince Ludwig-Ferdinand claimed he should be given the fortune, City and country reports.
In 2019, according to the Dorset Echo, Carina (pictured in 2020) split her time between Germany and Purbeck, enjoying the English city as a quaint ‘writing ball hole’
In the 2019 interview with the newspaper, Carina had also revealed that she loved literature from an early age. Pictured in 2020
In 2020, German courts ruled that Gustav met the conditions of the will and could inherit Berleburg Castle, where he and his wife were married for 80 guests, including Prince Frederik and Princess Mary.
According to the Dorset echoin 2019, Carina split her time between Germany and Purbeck, enjoying the English city as a quaint “writing bolthole.”
The author, who grew up in Silicon Valley, California, told the outlet that her own experience of the monarchy inspired her to write the Royal Rebel series, which is about a fictional teenage princess.
“I also wanted to break the idea that princesses can do and have what they want,” she said.
“In fact, as part of a reigning monarchy, life can be privileged, but it’s very different from what people imagine.”
In the 2019 interview with the newspaper, Carina had also revealed that she loved literature from an early age, especially the works of Beatrix Potter and CWAnderson.
She has also worked as a model – including shoots for Vogue, Elle and Armani – the career path that initially led her to Europe.
Carina balanced her modeling work in Paris with evening illustration classes before embarking on her foray into the creative industry and eventually book writing.