Her eyes sparkling with happiness, Princess Victoria of Sweden couldn't have looked more delighted to be announcing plans to marry her long-term love Daniel Westling a few months ago.Only those closest to her could have guessed at the long road the couple travelled to get to that joyous moment. One initial challenge faced by the future queen was convincing her parents, King Carl XVI Gustaf and his wife Silvia, that the businessman would make a good husband.
"They wanted to make it clear that I would get the best possible support and backing for my job now and the future," Victoria says in a new biography. "How could they know Daniel could give me that? How would he do it?" Titled Victoria – Queen of the Time, the new book, out November 17, follows the 32-year-old's journey to date, and includes details of her desire to start a family.
Other revelations include how 36-year-old Daniel was suffering throughout their engagement press conference because of kidney disease, which also forced him to miss a celebratory dinner with the royal family. Penned by Herman Lindqvist, Victoria's former private history tutor, the account comes at a perfect time for the Swedish people, who are eagerly anticipating the couple's wedding in 2010.
As Sweden awaits a book documenting Victoria's life, her younger sister Princess Madeleine is pushing ahead with the future.The 27-year-old, who announced her own engagement to lawyer Jonas Bergstrom less than six months after her sibling, is currently on a month-long visit to America on behalf of the World Childhood Foundation.
Madeleine is in the states until October 28, and she will be joined by her mother Queen Silvia towards the end of her stay. The pair will both attend a special gala dinner in New York on October 21 to mark the 10th anniversary of the foundation, which was founded by the Queen 1999.
