Prince Gustav of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg, eldest son of Princess Benedikte of Denmark, has become a father for the first time. The current head of the German princely family and his wife, Princess Carina, attended the birth of their child via surrogate in the United States. The baby is Princess Benedikte’s fifth grandchild and a new great-nephew of Queen Margrethe II.
Also read: The Danish Royal Family at the wedding of Prince Gustav of Sayn-Wittgenstein
Birth of an heir in the Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg family
The Danish Royal Court announced the good news on May 31, 2023. Prince Gustav of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg, first cousin of Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark and nephew of Queen Margrethe II, became a father at the age of 54 on May 26, 2023. last year, prince Gustav was finally able to marry Carina Axelsson, his companion for 20 years. The discriminatory terms of a domestic contract drawn up by his grandfather had prevented him from getting married, until the recent invalidation of this will by the courts.
Given the age of the newlyweds, they called on a surrogate mother to fulfill their desire to become parents. Germany is a European country where the call for a surrogate mother is much more complicated, due to a 1991 law which greatly limits the manipulation of embryos. In vitro fertilization is allowed but the law only allows women to have their own embryo in their body. A woman can therefore only give birth to her own child.
Read also: Divorce in the Danish royal family: Princess Nathalie of Sayn-Wittgenstein separates from the father of her children
The little prince long awaited by Prince Gustav and Princess Carina
For the time being, the Royal Court has not yet revealed the first name of the child, but we know that he is a little prince and therefore an heir. Gustav having only two sisters, the title would have been passed on to his uncle Robin (aged 85) then to Prince Sebastien (son of Prince Robin) for lack of a direct descendant.
It is also known that Gustav and Carina attended his birth in the United States. The child was born within the marriage of his parents. He is also the biological child, a fortiori, of his two parents. Usually, during surrogacy performed in the United States, the surrogate mother does not share genetic ties with the child they are pregnant with.
Almost a year to the day after their wedding, in June 2022, the couple welcomes their first child. The wedding was long overdue in the Danish royal family, with the prince having been in a relationship with Carina for two decades. Despite the absence of marriage, Carina was accepted into the family and allowed to attend official events usually reserved for married couples. The couple have long preferred not to marry because of the will of their grandfather, the former head of the family, which required a marriage of equal rank with a woman “Aryan, noble and Protestant” so that his heir could keep the castle of Berlebourg. Justice confirmed the inheritance of the castle in 2020, finally allowing the prince to marry.
Read also: Prince Gustav and his young wife injured in a horse-drawn carriage accident at Lake Starnberg
Princess Benedikte becomes a grandmother for the fifth time
Prince Gustav is the nephew of Queens Margrethe II of Denmark and Anne-Marie of Greece, as well as the grandson of King Frederick IX and Queen Ingrid, née Princess of Sweden. His mother, Princess Benedikte, 79, still works full-time for the Crown. In 1968 Benedikte married Prince Richard of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg, who was the head of the old German princely family.
After her marriage, Princess Benedikte moved to Bad Berleburg Castle, her husband’s stronghold, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, where the couple raised their three children, a son and two daughters: Prince Gustav, Princess Alexandra and Princess Nathalie. Growing up outside Denmark, all three children lost their place in the line of succession to the Danish throne. Prince Gustav, dynastic heir to Prince Richard, became the 7th Prince of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg on the death of his father in 2017. Alexandra and Nathalie are both mothers of two children. Count Richard von Pfeil und Klein-Ellguth (1999) and Countess Ingrid von Pfeil und Klein-Ellguth (2003) are the children of Princess Alexandra. Konstantin Johanssmann (2010) and Louisa Johanssmann (2015) are the two children of Princess Nathalie.
The Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg family ruled the sovereign county of the same name for nearly two hundred years. The county was located mainly around the town of Berlebourg. In 1792, the county was raised to the rank of principality. In 1806, the principality was absorbed (mediatised) by into the Grand Duchy of Hesse. In 1918, when the monarchy was abolished in the German Empire, Prince Richard, 4th Prince of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg officially lost his titles of nobility. He was the great-grandfather of Prince Gustav.
2023-05-31 09:47:19
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