Danish royals welcome first child via a surrogate after decades-long fight to marry
By Natalie Oliveri|
Denmark's royal family has expanded once again with the arrival of a new baby.
Prince Gustav and Princess Carina, both 54,? are now parents to a son who was born via a surrogate in the United States.
The happy news comes nearly one year after the long-time couple married after the law was changed allowing them to finally tie the knot.
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?The Danish Royal Household revealed the baby's birth in a statement on Wednesday evening Australian time.
"The newborn prince was born in the United States with the help of a surrogate mother," the palace said.
"Both Prince Gustav and Princess Carina were present during the birth."
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Prince Gustav is the son of Queen Margrethe II's sister Princess Benedikte and her late husband Prince Richard.
The baby is Princess Benedikte's fifth grandchild.
Prince Gustav of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg and Carina Axelsson married in June last year after dating for 19 years.
They were able to wed only after a legal challenge overturned a condition set down in the will of Gustav's grandfather, German-born Prince Gustav Albrecht of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg.
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In 1939 Prince Gustav, a German nobleman who served in the Nazi army, laid out the conditions to inheriting the family estate, Berleburg Palace.
His main point was that if any of his heirs married, they must chose a bride of "Aryan, noble, and Protestant" descent.
Prince Gustav's son Prince Richard married Denmark's Princess Benedikte in 1968, meeting the conditions of the will and allowing Richard to inherit Berleburg Palace.?
But when it came time for Benedikte and Richard's only son, Gustav, to choose a partner Axelsson did not fill the bill.
The American-born author was from Swedish and Mexican heritage and not from a noble family.
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They moved in together and lived as husband and wife, with Carina being invited to many of Denmark's royal family events.?
It was believed Gustav couldn't marry Carina before the death of his father as that would open him up to a number of legal challenges from other cousins hoping for a piece of the estate, which remains one of Germany's biggest.
But when Prince Richard died in 2017, the situation changed.
?Gustav's great uncle, Prince Ludwig-Ferdinand, attempted to claim the estate for himself by suggesting he was the rightful heir to Berleburg because of Gustav and Carina's relationship, and filed a suit.
But in 2020, the German courts found that Gustav met the conditions of the will, allowing him to inherit Berleburg and overturn the will of his grandfather.
In April 2022, the Danish royal household confirmed Prince Gustav and Carina would finally marry and they wed at Berleburg Castle Chapel in June.
Crown Princess Mary and Crown Prince Frederik were among the guests along with Prince Gustav's mother Princess Benedikte.
Princes Carina wore the Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg diamond spike tiara, which she had previously worn to Queen Margrethe II's 70th birthday celebrations in 2010.
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