
He had one job and it didn’t go according to plan. The King of Sweden called a special council to his royal palace to announce the name of his brand new granddaughter and promptly got things wrong.
King Carl Gustaf was beaming with pride as he officially declared the safe arrival of a daughter for his son, Prince Carl Philip, and daughter in law, Princess Sofia. He couldn’t stop smiling as he made his announcements – however, when he got to her name, things went off script.
As his son and daughter in law have chosen a rather unusual name for their baby, it’s perhaps not a surprise that her granddad seemed to make up his own pronunciation for it. He wouldn’t be the first. The little girl is called Ines but granddad pronounced it ‘Insa’.
However, the big issue came when he decided to go completely his own way with her middle names. Her parents have called her Ines Marie Lilian Silvia. Which, in granddad’s announcement, came out as ‘Insa Silvia Marie Lilian’.
The Swedish royal court quickly clarified matters with a statement that the baby is, in fact, called Ines Marie Lilian Silvia and not the royal approximation just declared by the king. Carl XVI Gustaf, who is dyslexic, apologised with a spokesperson saying ”the King is very sorry that he said the wrong name. The reason why he said the wrong thing is that the names were kept secret until just before the Council, even from the King.”
However, Ines and her parents should count themselves lucky. In days gone by, royal babies were often named by their most important regal relation and if King Carl Gustaf had plumped for something totally different, everyone else would have had to get on with it.
The 21st century is slightly different and Princess Ines gets the name her mum and dad wants. And granddad gets everyone teasing him for ever afterwards.