Sweden's Princess Prepares to Wed American Banker

Swedish Princess Madeleine and Christopher O'Neill arrive for the traditional National Day celebrations in Stockholm.
Henrik Montgomery | AFP | Getty Images
Swedish Princess Madeleine and Christopher O'Neill arrive for the traditional National Day celebrations in Stockholm.

Princess Madeleine of Sweden will marry New York banker Christopher O'Neill this weekend in a lavish ceremony expected to draw royalty and socialites from around the world.

The two will tie the knot in an afternoon ceremony Saturday at Stockholm's Royal Chapel. The princess will wear a Valentino wedding dress, according to the Swedish Royal Court.

After the wedding, the newlyweds will parade through the cobblestone streets of the capital's historic neighborhood in a horse-drawn carriage to the city's harbor. They will then take a boat to their reception at Drottningholm Palace, the official residence of King Carl XVI Gustaf and his wife, Queen Silvia.

The wedding is expected to draw several hundred guests, including royalty from Denmark, Norway, Greece and Japan. Britain's Prince Edward and the Countess of Wessex also plan to attend.

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Princess Madeleine, 30, is the youngest child of Sweden's king and queen. Also known as the Duchess of Halsingland and Gastrikland, she is the fourth in line of succession to the Swedish throne behind her sister, Crown Princess Victoria; a 1-year-old niece; and her brother, Prince Carl Philip.

O'Neill, the 38-year-old groom, was born and raised in London and educated in the United States. He has declined to use a royal title in Sweden because it would require him to become a citizen of the nation. He already holds dual American and British citizenship.

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The couple will continue to live in New York after their wedding. The princess works for the World Childhood Foundation, a charity her mother set up in 1999. O'Neill is a partner in Noster Capital, a hedge fund with offices in London and New York.

Madeleine famously fled to New York in 2010 after breaking off her first engagement to Swedish attorney Jonas Bergstrom following media reports of his infidelity.

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Her wedding, while lavish, was expected to be a smaller-scale version of the nuptial events surrounding her sister's marriage three years ago to her personal trainer, Daniel Westling.