When royal first borns don't end up on top

Being a first born child of a monarch or next in line to be monarch is now pretty much a guarantee of ending up king or queen of your country one day.  But being the eldest grandchild seems to offer another guarantee - that of coming nowhere near a crown of your own.  The current wave of European monarchs are all grandparents now - except Albert of Monaco and as his heir is his sister and she's a granny, they're almost there - and only one of them can expect their first born grandchild take the throne.  While there might be lots of interest in the first birth of a new generation, what happens to those babies who are shuffled out of the succession by younger cousins?

King Carl XVI Gustaf and Estelle of Sweden - he's the only one of Europe's current monarchs whose eldest grandchild is in line to take the throne

The continent's longest reigning monarch was the first to become a grandparent. Elizabeth II welcomed her first grandchild in 1977 but while Peter Phillips may have made the front of all the papers on the November day he arrived, he's slipped further and further into obscurity ever since.   He was the first grandchild of a British monarch to hold no title - a choice made by his parents, Princess Anne and her first husband, Captain Mark Phillips.  And while Peter Mark Andrew Phillips began life fifth in line to the throne, he's since slipped to twelfth and will continue to move further away from the crown.  He's worked in sports sponsorship and management as well as banking and has no official royal role.  That lack of duties was one of the reasons he was able to sell an interview and photos linked to his 2008 wedding to Autumn Kelly to Hello magazine, one of the few times he's made the news since his arrival.  The other was in December 2010 when he made the Queen a great grandmother for the first time.  Savannah Phillips, the eldest great grandchild of Elizabeth II, takes an even more remote royal role despite being the first of her generation to arrive.

 

He might never be king or even have a title but when your the Queen's first grandchild you do get a much better pick of places to hold your wedding.  Peter Phillips married Autumn Kelly at Windsor Castle in 2008.  The official photos were taken at the castle.

The eldest grandchild of King Juan Carlos of Spain was hailed as the securing of the succession on his birth in 1998 but he will most likely never be king. The first child of the Infanta Elena and Jaime de Marichalar was born in Madrid and baptized there soon afterwards with King Juan Carlos as one of his godparents.  Felipe Juan Froilan was third in line to the throne at his birth and stayed very close to the crown until just after his seventh birthday when his uncle Felipe, after whom he was named, began his own family and little cousin Leonor took over the mantle of most likely to succeed in the next generation.  He's now fifth in line and attending school in Madrid after a stint of education in England.  Froilan and his sister split their time between their parents who separated in 2007 and divorced in 2010.  He wad known for his cheekiness as a child and came close to stealing the show at Felipe and Letizia's wedding. His admission to hospital in 2012 after he accidentally shot himself in the foot while at his father caused controversy - as well as the injury, there were legal repercussions as it is against the law in Spain for a child under the age of fourteen to use a firearm.  No charges were pressed against his father and Froilan recovered fully from his injuries. 

Felipe Juan Froilan de Todos los Santos is shown off to the world by his proud parents in July 1998

 

In Norway, King Harald got two granddaughters in nine months but the first born is far from first in the line of succession.  Maud Angelica Behn arrived in April 2003, the eldest child of Harald's eldest child.  But mum Martha Louise took second place in the line of succession to her younger brother meaning that Maud was born third in line and slid quickly away from the throne when cousin Ingrid arrived in January 2004.  Since then she's moved another step further away and now lives in London with her parents and two younger sisters, Leah and Emma. 

Maud Angelica Behn was born in April 2003 in Oslo, nine months before her cousin - future queen regnant, Ingrid Alexanda

Another eldest grandchild who arrived just ahead of the girl who will be queen is Eloise, first born of the next generation of the Dutch royal family.  She arrived in June 2002, just a few months after her uncle, Willem-Alexander, married Maxima Zorreguieta.  Eloise Beatrix Sophie Laurence was fourth in line to the throne on her birth and a first grandchild for the then Queen Beatrix and her husband, Prince Claus.  Eighteen months later, she slipped a place when Willem-Alexander and Maxima welcomed baby Catharina-Amalia who will one day be Queen of the Netherlands.  She bears the title Countess of Orange-Nassau and is growing up in Brussels where her parents live.

 

Eloise of Orange-Nassau with her grandfather, Prince Claus of the Netherlands.  She was the only one of his grandchildren to meet Claus - he died four months after her birth.

In Belgium the eldest grandchild of newly abdicated Albert and Paola is Prince Amadeo who was born in 1986, before the couple had become king and queen.  At the time Amadeo had no place in the line of succession but when the laws were changed in 1991 to allow his mother, Princess Astrid, and her descendants rights to the throne, he was suddenly fourth in waiting.  On his grandfather's accession in 1993 he jumped up to third and for much of his youth he was in line to be King of the Belgians as his uncle, Philippe, remained unmarried until 1999 when Amadeo was 13. But Philippe's marriage and the birth of four children meant that Amadeo quickly moved away from the throne of Belgium.  Following the summer changeover which made his uncle the King of the Belgians, he's now sixth in line behind his four cousins and his mum.  He's got a degree from the London School of Economics and works in America.  And despite no crown in sight for this young prince, he regularly makes magazine lists of most eligible boys in town - this year he was number nine on Town and Country's top forty male totty rundown.  But Amadeo will get a title of his own one day, inheriting the role of head of the house of Austria-Este from his father, Prince Lorenz.  And he also gets the prize for most names of any royal grandchild, rejoicing in the full title of Prince Amadeo Marie Joseph Carl Pierre Philippe Paola Marcus of Belgium, Archduke of Austria-Este. 

Prince Amadeo of Belgium did national service in his home country and is now a reserve officer in the army.

 

Nikolai William Alexander Frederik of Denmark didn't get quite as many names but he did get pretty much the same deal as Amadeo.  First grandchild of Margrethe II, he was third in line to the throne on the day of his birth in August 1999 but has since moved further away from the crown as a host of little cousins arrived.  And just like Amadeo he's had a host of little brothers and sisters join him - the Belgian prince has four younger siblings while Nikolai has three, the most recent being Athena who arrived in January 2012.

 

 

Nikolai of Denmark gets a pat on the head from his little sister, Athena.  They are the oldest and youngest of Queen Margrethe's eight grandchildren

 

Which brings us back to the only first grandchild to be guaranteed first take on the throne of her country.  Estelle Silvia Ewa Mary of Sweden was born in February 2012, eldest child of Crown Princess Victoria and eldest grandchild of King Carl VXI Gustaf.  And thanks to the change in law of 1980, she is in line to be Queen Regnant of Sweden one day.

 



 

The three generations of Swedish monarchs at the christening of Estelle