Sweden’s crown princess gives birth to baby girl

Sweden’s Crown Princess Victoria gave birth to her first child early Thursday, a baby girl that is second in line to the throne, her husband, Prince Daniel, said. Daniel said the girl, 20 inches (51 centimeters) long and weighing 7.23 pounds (3.28 kilograms), was born at 4:26 a.m. (0326 GMT) at the Karolinska University Hospital in Solna, a suburb of Stockholm. “When I left the room the little princess was sleeping on her mother’s chest and they were looking very cozy,” an emotional Daniel told reporters. “The little daughter and the crown princess are doing very well.” Victoria married Daniel, a commoner and her former personal trainer, in June 2010. In August last year, the Royal Court announced that Victoria was pregnant. Sweden had been eagerly anticipating the birth announcement all night after the Royal Court confirmed after midnight that she had checked in to the hospital. Daniel said he was “pretty nervous” during the birth and that he cut the baby’s umbilical cord. The girl’s name would be announced later this week, he said. Victoria, 34, is next in line to the throne held by her father, King Carl XVI Gustaf, since 1973. Sweden changed the constitution in 1980, three years after Victoria was born, to allow the eldest heir to inherit the throne, regardless of gender. Before that female heirs were excluded.