Video Links:Svensk Dagbladet
In Denmark, Court PR-maven Lene Balleby along with Mary's private PR agency, The McCann Group, do their best in the aftermath of a royal birth to put all focus on the royals themselves, including the babies who are too young and delicate for much display and interaction with crowds. The royal mothers are allowed to lounge in hospital for as long as they deem necessary, taking up several rooms for the extended family and security detail, all of which keeps other Danish women giving birth from having rooms for themselves, and shoving in the faces of other Danish families the fact that they have to scoot home as quickly as possible after bringing another human into the world while the Danish princesses eat up the special privileges the Danish court-media-public relations cabal has spent its existence reassuring citizens is the royals' very special and quite necessary birthright - not to be questioned.
Leaving hospital is treated as a grand media affair, as if no one could ever imagine that such delicate princesses could do anything so human as push a baby through their twat. Without blood. Then once home, the names are not revealed for three months in a silly game of cat and mouse that builds up to an over the top christening - even if the child is no where near the throne. It's all just another extension of Mary's cutesy-poo media toying. All the while, there is no reflection of communal joy in the nation, just a force feeding of media attention since the media are the only ones engaged in the celebration.
The Swedes are handling their new princess's birth remarkably sanely. The new parents leave hospital quickly after the birth in a low key exit with the baby already in her carrier. No grand presentation, no blocking the lobby, no inviting national and international media outlets to document the occasion. In Sweden, the media is allowed to take on whatever interest they may have themselves, nothing is orchestrated for them or forced on them North Korea-style. And they have taken to the streets to engage the population in the once and future queen's birth, as well as the archives for a royal history lesson. Nothing better to stir a patriotic soul than a little national nostalgia trip. A very smart move in a nation of stronger republicans than Denmark has. And most of the credit has most likely to go to the Crown Princess Couple themselves: Victoria and Daniel have expressed a desire for no special treatment and a respect enough for their own families and other Swedes to go straight home and start their new routine. The Swedish press may not be happy with grandfather King Carl XVI Gustaf, but the future Queen Victoria and her family may just have changed their minds just by being herself - a Swedish woman with a special role in life and no need for narcissistic media tricks. Brava and tillykke!
Swedes waiting in Haga Park outside of the gates of Victoria and Daniel's home, Haga Slott, to see the family as they drive home (video of their arrival home in link above)
No comments:
Post a Comment