Sweden's Crown Princess Victoria to Wed Commoner

(June 17) -- In ye olden days, a fellow had to slay a dragon or wake a sleeping beauty with a kiss in order to win the hand of a princess. These days, it's more a matter of waiting around for eight years and proving you won't do anything embarrassing.

Having passed those tests, former personal trainer Daniel Westling will marry Crown Princess Victoria, the heir to the Swedish throne, on Saturday at 700-year-old Stockholm Cathedral.

The ceremony, which will be broadcast live on Swedish television, will be attended by heads of state from all over Europe and royals from around the world. More than 500 foreign journalists have applied for credentials to cover the big event, according The Local, a website offering Swedish news in English.

Some 200,000 people are expected to line the streets of Stockholm to watch the wedding procession, The Local said. The happy couple will ride through the city in a horse and carriage before the cortege transfers to the royal barge Vasaorden for a cruise on the island-studded harbor.

After he says "I do," the 36-year-old Westling will become His Royal Highness Prince Daniel, Duke of Vastergotland -- quite a leap up the social ladder for an ordinary guy from the small town of Ockelbo in central Sweden.

There has been some grumbling at the $2.5 million cost of the wedding, half of which is being paid by King Carl XVI Gustaf, half by the taxpayers. But overall, Swedes seem fine with the idea of a commoner marrying their future queen. And they're warming to Westling himself: A recent poll found that seven out of 10 Swedes think he will do a good job in his new role.

Now 32, Victoria Ingrid Alice Desiree was just a toddler when the Swedish order of succession was changed in 1980 to make the monarch's eldest child, regardless of gender, first in line to the throne. She thus edged out her younger brother, Prince Carl Philip, and will become the fourth reigning queen in Sweden's history on the death or abdication of her father, King Carl XVI Gustaf.

The young princess sometimes found the spotlight harsh. The press began complaining that the teenage princess was a little plump, and one magazine sniped that she looked as if she had "eaten too many hamburgers." In late 1997, the king and queen released a statement acknowledging the 20-year-old Victoria had an eating disorder and was receiving professional help.

Eight years ago, she began dating Westling, a personal trainer who worked his way up to becoming co-owner of a luxury gym chain. The relationship was kept low key for several years, giving Westling a chance to get a good look at what life as a royal consort might entail.

The future prince -- whose mom is a postal worker and dad is a retired social worker -- said recently that he had no problem being upstaged -- and outranked -- by his wife.

"I grew up in a completely gender-equal family. The idea that father knows best is not something I'm familiar with," Westling told the Svenska Dagbladet newspaper, according to The Local.

"For me, it is no problem to walk one, two or 10 steps behind Victoria and still keep my self-esteem intact," he said.

Both Westling and his princess bride have said they are anxious to start a family. Westling underwent a kidney transplant in May 2009. The donor was his father, and the operation was a success. He has been at pains to assure the public that the transplant was necessitated by a congenital, not hereditary, condition -- meaning no ailment will be passed down to future generations of royals.

The couple became engaged on Feb. 24, 2009, after obtaining the necessary consent of both the king and the government. In January, Westling began an intensive training program aimed at preparing him for royal life and his new responsibilities as half of "the crown princess couple." Earlier this month, he was granted his own coat of arms.

So far, the biggest controversy surrounding the nuptials has come from Victoria's stated desire to have her father walk her down the aisle. In Sweden, it's customary for the bride and groom to walk down the aisle together. Several members of the clergy took issue with Victoria's choice, arguing that the princess should follow her country's tradition instead of opting for a British or American custom.

Eventually, a compromise was reached: The king will escort his daughter halfway down the aisle, then hand her over to the groom, so that the couple can walk the rest of the way together.

Victoria has decided to dispense with adult bridesmaids. Instead, she will be attended by 10 young pages and flower girls. Among them will be three future monarchs: 6-year-old Princess Catharina-Amalia, future queen of the Netherlands; 6-year-old Princess Ingrid Alexandra of Norway, future queen of Norway; and 6-year-old Prince Christian, future king of Denmark. Victoria is godmother to all three youngsters.

While details of her wedding gown are under wraps, Victoria is widely expected to wear the cameo tiara. Once owned by Napoleon's Empress Josephine, it came to the Swedish royal family when Josephine's granddaughter Josefina married the future King Oscar I in 1823. The pearl-covered diadem, heightened by seven cameos depicting mythological figures, has become traditional bridal headgear in the House of Bernadotte. Victoria's mother, Queen Silvia, wore it on her own wedding day on June 19, 1976.

There's one person for whom the royal wedding day may be bittersweet: Princess Madeleine, younger sister of the bride. She became engaged to her longtime boyfriend, lawyer Jonas Bergstrom, in August. In April the palace confirmed the engagement was off – amid claims by a former Norwegian handball star, Tora Uppstrom Berg, that she had enjoyed a fling with the princess's fiance. Madeleine, 28, took off to New York to avoid the media spotlight, but recently returned home and issued a statement this week thanking the Swedish people for their support.

Victoria and Madeleine's brother, Prince Carl Philip, 31, dated Swedish PR executive Emma Pernald for several years, but they broke up last year. Since then he is said to have taken up with "glamour model" Sofia Hellqvist, best known for posing topless with an enormous huge snake wrapped around her. Pernald was invited to a gala pre-wedding concert on Friday night; Bergstrom was not.