Chris O’Neill
Why he has it so difficult with the Swedes
© Dana Press
After the surprising delay in moving, voices quickly arose that Chris O’Neill was to blame for the last-minute cancellation. Although the entrepreneur has been married to Princess Madeleine for ten years, he still struggles to win the favor of the Swedish people.
Chris O’Neill struggles with many prejudices
Though well aware of his somewhat unfortunate position in his wife’s home country, O’Neill will move to Stockholm in early 2024 with his sweetheart and their three children. That was actually planned for next August, but “the time for the family, with everything that a move entails, [war] a bit too short,” explained Margareta Thorgren, head of information at the farm, on June 27, 2023 to the Swedish newspaper “Expressen”.
Despite this – or precisely because of this – the entrepreneur has been making increasing efforts for several months favor of the Swedes, as rhetoric expert Elaine Eksvärd claims to have observed. For example, Chris O’Neill took part in the Swedish National Day on June 6th for the first time in five years and will also take part Princess Victoria 46th birthday next Friday, July 14th, will be present on Öland. “They’re moving to Sweden so the possibilities are expanding. It’s incredibly clever, I think anyone who wants to have good relations with their in-laws, royal or not, would have done so and in their case a whole nation will move with them. I think he thinks it’s worth the effort, if he even thinks it’s a bother,” Elaine Eksvärd told Swedish newspaper Svensk Damtidning about Chris’ recent behavior.
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The “Daniel Effect”
In order to collect even more sympathy points from the people, O’Neill now simply has to be himself, emphasizes Eksvärd further. “I believe in the sympathy effect, and in Chris’ case it’s probably more about getting involved than saying the right things,” the rhetoric expert told the publication, drawing a comparison Prince Daniel49: You don’t have to be an expert in royal etiquette to make a good impression – Elaine Eksvärd calls it the “Daniel Effect”.
However, it is not that simple after all. Chris should it loud Eksvärd will have a much harder time than Daniel, he will be criticized more because he is not Swedish, and he will have to deal with many prejudices. “Viewed in terms of the American stereotype, presence or absence can be confused with American arrogance. We all have prejudices, but that doesn’t say anything about Chris’ intentions, it says something more about our prejudices.” Elaine Eksvärd clear and claims: “For example, if he were a person from Luleå [Stadt in der nordschwedischen Provinz Norrbottens län, Anm. d. Red.] been, the same behavior would have been classified as shy and a little cute.”
Source used: svenskdam.se