42 thoughts on “New photos of Estelle & Oscar + Carl Philip & Sofia launch podcast”

1. The image of Estelle intently drawing with Oscar watching on in wonder is a charming shot and one of the best photographs of children I’ve seen. It’s a beautiful composition, and getting down to floor level was inspired.

   Wasn’t Sofia, when at school somewhere, responsible for mocking online one of her teachers who had a disability? I recall someone mentioning that a while ago. If true, it may have contributed to her being cyber-bullied herself. She might have more credibility if she had confessed her lapse of judgement and cruelty as a cyber-bully. And isn’t William pursuing work in this area too? Yet he too has enjoyed a reputation his entire life for using his position to bully others. I can’t fathom why such people are looked to as ‘role models’. Nothing could be further from the truth.

   1. I still think it would do so much for the cause to have William and Sofia come out and admit their own wrongdoings and talk about bullying from that perspective. It would be such a different point of view on the subject, and they could talk about how they realized their wrongs and overcame them which would be very empowering for people to hear.

      I keep hoping for it, although I know it will never happen. I just hope Carl Philip’s and Sofia’s thing does something. I still don’t know how they are going to measure any success with it.

      1. Totally agree. Unfortunately, the practice of whitewashing their lives seems ingrained in royal circles, thus presenting an unrealistic portrait of royalty. It also emboldens them to behave poorly/ less than honestly because any muck will be cleaned up. Nor they will they have to bear any personal responsibility for their actions.

      2. And that’s why I can’t take either one them serious about this issue until they both acknowledge they themselves have been bully’s. I still think William is one in regards to the media.
         I said before I don’t expect a public flagellation in regards to them but don’t pick causes that bring up said misdemeanors and act like you were never on the other side. That’s where my frustration comes from

2. I too like the photo of the kids coloring a lot. It is interesting and I bet the kids complied to the photographer’s request easily. That is one for the history books.

3. I love these photos. I never realised Estelle’s hair was so light.
   As for CP and Sofia, it may be difficult to measure the impact of the podcasts but I give them credit for creating a virtual, weekly thing with experts to do the talking on prevention.It feels more accessible than having to go for counselling and definitely easier than going through mounds of online articles trying to look for answers. Plus if it evolves into an interactive thing where you can call in that would be great. It’s very much needed. It kind of reminds me of the Stewards of childhood prevention kit.

   1. Since this podcast is geared toward adults, I’d love if they did a separate one geared toward teens with experts giving advice but also young people talking about their own experience. I think that would be a good thing for young people to have, too, while their parents have this one.

      1. Yeah I think that too.
         I’m glad I was practically out of high school once the social media craze really hit. I feel for teens now.

4. About Victoria’s prolonged time off, does she do research, get briefed on her charities or work on her 2017 calendar of events? Regardless, they live very privileged lives.

   The family portraits are beautiful. I don’t know enough about photography to understand what the photographer is doing right. Anyone here who can enlighten me?

   I just don’t like Carl Philip and Sofia. They strike me as two con artists. Their cause to fight bullying is good, but as both KMR and Jen said Sofia needs to be honest about her own past participation in bullying.

   An aside regarding online presence, I’m a relative newbie as far as posting online and notice how certain people are very good about standing their ground when confronted by a hostile post. They know what to say (whether it’s kill ’em with kindness or responding with a well reasoned argument.) Talking about developing resilience would be an important part of the discussion.

   1. I was wondering about Victoria too; is it a role defined by particular public activities (eg ‘x’ number of state occasions, government-led initiatives and so on) interspersed with formal administrative/research work? Is it part-time, shared with her father? Or is the SRF limited in its role anyway ie a more modestly constructed and limited idea of monarchy?

      With regard to the photo of the two children, it is an unusual in its construction. First, it is set on an abstract all-white sparse background where the blue squiggles dissolve as the depth of field falls away. Second, the photographer has moved to almost floor level (ie at the children’s level) to capture the image. Third, the two subjects are captured in an instance of concentration from Estelle with an equally wondrous curiosity from Oscar. Fourth, the deliberate palette of white/grey/blue is so spare yet mesmerising. It’s a beautiful image. Estelle also has great poise and I’d say, even a serenity about her; she stands out in both shots.

      Re. bullying: I wonder what the reaction would be if Sofia said something like, “I’m involved in this because when I was younger, I made some unkind and totally unfair remarks online about one of my teachers. I bullied him. I am responsible and I apologise. I was young and immature, but it’s no excuse as I knew that words hurt. So I’ve made a promise to myself, and now to you, to work towards all people being treated with respect online.”

      1. If Sofia made that statement and owned up to her past of online abuse, it would be groundbreaking. Last year, the NPR program “All Things Considered” had an interview with a woman and her online bullier. It was very interesting if somewhat predictable. The bullier said he was unhappy in his own life. Once he realized this he started to participate more in life, found friends, etc and no longer felt the pull to torment this woman with his vile comments. He came off as sheepish about being a bully.

         But as you say, the royals scrub their lives and then their status as royalty seems to make them think they have led blameless lives. Very delusional.

         1. *Correction: The program is “This American Life.”

         2. Thanks for the NPR reference.

            I guess ‘royals’ need to whitewash themselves in order to appear to be sent from God and keep their place on the totem pole. It’s a poisonous mentality for everyone.

      2. I would respect Sofia if she did that, but she is as pure as the freshly driven snow and would never, ever bully anyone or make bad decisions, right? This is a woman who wrote about tossing a coin with her boyfriend (probably sugar daddy) in New York as to who would get up to take care of his son and feed him breakfast…

   2. Regarding CP V’s time off there’s nothing strange about that. Parental leave in Sweden is 18 months. She’s probably just taking her last months off on maternity leave before PD goes on paternity leave for the last 6 months. Same goes for PCP and PS. You wouldn’t see a Swedish parent close to their work place during parental leave, so from a Swedish perspective they’re pretty dedicated to their duty.

      1. Well, Sweden is certainly ahead of us in so many areas.

      2. In the UK, maternity leave is 1 year, but so many people complained about Kate taking time off at various points during the year after George’s birth, including six weeks at the start of 2014 and a month after the Oz/NZ tour. I’m not saying Victoria isn’t entitled to take use of the full maternity leave Sweden offers, just pointing out the difference in treatment between Victoria and Kate. A lot of people criticized Kate for taking maternity leave.

         1. I criticized Kate considering it’s not like she works, just using it as an excuse not to work; which is not how I see Victoria. Victoria works, yes, but don’t see why she took maternity leave outside recovery and so on when she doesn’t really work like a regular person.

            1. The difference between Victoria’s high level of professional presentation, well informed speeches, and genuine interest in her causes is light years ahead of KM who basically occasionally shows up to have her hosts take care of her. That’s why I thought maybe during this prolonged time away from work she does research, plans visits and meets with advisors. Glad to have someone point out it may very well be accrued maternity leave.

         2. The overall idea regarding UK maternity leave is that you have to work full-time for a year prior to qualify. It isn’t an automatic thing; you only get paid maternity leave if you’ve worked.

            As she has never worked full-time at anything (other than landing William), saying KM was “owed” maternity leave didn’t go down well with a lot of people. Her pay is the lifestyle she gets in exchange for working as a senior royal – except neither she nor William have ever worked anywhere near that level.

         3. It’s a difference in cultures, a difference in expectations, and a comparison of two different people, in different situations. As Nota mentions, Kate hardly works as it is. She is not owed a maternity leave period. Now to be fair, if we wanna’ get technical, none of them work full time. Not Kate, not Harry, not Princess Anne. Not. Even. Close. But if I recall correctly, at least Victoria worked up until she was about to pop, (and Sophia too for that matter). I think she gave herself about two weeks last time. So we’re talking about someone who doesn’t work, (and doesn’t impress and make people proud while she’s at it), and then there’s a lot of drama and chicanery during the pregnancy and many machinations surrounding it. It’s different behavior creating a different tone in the discussion. Kate has “had to” announce both her pregnancies ASAP and has HG as an excuse to clear her schedule only adding a handful of the most gala’d, luncheon’d, BRF engagements… or a fluff tour of NYC or a vacation. She was especially blatant about this when she was pregnant with Charlotte. She did cancel a few things, ok, one thing that I can think of, that I wouldn’t have expected her to. (She flaked out on Ainslie and the America’s Cup last minute. But was announced as the patron of 1851 a week later… and then scheduled other appearances that were probably canceled. *Le sigh* Someday we need to recap the bull that went down during Kate’s pregnancies.) And I still ended up questioning the severity and the length of her illness with George when she got better just in time to go to a sports award show and looked right as rain. And then came the vacations and the shopping. Come to think of it, she was very bold and clever in different ways with both pregnancies. Anyway, Kate does her burst of 20-something engagements in the few months after that. But then she’s off for the last month of her pregnancies. She also doesn’t do herself any favors by disrupting her maternity leave to go to Wimbledon matches, do her Ben Ainslie-centered appearances, and the most lightweight, balcony, BRF engagements. You know, leave the kids at home for rugby or tea with Brangelina and letting out that she’s gotten her scuba certification, and is watercolouring and gardening. It’s just the charity related, boring royal work that Kate wants “leave” from.

            Now having said all that–I let this go and assume that this is not something that will be judged in Sweden because I don’t think Victoria would do anything that could attract negative attention and give the opposition ammo. I can’t imagine CPV doing the equivalent of how Kate was already on people’s radar for not being included in the Battle of Britain flyover because she didn’t have the ranking, (leading people to pause over that), THEN skipping the 7/7 ceremony, THEN showing up at Wimbledon the next day in a bright red dress and staying for nearly six hours. But if this is an example for the Swedish Parliament to be used to illustrate how superfluous and trivial the monarchy is, I’ll allow it 😀

            1. This is my take on Kate and her HG. She went in initially with some severe morning sickness. In the process the the doctors say we need to keep an eye on it to make sure it doesn’t progress into HG. They took the HG aspect and ran with it as it gets them out of whatever. Also, just becuase you have it with one pregnancy doesn’t mean you have it with subsequent ones. I’m a nurse and I actually never heard if it until I had a pt with it. I don’t know if I dozed off in class the day they went over ot what =) It can be serious so for them to make light of it in the manner they did is frustrating.
               I’m giving Victoria a pass on her break becuase I remember fairly soon after her giving birth there was a picture of her nodding off in a UN meeting. So she did some engagements when she didn’t have to.

   3. In regards to online discussions, I love how people on this site state their opinions and stand by them, with only the occasional feather rustling. I love to read the comment section on IMDB, which is shutting down soon due, in part, to the numerous trolls on the site. Some people can’t or won’t give an opinion without being ugly about it. I’m glad for the healthy, spirited and respectful critiques offered here. Thanks KMR!

      1. I also think that Victoria is a highly professional woman. SHe not only shows up to events, but is knowledgeable and prepared. She speaks eloquently and with great understanding of every topic that she discusses. I wonder if her hiatus will be as long as has been reported, though. I hope this is not a sign that there is illness anywhere in the family that she wants to tend to. Hopefully, it is designed to give her more family time. And, her family is wonderful!

         The photos of the children are wonderful. The one where Estelle is coloring and Oscar is looking on is truly perfection. Now, that’s a photographer who knows how to capture the love and happiness of two very dear children.

5. dan sure is looking dapper and smokin in the first pic? And love the kiddos on the floor! I’m intrigued, is it butcher paper laid out all over the floor?
   I’m surprised by Vic’s time off, she’s usually a pretty good worker for Royal standards.

   1. They took turns having parental leave with Estelle, which in Sweden is 480 days shared between the parents. Those days can be taken any time before the child turns 8 years old. It was announced recently that Daniel will now be taking parental leave for Oscar.

      It may be that, up to now, it has been Victoria using more of that leave time after returning to work 4 weeks after Oscar was born. Now she will be working more while Daniel takes more parental leave time.

   2. I wonder if it a roll of white paper as one of the blue squiggles seems to go up the wall. You can get long rolls of white paper, about 50m long x 1.5m wide and have it hung from the wall.

6. Bullying is a nasty, sometimes faceless & silent form of abuse. Unfortunately more often than not the bullies don’t realise they’re doing it until somebody points their actions out to them! Perhaps Victoria needs some time to herself, after all eating disorders & their side effects don’t disappear over night. Her health & wellbeing is utmost. Isn’t Oscar a cutie?!

   1. Yes, Oscar is a Cutie-pie!!! I want to pinch his cheeks and hug him tight.

7. That photo of Estelle drawing and Oscar watching is so beautiful!

8. Sofia’s comments confirmed my worst suspicions; that she was only fighting against bullying because it directly affected her when she became a royal. Now I understand things may be hurtful, but she was controversial and then she became a royal. I’m also one who supported what she did previously because to each their own, but to fight against bullying because you don’t want people to bully you seems to be the mantra of royalty anymore.
   Believe me I hate bullying on every level and was recently bullied on twitter over my husbands death, by Trumpkins, but it’s what happens when you subject yourself to any social media. It is particularly hard on young children and I feel like this discounts what is happening.
   As KMR say it’s not effective for kids to shut down their social media in this day and age. We either need to find a matrix that stops the bullying or we need to find effective ways for teens to rise above it. But for royalty to say that they are working to fight against bullying because when they became a royal they were subjected to more bullying, sounds pretentious in my opinion. 🙁

   1. I mean, anyone who is working publicly against bullying is going to draw from their own experiences when discussing the topic, so I can’t fault a royal for doing the same thing. It just so happens that their experiences with bullying are from being thrust into the public eye by being or dating a royal. Is their experiences necessarily relatable? No. But I won’t begrudge them their experiences.

      I just wish that someone in the anti-bullying sphere would talk about the other side, about how easy it is to become a bully yourself, even if you’ve personally been bullied before. I haven’t heard of anyone talking about that and I think it is an important aspect to talk about. Especially when one has been bullied a lot, one can become very defensive and lash out at other people and can become bullies themselves. It’s very easy to fall into that trap. So I’d love someone to talk about that type of thing. And since we know that William and Sofia have engaged in bullying behavior in the past, I think it would be so very helpful to so many people if they were to come out and talk about how easy it is to become a bully, and about how one much self-reflect in order to overcome one’s own bullying behavior.

      1. +1

      2. Agree KMR.. but what people often forgets is that it’s not always a clear distinction between those who Bully vs those who are bullied… Meaning those who bully were offer bullied themselves and Vice versa … sometimes we may see bullies as the monsters in the equation… but sometimes the bullies are just as much pain as the one they are bullying… it’s a complex issue

         1. Exactly. I think that should be something more people talk about in connection to the anti-bullying cause.

   2. It’s the hypocrisy that hardens my heart. Of course people will draw from their own experiences when attracted to a cause. But what we have here in Sofia and William is no remorse for their own hideous behaviour – in fact, not even an admission that they caused people unnecessary pain. No, they play the petal when they on the receiving end of what they consider bullying, ever so wounded. It’s all about them, as per usual. I have no sympathy for either of them. Until they both take responsibility for their own actions, they have no business taking the high moral ground. Look at how they’ve lived their lives; they’re both grubs.

9. Estelle and Oscar colouring is adorable. Definitely a history book moment. Estelle looks rather serious and is growing up fast and her hair is very light.
   I think Princess Sofia and Prince Carl Phillip working as a team against bullying is a good idea. If Sofia did bully then speaking of her experience would help. Perhaps more directed at teens than for adults. It is good to see the royal couple do something.

10. Those are lovely photos of the Crown Princess family and what a unique but fun idea of Estelle and Oscar drawing together! You can see the closeness between the two. That being said, as much as Victoria works within her role she really doesn’t deserve that many weeks off from her work. She is no full time worker or even a part time worker. These Royal women exploit the right to maternity leave that are there for us regular women who work to put food on the table while also having kids and a household- and they Sean Sean off in their tiaras for their “maternity leave” while laughing at the fact that they can fool the peasants yet again.

    And CP and Sophia- let’s see what their podcasts actually does. If it actually helps people. I still believe that those two need to go find real jobs.

    1. I think the podcast is supported by their Foundation though doubt CP and Sofia are hands-on in any way. Regardless, I hope it is successful and allows adults a voice and assistance if being bullied/ recovering from bullying. CP and Sofia should move off the public teat. Why are they even on it? What would they do for a job?

       1. They are on it because they refuse to get off the taxpayer dime and the sexist king still thinks his precious boy has been denied his birthright.

          Early on it was announced that she was going to be working for the king, some sort of assistant to his work? The king trying early on to make sure these two were taxpayer-funded. Just like him giving a certain ducal title to their son (Sommarland), one that comes with a very cheap rent for a mansion. Rightfully should have gone to Victoria’s son, but the king gave it to these two instead.

          Let’s hope the politicians are successful in their bid to force everyone but the king and heir off the payroll. I also hope their quest to get copies of all the king’s financials is successful, so they can stop him from siphoning off taxpayer money and sending it to these two.

          CP owns 3 homes in Sweden, has millions in investments. He pretends to be a designer, she could have stayed with PP. I’m still waiting for the ethics implosion that will happen in the future around her new clothing and consulting business. They need to be moved off the taxpayer dime now, cut off, and moved to self-supporting. None of this half-and-half business.

          1. Absolutely. CP seems to be cut from the same nasty cloth as his father. He plagiarised a fellow designer’s work as his own; I don’t think he finished his degree at RISD.

             There is something very wrong when people with millions plus houses etc need to be on the pubic teat. Hopefully the Swedish government will move swiftly to move CP and S on.

11. I just want to say that I love Victoria’s family. The picture of Estelle and Oscar is just too sweet for words. I love that they got the kids to color together. So sweet!!!!

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