Princess Victoria gives birth to baby girl

Sweden's Crown Princess Victoria gave birth to her first child early on Thursday, a baby girl who will be groomed to one day become the country's figurehead monarch. Victoria's husband, Prince Daniel, said the girl, who is second in line to the Swedish throne, was born at 4.26am (0326 GMT) at the Karolinska University Hospital in Solna, a suburb of Stockholm. She was 51 centimetres long and 3.28 kilograms. "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's top news sites proclaimed the royal birth with bold headlines yesterday, as TV stations broadcast live from the hospital. The country had eagerly awaited the announcement all night after the Royal Court confirmed after midnight that Victoria 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. Like in neighbouring Scandinavian countries, the monarch is primarily a figurehead, representing the country as the head of state but whose powers are limited to ceremonial functions. Prominent duty One of the Swedish monarch's most prominent duties is to hand out the prestigious Nobel Prizes at the annual award ceremony in December. Victoria is widely admired by Swedes for being down-to-earth and unassuming. It's not uncommon to see her and Prince Daniel venture out of their lakeside palace for a stroll in a nearby public park, with security guards in tow. Dr Lennart Nordstrom, who was present during the delivery, said there were no complications. The royal couple had specifically requested that they should not receive any special treatment, he said. "Both the crown princess and Daniel have been adamant that they should receive the same care as everyone else," Nordstrom told The Associated Press.