Victoria pregnant

Sweden's Crown Princess Victoria and her husband Prince Daniel Westling are expecting their first child, the Swedish Royal Court announced on Wednesday.

• Victoria most beautiful royal bride ever: poll (2 Aug 11)
• Royal revellers brave birthday downpour (14 Jul 11)
• From wedding bliss to royal crisis: the state of Sweden's monarchy (17 Jun 11)

"Their Royal Highnesses The Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel are happy to announce that the Crown Princess is expecting their first child," the Royal Court wrote in a statement on Wednesday.

Swedish tabloids immediately jumped into a frenzy over the the news, which had been widely anticipated since Victoria's fairytale wedding to her former personal trainer Daniel Westling, now known as Prince Daniel, in June of 2010.

“This is simply fantastic news,” Roger Lundgren, previous editor of Queen magazine and expert on the Swedish royal family, told The Local.

According to the statement, the baby will be born in March 2012.

"The mother-to-be is doing well. No changes in the schedule of The Crown Princess' public engagements are planned during the fall of 2011," the court wrote.

"I have a lot to look forward to this autumn," a very happy Crown Princess told newspaper Aftonbladet on Wednesday.

According to Elisabeth Tarras-Wahlberg, former royal press secretary and at one time head of Crown Princess Victoria’s household, it has long been a dream of Victoria's to be a mother.

"Even in my time I witnessed how she was happy for her friends who had babies and how she delighted in her many god children," said Tarras-Wahlberg to TT.

Congratulatory greetings have been flooding in since the announcement.

"It is with great joy that I have been informed of the news that the Crown Princess and Prince Daniel are expecting a baby. You have a fantastic experience to look forward to and I want to send my warmest congratulations to you both," wrote prime minister Fredrik Reinfeldt in a statement.

"What joyful news! Two fabulous people who are so very much in love and now get to share the joy of having a child together," wrote Centre Party leader Maud Olofsson after receiving the news.

Former Royal Court reporter, Sten Hedman, told news agency TT that he predicts great times ahead for the Royal family.

"The order of succession has been secured and the patter of tiny feet is much longed for after all the wretchedness surrounding the controversial biography on the King and the reports about Silvia's father. This feels refreshing," Hedman told TT.

Roger Lundgren also thinks that it is important that the line of succession has been secured.

“The whole point of the monarchy is continuity, and now we see that the crown will pass from one generation to another," he old The Local.

Victoria, who is first in line to the throne and who will one day become Sweden's third regent queen, is wildly popular in Sweden.

Several recent surveys have shown a majority of Swedes would prefer her to her father King Carl XVI Gustaf, as head of state.

When it arrives, the new baby - the king and queen's first grandchild - will be second in line to the Swedish throne.