Skin care brand Min Len will be launched soon by the princess together with her husband Christopher O’Neill and is a collaboration with the Swiss beauty company Weleda.
Criticism has partly been about whether it is possible to combine entrepreneurship with being a royal – but the collaboration with Weleda, which was started and owned by anthroposophers, has also been touched upon.
Shocked by the criticism
We knew it would provoke debate, I was prepared for it. But I was still shocked that there was so much criticism, says Princess Madeleine to the magazine.
The couple means that everything has been done according to the rulebook.
With her public role, we respect that it means extra scrutiny. But we have followed all principles and she is allowed to have a commercial project. We have discussed it internally within the court and with the family in detail – and it was approved, says Christopher O’Neill.
The choice to collaborate with Weleda, the couple claims, is based on the company's "credibility and quality" – as well as "strict rules regarding how ingredients are developed).
Is "Misdirected"
Weleda's connections to the anthroposophical movement – which wants to combine science and spirituality – have been questioned, and critics accuse the company of using methods that lack scientific support.
Christopher O’Neill means, on the other hand, that Weleda has been renewed since its inception and that the choice has nothing to do with the teachings of anthroposophy.
I myself have a background where this type of natural product has always existed. The criticism of Weleda on that point (the connection to anthroposophers) from the Swedish press has not occurred internationally. It was unfounded and misdirected, he says.
