Who said anything about her being criticised for being HRH?! At least I didn't. That she wanted to relinquish her status is something I've heard from several different sources so it might be true but then again it might not be. I for one wouldn't be surprised if the former. It suits in the overall picture I have of both Madeleine as not at all comfortable in her Royal role and The King who's been striving for a more secure Line of Succession ever since he came into office.
Her children's titles might seem strange to some but are, to me, consistent with how the Court have interpreted the changes to the Act of Succession from 1979.
Sent from my iPhone using The Royals Community mobile app
As legitimate descendants of King Carl XVI Gustaf, Madeleine's children would always be in the line of succession unless otherwise excluded under the Act of Succession e.g. for not being members of the Church of Sweden, or for not being raised in Sweden. In principle, their succession rights have nothing to do then IMHO with whether they are titled or not.
The confusion in this case seems to come from the fact that, although not saying that explicitly, the Act of Succession seems to imply that all persons in the line of succession, i.e currently only the legitimate descendants of King Carl XVI Gustaf, also hold the title of prince or princess of Sweden. Belgium BTW has a similar problem as far as the descendants of King Albert II are concerned, but for a different reason (apparently a royal decree to that end issued by the late King Baudouin). Both the Swedish and Belgian practices stand in contrast to other monarchies, e.g. the UK, the Netherlands, Spain, or Norway, where it is perfectly possible to be in the line of succession without being an HRH.
As I see it, the issue would be solved if the parliament of Sweden, upon proposal of the Swedish government, passed legislation, along the lines e.g. of the Dutch model, explicitly regulating membership of the Royal House and royal titles and styles. Again, there is no need to tie succession rights to a particular title.
Madeleine was born a Princess of Sweden. It is not a matter of wanting to be one, she is one. Just as the King's sisters are still all Princesses, so is Madeleine and she surely has the right to enjoy being who she is. The idea of responsibility or lack of the same has nothing to do with it.
None of the King's sisters are in the line of succession and, with the exception of Princess Birgitta, the King's sisters are not HRHs. They are referred to as "princesses" by courtesy only.
As for Madeleine relinquishing her title, I sincerely don't know how she could have done it. Apparently, there is no legal norm explicitly regulating who is a prince or princess of Sweden. In the past , King Carl Gustaf's uncles lost their HRH titles though when they were removed from the line of succession (for example Prince Sigvard of Sweden, Duke of Uppland, became Count Sigvard Bernadotte). If the same rule applied to Madeleine (I'm not sure it does !), she could relinquish her sucession rights and, by implication, also give up her title, if she ceased to profess the Lutheran faith, or married without the consent of the Swedish government, or became the sovereign of another country without the consent of the king and the parliament of Sweden.
Other than the situations described above, as a legitimate descendant of King Carl XVI Gustaf, Madeleine could only be removed from the line of succession IMHO by an amendment to the Act of Succession itself. As we know though, since the Act of Succession is a fundamental law, an amendment thereto would require two votes in the Swedish parliament with a general election in between, as was the case in 1979.