With only three days to go before the wedding of Prince Carl Philip of Sweden and Sofia Hellqvist on Saturday, the Swedish royal court has not yet released on official guest list, nor do the media seem to have been able to get hold of it, but several foreign courts have already announced which royals who will travel to Stockholm for the nuptials.
The only foreign monarch expected is Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, who is the groom's godmother (the other sponsors being Princess Birgitta of Hohenzollern, Prince Leopold of Bavaria and the late Prince Bertil of Sweden). She will be accompanied by Crown Prince Frederik, Crown Princess Mary, Prince Joachim and Princess Marie.
There will also be a strong Norwegian contingent, headed by the Queen. She will be joined by the Crown Prince and Crown Princess and by Princess Märtha Louise and Ari Behn.
The Queens of the Netherlands and the Belgians will also attend, while the Earl and Countess of Wessex (Prince Edward and his wife Sophie) will as usual represent Britain. The Japanese imperial family will be represented by Princess Takamado, the wife of a first cousin of the Emperor, who also attended Princess Madeleine's wedding two years ago.
It is not yet known whether Luxembourg, Monaco and Spain will be represented, but the presence of Spanish royals are for security reasons mostly only made just before the event.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Trond, might you have any insights into the cause for the prestige of this guest list in contrast to that of the previous Swedish junior royal wedding, namely, the presence of the Belgian and Dutch royal families and of at least three queens?
ReplyDeleteGood question, and it may be added that the guest list is not the only thing that is grander this time than when Princess Madeleine married. The route of the carriage procession is considerably longer and the dinner and dance will take place in the state apartments of the Royal Palace in Stockholm rather than in a marquee in the garden of a country palace (and while the dinner and dance were strictly private last time it will be broadcast live on Swedish television this time).
DeleteThere are several possible reasons for this. One might be personal wishes. Princess Madeleine is a very private person who loathes media attention. Prince Carl Philip is also rather private, while his future wife has of course craved media attention throughout her career. It might also be noted that while there was no press conference when Princess Madeleine and Chris O'Neill became engaged and they gave no wedding interviews, Prince Carl Philip and Sofia Hellqvist held a long press conference on the day of their engagement and have given interview upon interview ahead of the wedding.
Another possibility is the need to "compensate" for the unusual choice of bride - the more bread and circus you give the public, the less likely they are to ask unwelcome questions.
A third possible although perhaps less likely explanation might be that King Carl Gustaf has still not reconciled himself to Carl Philip's loss of the crown and wants him at least to have a grand wedding.
And then there is of course the possibility that it is all a coincidence - perhaps they did also invite monarchs and consorts last time, but only the Princess of Monaco was able to attend. But I think it is more likely that as they had to invite Queen Margrethe (as she is the groom's godmother) there was no reason not to invite other monarchs or consorts as well. (There will, by the way, be at least four queens: Margrethe, Sonja, Máxima and Mathilde).
From the non-reigning families Billed Bladet has been able to confirm Prince Nikolaos and Princess Tatiana of Greece.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your thoughts re the bigger wedding. It's an interesting topic.
From the non-reigning families Billed Bladet has been able to confirm Prince Nikolaos and Princess Tatiana of Greece.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your thoughts re the bigger wedding. It's an interesting topic.
Thank you for the addition. I see that the Luxembourgian grand ducal website now lists the Hereditary Grand Duke and Hereditary Grand Duchess, who attended Princess Madeleine's wedding two years ago, as attending another event on Saturday, but it remains to be seen whether any other members of that family might go to Stockholm instead.
DeleteYour analysis of the possibilities is intriguing, and most striking in that even on these most formal and public of royal occasions, protocol and other choices are, to all appearances, affected by the personal characters or relations of the family members concerned. (My mistake, you are of course correct as to the four queens, and the grander scale of the celebrations - even more prominent a disparity.)
ReplyDeleteBy the way, if you should have the time now or in the future, I would love to hear your impressions of the Swedish royal house's management of the novel scenario of Princess Madeleine and her family, i.e., that of an active member of the royal house and line of succession, married to a foreigner and private citizen engaged in an active financial career, settling overseas.
(You have written of becoming busier, so thank you, as well, for making time for this blog; I always look forward to reading your posts.)
That is an interesting topic, but one it might perhaps be easier to say something about in a few years, when we know whether Princess Madeleine's family will remain abroad permanently. If, as some people have started to think, Princess Estelle will remain an only child I suppose the children Prince Carl Philip and Sofia Hellqvist might have will have to be called upon to take on a greater share of royal duties than what would otherwise have been the case, while Princess Madeleine's children, being further down the line of succession, will be more "expendable".
Delete(Thank you for that - yes, these days there is always some work that has to be done which leaves little time for the blog).