My latest article: Carl XIV Johan's coronation 200 years ago

200 years ago today, Carl XIV Johan was crowned King of Norway in Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim, which was, for many reasons, a remarkable event. For one thing, Carl Johan, the former revolutionary general Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte, did not have a drop of blue blood in his vein. Carl Johan did nothing to deny this and rather based his legitimacy on his military deeds, which had paved his way to the thrones of Norway and Sweden.
In the new issue of Aftenposten Historie (no 8 - 2018), Norway's largest history magazine, I write about how this came to be expressed at his coronation and in the crown jewels Carl Johan commissioned for his coronation, including the sword he had carried in the battle where he helped defeat his great rival Napoléon.

On this date: Carl XIV Johan's Swedish coronation

200 years ago today, Carl XIV Johan was crowned King of Sweden in the Great Church in Stockholm. To the days thirty years before, he had been appointed Sergeant Major in the French army, the highest rank a non-noble could reach before the Revolution swept away noble privileges. It was said in the days of Napoléon that every soldier carried a marshal's baton in his knapsack. In Sergeant Major Bernadotte's knapsack there was not only a marshal's baton but also two royal crowns.
His Norwegian coronation took place in Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim on 7 September 1818. You may read about his coronation and the crown jewels aquired on that occasion and how they reflect his unusual career in my book Norges krone - Kroninger, signinger og maktkamper fra sagatid til nåtid (2015).
The picture is a detail of Pehr Krafft the Younger's monumental coronation painting, which hangs in the Royal Palace in Stockholm.

My latest article: The end of Swedish coronations

My new book is just around the corner, but meanwhile I have turned some surplus material from my previous book, Norges krone - Kroninger, signinger og maktkamper fra sagatid til nåtid, into an article for the Swedish English-language royal history magazine Royalty Digest Quarterly (no 3 - 2017), which is now out. The article looks at how and why the Swedish kings stopped having coronations at the death of Oscar II in 1907, by which time coronations had come under increasing criticism for several decades (in sharp contrast to what was the case in neighbouring Norway).

My latest articles: Mountbatten in Sweden & Trondheim as coronation city

This year's last issue of the Swedish royal magazine Kungliga magasinet (no 7 - 2016) went on sale a couple of weeks ago, and to this issue I have contributed an article on how Earl Mountbatten of Burma, the éminence grise of the British royal family, tried to play the role of the power behind the throne in Sweden, where his sister Louise was Queen, including attempts at making Gustaf VI Adolf abdicate and marrying off the young King Carl Gustaf, for whose future Mountbatten often feared. (A shorter version of the article appeared in English in Majesty Vol. 36, No. 12 a year ago).
Also out is Trondhjemske Samlinger 2016, the yearbook of Trondhjems Historiske Forening (the Historical Association of Trondheim), where I mark the 25th anniversary of the King and Queen's solemn blessing with an article on Trondheim as coronation city in the middle ages and in modern times, based on a lecture I gave in Trondheim in connection with the jubilee in June, which was again based on my latest book Norges krone - Kroninger, signinger og maktkamper fra sagatid til nåtid. The yearbook may be purchased from one of the larger bookstores in Trondheim (for instance Ark Bruns or Norli at Nordre gate) or ordered from the historical association.

Prince Alexander of Sweden baptised

At a service in the church at Drottningholm Palace outside Stockholm at noon today, Prince Alexander of Sweden, Duke of Sudermania, the firstborn child of Prince Carl Philip and Princess Sofia, was baptised by Archbishop Antje Jackelén. The sponsors were his paternal aunt Crown Princess Victoria, his maternal aunt Lina Frejd, his father's first cousin Victor Magnuson (Princess Christina's youngest son), his father's room mate from boarding school, Jan-Åke Hansson, and his mother's childhood friend Cajsa Larsson. The princely crown made for Prince Fredrik Adolf in 1772 rested on a cushion by the font, and at the end of the ceremony King Carl XVI Gustaf invested his grandson with the Order of the Seraphim.
Among the guests were Prince Alexander's grandparents, King Carl Gustaf and Queen Silvia and Erik and Marie Hellqvist, his great-grandmother Britt Rotman, Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel with Princess Estelle and Prince Oscar, Princess Madeleine and Christopher O'Neill with Princess Leonore and Prince Nicolas, and Princess Sofia's sister Lina Frejd (without her husband Jonas Frejd) and Sara Hellqvist.
Of King Carl Gustaf's four sister, only Princess Margaretha, who lives in England, attended. Princess Birgitta had prioritised a golf tournament at Mallorca, while Princess Désirée had had to cancel after first accepting her invitation and Princess Christina and her husband Tord Magnuson are travelling. Princess Désirée's son, Baron Carl Silfverschiöld, and her youngerst daughter, Baroness Hélène Silfverschiöld, with her partner Fredrik Dieterle did however attend. From Princess Christina's family the only attendees were her youngest son, Victor Magnuson, and his partner Frida Bergström.
Other members of the extended Bernadotte family present were Countess Marianne Bernadotte af Wisborg, the King's aunt by marriage, and two of Prince Oscar Bernadotte's grandchildren, 100-year-old Dagmar von Arbin and Count Bertil Bernadotte af Wisborg, the latter accompanied by his wife Jill. Of Prince Carl Philip's four godparents, only Prince Leopold of Bavaria attended with his wife Ursula.
From Queen Silvia's family, her brother Ralf de Toledo Sommerlath and his wife Charlotte attended as well as her nephew Thomas de Toledo Sommerlath with his partner Bettina Aussems, her niece Carmita Sommerlath Baudinet and her nephew Patrick Sommerlath with his wife Maline Sommerlath, his son Leopold Lundén Sommerlath and their daughters Anaïs and Chloé Sommerlath. Princess Sofia's uncles and aunts, Anders Rotman and Laila Rönn Rotman, Lena Rotman and Peter Nygren, and Lars and Irena Hellqvist, also attended.
Among the official representatives were the Speaker of Parliament, Urban Ahlin, with his wife Jenni, Prime Minister Stefan Löfven and his wife Ulla, Deputy Prime Minister Isabella Lövin, the ambassadors of Norway and Denmark and the county governors of Södermanland (Prince Alexander's dukedom), Värmland (of which Prince Carl Philip is Duke) and Dalarna (where Princess Sofia hails from).

Silver jubilee celebrated in Trondheim

Today is the 25th anniversary of the King and Queen's solemn blessing in Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim on 23 June 1991. The King and Queen are currently on a silver jubilee tour along the coast, and having visited Tromsø and Bodø during the weekend, they arrived in Trondheim on board the Royal Yacht "Norge" yesterday. Today the celebrations began with a public event in Ravnkloa, the city's old fish market, at 10 a.m. At noon the royal family attended a jubilee service in Nidaros Cathedral and in the afternoon the King and Queen hosted a garden party for 600 guests in the garden behind Stiftsgården, the city's royal residence. I have been attending today's events as press and will do a report which will appear in the August issue of Majesty, which will be out in a month.
At today's service the King and Queen were joined by the Crown Prince and Crown Princess, Princess Ingrid Alexandra, Prince Sverre Magnus, the Crown Princess's son Marius Borg Høiby, Princess Märtha Louise and Ari Behn and their daughters Maud, Leah and Emma, Princess Astrid, Princess Ragnhild's widower Erling S. Lorentzen and his new partner Ebba Løvenskiold, as well as Princess Ragnhild's three children, Haakon Lorentzen, Ingeborg Lorentzen Ribeiro and Ragnhild Lorentzen Long, the latter two accompanied by their husbands. Rather surprisingly, none of Princess Astrid's children were present.
Yesterday the King, the Crown Prince and Princess Ingrid Alexandra posed for a photo in front of the crown jewels made for Carl XIV Johan's coronation in 1818, which are now exhibited in the Archbishop's Palace. The photo is by Torgrim Melhuus, TiTT Melhuus as/Nidaros Cathedral Restoration Workshop/the Royal Court.

My latest articles: "St Haakon" and coronations

Today is the 110th anniversary of the coronation of King Haakon VII - the last in Norwegian history - and I mark the occasion with an article in the newspaper Adresseavisen today, in which I look at the significance of King Haakon and Nidaros Cathedral to each other, how King Haakon achieved an almost superhuman position following the Second World War and is treated almost as a saint in the cathedral. The article (external link) is available online, but might be behind the newspaper's paywall.
Tomorrow is the 25th anniversary of King Harald V's and Queen Sonja's solemn blessing, the ritual that replaced coronations. The King and Queen are currently on their silver jubilee tour and earlier today they arrived in Trondheim, where they will attend a service of thanksgiving in Nidaros Cathedral tomorrow. On that occasion, tomorrow's edition of Aftenposten, Norway's largest newspaper, carries an article I have written on the history of coronations in Norway and how King Olav invented the ritual of solemn blessing, thus ensuring that Norway is now the only European kingdom besides Britain that marks a monarch's accession with a religious ritual. The article (external link) is already now available on Aftenposten's website.

A radio documentary and three lectures

On Thursday next week, 25 years will have passed since the solemn blessing of the King and Queen in Nidaros Cathedral and to celebrate the silver jubilee they embark on a twelve-day tour of the kingdom by the Royal Yacht "Norge" tomorrow. My "contributions" to the jubilee will, except for my latest book, be a radio documentary and three lectures in Trondheim next week.
In the radio documentary, which will be broadcast by the NRK radio channel P2 as part of the programme "Museum", I tell the story of the struggle over the crown of Norway between the kings Christian I and Karl Knutsson in 1448-1450, how that power struggle made Nidaros Cathedral the coronation church for the first time and how one created a myth, which many still believe in, that this was where Norwegian kings had always been crowned. The programme will be broadcast at 6.03 p.m. on Saturday and 8.03 a.m. on Sunday, but is already now available as a podcast (external link).
On Monday at 6 p.m. I will be the guest of Trondhjems Historiske Forening (Trondheim Historical Society) in the Suhm House at Kalvskinnet to give a lecture on Trondheim as the city of coronations - more information may be found here (external link). On Tuesday at 2 p.m. I will present new knowledge of the crown jewels in a lecture at Nordenfjeldske Kunstindustrimuseum (the museum of decorative arts and design) in Munkegata, about which you can read here (external link), and on Wedneday at 1 p.m. I will be at the Archbishop's Palace to give a lecture on the history of coronations and how and why they were replaced by solemn blessings - more information about that here (external link). If I have any readers in or near Trondheim I would be happy to see you at the lectures.

Prince Oscar of Sweden's christening

At noon today, Prince Oscar of Sweden, Duke of Scania was christened in the Palace Church in Stockholm. He was baptised by Antje Jackelén, the first female Archbishop in the history of the Church of Sweden, and his godparents were Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark, Crown Princess Mette-Marit of Norway, his aunt Princess Madeleine, his mother's first cousin Oscar Magnuson (Princess Christina's eldest son) and his father's first cousin Hans Åström. At the end of the ceremony, his grandfather King Carl XVI Gustaf invested him with the Order of the Seraphim, Sweden's highest honour.
Among the guests in the Palace Church were family members, friends of the family, courtiers, Prime Minister Stefan Löfven and other members of the cabinet, Speaker Urban Ahlin and other representatives of Parliament, some ambassadors and county governors as well as representatives of organisations and institutions.
Prince Oscar's parents, Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel, were joined by his sister Princess Estelle, his maternal grandparents King Carl Gustaf and Queen Silvia and his paternal grandparents Olle and Ewa Westling. Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary of Denmark and Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit also attended. Princess Madeleine was accompanied by her husband Christopher O'Neill and their children, Princess Leonore and Prince Nicolas, while Prince Carl Philip and Princess Sofia did not bring their newborn son, Prince Alexander.
Of the King's four sisters, Princesses Margaretha and Christina attended, the latter accompanied by her husband Tord Magnuson, their three sons Oscar, Gustaf and Victor Magnuson, their daughters-in-law Vicky and Emma Magnuson and Victor's partner Frida Bergström. Princess Désirée's eldest daughter, Baroness Christina De Geer and her husband Hans also attended. Other members of the extended royal family present were Countess Marianne Bernadotte af Wisborg, the widow of the late former Prince Sigvard, Dagmar von Arbin, the 100-year-old granddaughter of Prince Oscar Bernadotte, and Count Bertil Bernadotte af Wisborg, a grandson of Prince Oscar Bernadotte, with his wife Jill.
Queen Silvia's two surviving brothers, Walther L. Sommerlath and Ralf de Toledo Sommerlath, were also present, the former accompanied by his wife Charlotte. The Queen's nephews Thomas de Toledo Sommerlath and his partner Bettina Aussems and Patrick Sommerlath and his wife Maline Sommerlath were joined by Patrick's three children, Leopold Lundén Sommerlath, Chloé Sommerlath and Anaïs Sommerlath.
Prince Daniel's sister, Anna Westling Söderström, brought her husband Mikael Westling Söderström, her daughters Hedvig and Vera Blom, the former's boyfriend Oliver Dackell, and her step-children Casper and Caisa Söderström. Other relatives of Prince Daniel present were Tommy Henriksson, Hans and Marika Henriksson, Nils and Ann-Catrin Westling, Sara Westling and Jesper Carlsson, Frida and Rickard Westling, Hasse and Anna-Britta Åström, Hans and Helena Åström, Anders Åström, Anna-Karin Åström and Christer Wigren, Erik and Birgitta Westling, Ove and Yvonne Westling, Bo and Carina Westling, and Per and Rose-Marie Westling.

Service of thanksgiving for Prince Alexander

In keeping with tradition, a Te Deum was sung in the Palace Church in Stockholm at noon today to celebrate the birth of Prince Alexander on Tuesday.
These services of thanksgiving are usually held the day after the birth, but it had now been postponed by two days, apparently to allow Queen Silvia, who was attending a conference in New York when her fifth grandchild was born, to be able to attend.
Princess Madeleine, who lives in London with her family, was, however, still in New York and thus unable to attend, and as usual the newborn and his mother were not present. The new father Prince Carl Philip was joined by his parents, King Carl Gustaf and Queen Silvia, and his eldest sister, Crown Princess Victoria, and her husband, Prince Daniel. His aunt Princess Christina was also there with her husband Tord Magnuson, as well as his great-aunt, Countess Marianne Bernadotte af Wisborg, and his grandfather's second cousin Dagmar von Arbin, who celebrated her 100th birthday less than two weeks ago.
Other family members present were Queen Silvia's nephew Patrick Sommerlath, who partly grew up in Sweden and is therefore particularly close to his Swedish cousins, with his wife Maline, the newborn Prince's maternal grandparents Erik and Marie Hellqvist, his great-grandmother Britt Rotman, and his maternal aunts Lina and Sara Hellqvist.

Seraphim honours for Prince Johann Georg

At noon today, the funeral of Prince Johann Georg of Hohenzollern, who died on 2 March, took place in the Church of Our Saviour at the Hedingen Monastery in Sigmaringen, his family sepulchre. King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia of Sweden were among the mourners at their brother-in-law’s funeral. Among the guests were also Prince Carl Philip, Princess Désirée and Baron Niclas Silfverschiöld, Princess Christina, Prince Georg Friedrich of Prussia, Margrave Maxmilian and Margravine Valerie of Baden, and Prince Andreas of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.
As I happen to be in Stockholm, I had the chance to watch the ceremonial observed on the day of the funeral of a Knight of the Order of the Seraphim, Sweden’s highest honour. At 11.55 a.m., his Seraphim coat of arms was carried from the Royal Palace to the former royal burial church at Riddarholmen, escorted by grenadiers.
In the former church, the coat of arm was placed on a table at the entrance to the chancel together with two candles, a bouquet of flowers and a photo of the late Prince. An official of the Order Chancellery gave a short speech (in German) recording the vita of Prince Johann Georg, two pieces of music were performed by an army band and the bells tolled for an hour.
Prince Johann Georg was made a Knight of the Seraphim by King Gustaf VI Adolf on 23 May 1961, two days before his civil marriage to the King’s granddaughter, Princess Birgitta. Although the princely branch of the House of Hohenzollern had not been sovereign since 1849, King Gustaf Adolf chose to treat his granddaughter’s marriage on the same level as if she had married a prince of a reigning house, i.e. making the groom and his nearest male relatives Knights of the Seraphim.
After the order was founded in 1748, there were for a long time very few Swedish princesses. Princess Sophia Albertina, the daughter of King Adolf Fredrik, and Princess Eugénie, the daughter of King Oscar I, remained unmarried, and it was indeed only in 1869 that a princess married, namely Lovisa, the daughter of King Carl XV.
Lovisa married Crown Prince Frederik (VIII) of Denmark, who had already received the Order of the Seraphim in 1862. His father, King Christian IX, was also already a knight since 1848 and his younger brother, King Georgios I of the Hellenes, since the previous year, but King Carl gave the order to his uncle, Prince Hans of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg.
The next Swedish Princess to marry was Margaretha, who wed Prince Axel of Denmark in May 1919. The groom received the order on the occasion of the engagement, while his father Prince Valdemar had received it in 1875 and his elder brother Prince Aage in 1913.
When Margaretha’s youngest sister, Princess Astrid, became engaged to Prince Léopold, the heir to the Belgian throne in September 1926, he received the Seraphim, while his brother Prince Charles received it two days before the civil wedding on 4 November 1926. Their father, King Albert I of the Belgians, had been made a knight in 1910, but received the collar two days before the civil wedding.
When Princess Märtha married Crown Prince Olav of Norway in March 1929, there was however no presentation of orders. The groom himself had received it when attending the wedding of Princess Astrid and Prince Léopold, while his father, King Haakon VII, had received it back in 1893, when he was still Prince Carl of Denmark and called on his great-uncle Oscar II.
Crown Prince Frederik (IX) of Denmark, who married Princess Ingrid in 1935, was also already a knight (since 1917), while his father had received the Seraphim in 1888 and his younger brother Knud also as a guest at the 1926 wedding. The groom’s maternal uncle, ex-Grand Duke Friedrich Franz IV of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, was however made a Knight of the Seraphim three days before the wedding.
When Prince Johann Georg married Princess Birgitta, King Gustaf VI Adolf gave the Seraphim not only to him but also to his older brother, Hereditary Prince Friedrich Wilhelm. Their father, Prince (Fürst) Friedrich, had received the Order in 1936, but was given the collar on the same days as his two eldest sons were made knights.s

Prince Johann Georg to be buried on Saturday

According to an announcement appearing in today's edition of Süddeutsche Zeitung, the requiem mass and funeral of the art historian Prince Johann Georg of Hohenzollern will take place in the Church of Our Saviour at the Hedingen Monastery on the outskirts of his hometown Sigmaringen at noon on Saturday. The church is the family sepulchre of the princely House of Hohenzollern.
Prince Johann Georg was married to Princess Birgitta of Sweden, and the Swedish royal court has announced that King Carl Gustaf and Queen Silvia, Princess Désirée and Baron Niclas Silfverschiöld, and Princess Christina will attend their brother-in-law's funeral. Princess Margaretha, who is unable to attend, will be represented by her daughter, Baroness Sybilla von Dincklage.
On the occasion of their wedding in 1961, Prince Johann Georg was made a Knight of the Order of the Seraphim, Sweden's highest honour, by King Gustaf VI Adolf. As tradition dictates, the funeral of a Knight of the Seraphim will be observed in Stockholm by the tolling of the bells of the Riddarholmen Church between noon and 1 p.m. At 11.55 a.m., his Seraphim coat of arms will be carried from the Royal Palace to the church.

My latest articles: Coronations and solemn blessings

My new book on the role of coronations in Norwegian history, Norges krone - Kroninger, signinger og maktkamper fra sagatid til nåtid, is of course of some relevance to the King's Silver Jubilee, and in connection with the jubilee I have had several related articles published.
In this year's first issue of the history magazine Aftenposten Historie, which is on sale from today, I have an eight-page article on the origins of the rites of coronation and anointing. The last Norwegian coronation was that of Haakon VII in 1906, but his son, Olav V, instituted a new tradition to replace coronations, namely a solemn blessing, making Norway the only European monarchy besides Britain that still marks the accession of a new monarch with a solemn religious ritual. On Saturday, I had an article in the newspaper Vårt Land about the transition from coronations to solemn blessings and its significance to King Olav, which is now also available online (external link). On the same day, I also wrote a piece in the newspaper VG on King Olav's struggle to introduce this new ritual, looking in particular at how he clashed with Prime Minister Einar Gerhardsen, who wanted at most a much simpler service. This is also available online (external link), but only to subscribers, I am afraid.

Prince Nicolas of Sweden christened

At noon today, Prince Nicolas of Sweden, the son of Princess Madeleine and Chris O'Neill, was christened in the chapel of Drottningholm Palace outside Stockholm. This intimate chapel was also the venue for the christening of his elder sister, Princess Leonore, in June last year.
The sponsors were his maternal uncle, Prince Carl Philip; his father's maternal half-sister, Countess Natascha Abensperg und Traun; his mother's first cousin Gustaf Magnuson (son of Princess Christina); his paternal uncle by marriage Henry d'Abo (whose mother, Lady Ursula d'Abo, who will be 99 next month, is the daughter of the 9th Duke of Rutland and was a maid of honour at the coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth of Britain in 1937); his mother's friend Katarina von Horn; and his father's friend Marco Wajselfisz.
Prince Nicolas wore the christening robe that was made for the baptism of his great-grandfather, Prince Gustaf Adolf, in 1906 and which has been worn by many royal children since then. He was baptised by the Archbishop, Antje Jackelén (who last year became Sweden's first female Archbishop). At the end of the ceremony, he was invested as a Knight of the Order of the Seraphim by his grandfather, King Carl XVI Gustaf. His royal rank was, in keeping with a tradition instituted in 1778, symbolised by a princely crown on a pedestal next to the altar. Until now, one crown has usually been assigned to each prince and princess, but the fact that the royal title now descends through both the male and the female line means that there are not enough crowns to go around, and Prince Nicolas has thus been assigned the same crown as his mother, that of Princess (later Queen) Hedvig Elisabeth Charlotta (the distinction between crowns for princes and princesses had already been broken in 2012, when Oscar II's princely crown was assigned to Princess Estelle).
As the chapel at Drottningholm is rather small, the christening was attended by a rather select gathering of family, friends, officials and courtiers. Apart from Prince Nicolas, his parents and his sisters, the members of the extended royal family present were King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia; Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel; Princess Estelle; Prince Carl Philip and Princess Sofia; Princess Margaretha; Princess Christina's husband Tord Magnuson, their three sons Oscar, Gustaf and Victor Magnuson, Gustaf's wife Vicky Magnuson, Victor's partner Frida Bergström and their infant son Sigvard, who was born on 25 August; Countess Marianne Bernadotte af Wisborg, who is the widow of the King's late uncle, the former Prince Sigvard; and Dagmar von Arbin, a great-granddaughter of King Oscar II, who will celebrate her 100th birthday in April. The only foreign royal present was Prince Andreas of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, a first cousin of King Carl Gustaf who is also one of Princess Madeleine's sponsors.
Also present were Chris O'Neill's mother, Eva Maria O'Neill; two of his three paternal half-sisters, Annalisa O'Neill and Karen O'Neill, and his nephew Oliver MacNeely; his maternal half-sister Tatjana d'Abo with her husband Henry and their children Anouska, Celina and Jasper; his maternal half-sister Countess Natascha Abensperg und Traun and her daughters Milana and Chiara; and a man by the name of Wolfgang Seybold, who is apparently in a relationship with Eva Maria O'Neill.
Queen Silvia's brother Walther L. Sommerlath is on the guest list, but was as far as I could tell not present in church. On the other hand two of her nephews were there: Thomas de Toledo Sommerlath and Patrick Sommerlath, the latter with his wife Maline, his son Leopold Lundén Sommerlath and their daughters Anaïs and Chloé Sommerlath.

My latest article(s): Emeralds and Reims

I have two articles in the September issue of Majesty (Vol. 35, No. 9), which went on sale on Thursday. The first one deals with the emerald parure that is the pièce de résistance of the Norwegian jewellery collection and often worn by the Queen.
When writing my biography of Princess Astrid, which was published in 2007, I started doing some research into the history of this magnificent parure and in this article I sum up the research done in the intervening years, thereby rejecting some of the myths about this parure that are frequently repeated in the media, and following its provenance, its sometimes dramatic history and the changes made to it through the year, including the dispersal of the necklace's pendants and the unfortunate removal of some of the main stones from the tiara.
In the second I article I write about the Cathedral of Reims, the French coronation church whose significance was so great that French kings could not really be crowned anywhere else. This beautiful cathedral held a special place in French minds, but sadly became one of the first and most important cultural heritage victims of the First World War when German bombs left it in ruins in September 1914. However, it was lovingly rebuilt in the interwar years and now takes its rightful place as part of the UNESCO World Heritage list.

King Juan Carlos has abdicated

In a simple ceremony of less than twenty minutes, held in the Hall of Columns at the Royal Palace at Madrid at 6 p.m. today, King Juan Carlos signed into law the so-called organic law authorising his abdication. The bill was passed by the Congress of Deputies last Wednesday and by the Senate yesterday. It will come into effect when published in the official gazette, which will happen at midnight.
After the law had been read aloud, King Juan Carlos walked, with some difficulty because of his many recent operations on his hip and back, over to an ornate table of inlaid marble where he signed the act, which was thereafter countersigned by the Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy of the Conservative Party.
Returning to his seat, King Juan Carlos gave Prince Felipe one of his characteristic big hugs and thereafter guided his son to the slightly elevated chair he had himself occupied until then. The 150 guests gave the outgoing King a standing ovation, which lasted for several minutes until he could no longer remain on his feet.
While King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofía were seated with Prince Felipe and Princess Letizia in the centre of the room, Princess Leonor and Princess Sofía sat with their aunt, Princess Elena. Princess Cristina remains persona non grata and did not attend. Also present were King Juan Carlos's two sisters, Princess Pilar, Duchess of Badajóz and Princess Margarita, Duchess of Soria, the latter accompanied by her husband, Carlos Zurita, the King's aunt-by-marriage, 96-year-old Princess Alicia, and his cousin Prince Carlos, Duke of Calabria with his wife Ana.
Ex-King Simeon II of the Bulgarians and ex-King Konstantinos II of the Hellenes, accompanied by ex-Queen Anne-Marie, were present in their capacity as Knights of the Golden Fleece. The Greek ex-King is of course also Queen Sofía's brother, while ex-King Simeon is a childhood friend of King Juan Carlos.

Spanish Senate approves King Juan Carlos's abdication

By 233 votes against five, and twenty abstentions, the Spanish Senate on Tuesday passed the bill authorising King Juan Carlos's abdication. The King will sign it into law in a ceremony at the Royal Palace at 6 p.m. today, in the presence of some 150 guests, and it will take effect once it is published in the official legal gazette. As there is no longer a print version of this gazette, but only an online version, it is not quite clear when this will actually happen, but one Spanish newspaper reports that it will happen at midnight.
Prince Felipe, who will then succeed to the throne as King Felipe VI, will be invested with the sash of Captain General of the armed forces by his father at the Zarzuela Palace at 9.30 a.m. on Thursday and will thereafter travel to Parliament, where King Felipe will be sworn in in the chamber of the Congress of Deputies. His wife and two daughters will be present, as will Queen Sofía and the Princesses Elena, Pilar and Margarita, but not King Juan Carlos, who stays away to avoid drawing attention away from the new monarch.
After the swearing-in the new King will take the salute at a military parade in front of Parliament before he and Queen Letizia drive through Madrid to the Royal Palace, where King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofía will join them on the balcony to greet the crowds. Around 1 p.m. the new King and Queen will host a reception for some 2,000 guests at the Palace.

Six godparents for Princess Leonore

Princess Leonore of Sweden will be christened in the chapel at Drottningholm Palace outside Stockholm at noon today. A few hours ago the royal court announced that her godparents will be Crown Princess Victoria, Louise Gottlieb (Princess Madeleine's best friend), Patrick Sommerlath (a nephew of Queen Silvia who moved to Sweden at an early age and became almost like a brother to her children), Tatjana d'Abo (one of Christopher O'Neill's five half-sisters), Count Ernst Abensperg und Traun (the husband of another half-sister), and Alice Bamford, a childhood friend of Chris O'Neill.
As Princess Leonore is the daughter of the King's third child this will obviously be a much smaller affair than Princess Estelle's christening, which took place in the Palace Church in Stockholm on 23 May 2012. The domed, circular chapel at Drottningholm can seat only 160 people and there will be fewer official representatives and no foreign royals or heads of state in attendance.
The splendid baroque silver christening font will not be brought from the Royal Treasury in the cellars of the Royal Palace, but the chapel's usual christening font will be used. Princess Leonore will wear the christening robe first worn by her great-grandfather, Prince Gustaf Adolf, in 1906. She will be baptisted by the outgoing Archbishop, Anders Wejryd (his successor, Antje Jackelén, who will be Sweden's first female archbishop, will be installed next Sunday).
Following the christening a reception will be held at Drottningholm Palace. The parents and grandparents will receive their guests in the Ehrenstrahl Drawing Room, which was originally Dowager Queen Hedvig Eleonora's throne room and whose walls are covered by David Klöcker Ehrenstrahl's monumental paintings glorifying Hedvig Eleonora, who built Drottningholm and for whom Princess Leonore is perhaps at least partially named.
The Princess will rest in the cradle made for the future King Carl XV in 1826, which is used for junior royals (Carl XI's cradle is used by direct heirs to the throne). Most likely she will be invested with the Seraphim Order by her grandfather either during or after the christening ceremony, which takes place on the first wedding anniversary of her parents.

Felipe VI to succeed Juan Carlos I on 18 June

Spanish media report that the abdication of King Juan Carlos I will take effect on 18 June. Although the King signed his abdication on Monday, a bill must be passed by both houses of the Cortes (Parliament) for it to come into force. When the bill has been approved by both the Congress of Deputies and the Senate, it will be sanctioned by King Juan Carlos at the Royal Palace in Madrid on 18 June.
Prince Felipe will succeed to the throne as soon as the abdication act is published, and the following day he will be sworn in during a joint session of the Cortes, as his father was on 22 November 1975.
In 1975 the swearing in was followed by a mass in the Church of San Jeronimo five days later, but as a result of the secularisation of Spain this has now been dispensed with.
The 1975 enthronement mass was attended by several foreign heads of state and royals, which was important for King Juan Carlos, who came to the throne as the appointed successor of the Fascist dicator Francisco Franco, but intended to dismantle the dictatorship. This time no foreign heads of state or royals will be invited, which the royal household explains with lack of time and space in the Cortes.
It is as yet unknown what other members of the Spanish royal family, if any, will be present for the swearing in, but I would expect that at least the new Queen will join her husband and that their two daughters will also be present.
Curiously the media refer to the inauguration as a coronation and claim that Prince Felipe will be crowned. This is obviously wrong, as the swearing in is an entirely secular ceremony and no monarch has been crowned in Spain since the unification of the country in the fifteenth century.

Princess Ingrid Alexandra makes parliamentary debut

Today (or by now rather yesterday) Parliament held a special meeting to commemorate the bicentenary of the Constitution, which was passed on 16 May 1814 and signed and dated the following day. For this occasion the MPs were joined by the royal family, the members of the cabinet and the Supreme Court and the speakers of the parliaments of Denmark, Sweden, Iceland and Finland.
The King and Queen were accompanied by the Crown Prince and Crown Princess, Princess Ingrid Alexandra and Princess Astrid. Prince Sverre Magnus had apparently been excused, while Princess Märtha Louise, who lives in London, had chosen not to travel to her native land for this important occasion. For Princess Ingrid Alexandra this was her first appearance in Parliament which she, unless the Constitution is changed, will open every year when she succeeds to the throne.
The Constitution bars the King from being present while Parliament is sitting, but as no parliamentary deliberations took place today his presence was "tolerated". Similar meetings have been held in the presence of members of the royal family to commemorate other important occasions, including the 175th anniversary of the Constitution 25 years ago, the 50th, 75th and 100th anniversaries of the dissolution of the personal union with Sweden in 1905 and the 100th anniversary of the introduction of parliamentarianism in 1884, as well as after the terrorist attacks directed against the Labour Party by a right wing extremist in 2011.
Today speeches were given by the Speaker of Parliament, Olemic Thommessen (Conservative), as well as the speakers of the Danish and Swedish parliaments, Mogens Lykketoft and Per Westerberg. Following the meeting the King and Queen hosted a reception at the Palace for nearly all the mayors of the 428 municipalities, while a sparsely attended "people's party" was held in Eidsvoll Square outside the Parliament Building.