Official guest list for the Swedish royal wedding

The Swedish royal court has today released the official lists of guests who will be present in the Palace Church in Stockholm tomorrow for the wedding of Prince Carl Philip and Sofia Hellqvist. Some of the interesting names are:

Members of reigning royal families with partners:
TM King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia of Sweden
HM Queen Margrethe II of Denmark
HM Queen Sonja of Norway
HM Queen Máxima of the Netherlands
HM Queen Mathilde of the Belgians
TRH Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel of Sweden
TRH Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary of Denmark
TRH Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit of Norway
HRH Princess Estelle of Sweden
HRH Princess Madeleine of Sweden and Mr Christopher O'Neill
HRH Princess Birgitta of Hohenzollern and Sweden
Princess Margaretha of Sweden, Mrs Ambler
Princess Désirée of Sweden, Baroness Silfverschiöld and Baron Niclas Silfverschiöld
Princess Christina of Sweden, Mrs Magnuson and Mr Tord Magnuson
TRH Prince Edward and Sophie of Britain, Earl and Countess of Wessex
TRH Prince Joachim and Princess Marie of Denmark
HIH Hisako, Princess Takamado of Japan
HH Princess Märtha Louise of Norway and Mr Ari Behn
Countess Marianne Bernadotte af Wisborg (widow of the late former Prince Sigvard of Sweden)

Members of non-reigning royal families:
TRH Prince Nikolaós and Princess Tatiana of Greece and Denmark
HRH Prince Leopold and Princess Ursula of Bavaria
TRH Prince Manuel and Princess Anna of Bavaria
HH Hereditary Prince Hubertus of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
TSH Prince Hubertus and Princess Ute Maria of Hohenzollern

Descendants of royalty with partners
Baroness Sybilla von Dincklage (daughter of Princess Margaretha)
Mr James and Mrs Ursula Ambler (son and daughter-in-law of Princess Margaretha)
Mrs Désirée and Mr Eckbert von Bohlen und Halbach (daughter and son-in-law of Princess Birgitta)
Baron Carl Silfverschiöld (son of Princess Désirée)
Baroness Christina and Baron Hans De Geer (daughter and son-in-law of Princess Désirée)
Baroness Hélène Silfverschiöld (daughter of Princess Désirée) and Fredrik Dieterle
Mr Gustaf and Mrs Vicky Magnuson (son and daughter-in-law of Princess Christina)
Mr Oscar and Mrs Emma Magnuson (son and daughter-in-law of Princess Christina)
Mr Victor Magnuson (son of Princess Christina) and Miss Frida Bergström
Countess Bettina Bernadotte af Wisborg and Philipp Haug (daughter and son-in-law of the late former Prince Lennart of Sweden)
Mr Emil Bernadotte af Wisborg (son of Bettina Bernadotte and Philipp Haug)
Mrs Dagmar von Arbin (granddaughter of the late former Prince Oscar of Sweden and of Norway) (aged 99!)
Count Bertil and Countess Jill Bernadotte af Wisborg (grandson and granddaughter-in-law of the late former Prince Oscar of Sweden and of Norway)

Members of Queen Silvia's family:
Mr Ralf and Mrs Charlotte de Toledo Sommerlath (brother and sister-in-law)
Mrs Carmita Sommerlath Baudinet (daughter of Ralf de Toledo Sommerlath) and Mr Pierre Baudinet
Miss Chloé Radigues de Chennevière (daughter of Carmita Sommerlath Baudinet)
Mr Thomas de Toledo Sommerlath (son of Ralf de Toledo Sommerlath) and Ms Bettina Aussems
Mr Tim de Toledo Sommerlath (son of Thomas Sommerlath) and Mrs Kristina de Toledo Sommerlath
Mr Philip de Toledo Sommerlath (son of Thomas Sommerlath)
Miss Giulia de Toledo Sommerlath (daughter of Thomas Sommerlath)
Mr Walther L. and Mrs Ingrid Sommerlath (brother and sister-in-law)
Mr Patrick and Mrs Maline Sommerlath (son and daughter-in-law of Walther L. Sommerlath)
Mr Leopold Lundén Sommerlath (son of Patrick Sommerlath)
Miss Chloé Sommerlath (daughter of Patrick Sommerlath)
Miss Anaïs Sommerlath (daughter of Patrick Sommerlath)
Miss Helena Christina Sommerlath (daughter of the Queen's late brother Jörg Sommerlath) and Mr Jan Sohns
Ms Maria Salles Souto Ferreira (maternal relative of Queen Silvia)

Members of the bride's family:
Mr Erik and Mrs Marie Hellqvist (parents)
Miss Lina Hellqvist (sister) and Mr Jonas Frejd
Miss Sara Hellqvist (sister) and Mr Oskar Bergman
Mrs Britt Rotman (maternal grandmother)
Mr Anders Rotman (maternal uncle) and Mrs Laila Rönn Rotman
Mr Victor Rotman (cousin) and Miss Eleonora Caiazza
Mr Johan Rotman (cousin)
Mrs Lena Rotman (maternal aunt) and Mr Peter Nygren
Miss Hanna Nygren (cousin)
Mr Andreas Nygren (cousin)
Mr Lars and Mrs Irena Hellqvist (paternal uncle and aunt)
Mr Daniel Hellqvist (cousin)
Mr Martin Hellqvist (cousin)

Swedish royal wedding on 13 June

The Swedish royal court has announced that the wedding of Prince Carl Philip and Sofia Hellqvist will as expected take place in the Palace Church in Stockholm on 13 June next year.
Given what was said at the time of the engagement about the wedding taking place in early summer 13 June was really the only option as the previous Saturday (6 June) is the National Day and the following Saturday (20 June) is midsummer's eve, which is a major holiday in Sweden.

Princess Astrid's youngest son marries

Last weekend Princess Astrid's youngest son, Carl-Christian Ferner, married Anna-Stina Slattum Karlsen, to whom he became engaged in January. The wedding was held in Ris Church in Oslo and the reception at Grand Hotel.
According to the magazine Se og Hør the wedding was attended by the King and Queen, the Crown Prince and Crown Princess, Princess Märtha Louise and Ari Behn. Princess Astrid and her husband Johan Martin Ferner, who at 87 is rarely seen in public, were of course also present along with the groom's siblings Cathrine, Benedikte, Alexander and Elisabeth with their partners and children. Also in attendance were Erling S. Lorentzen, Princess Ragnhild's widower, their three children Haakon, Ingeborg and Ragnhild, and the groom's great-aunt, Princess Kristine Bernadotte.
Carl-Christian Ferner, who will turn 42 this month, works for the family business Ferner Jacobsen, a men's clothing store of which he owns 46 % of the shares. Anna-Stina Slattum Ferner is born in 1984 and is a digital editor in the company Orkla.

Princess Ragnhild’s granddaughter marries – in a tiara

This is a bit of old news by now, but on 9 August the late Princess Ragnhild’s granddaughter, Victoria Ribeiro, married Felipe Falcão, to whom she became engaged in November last year. The only member of the royal family present seems to have been the bride’s grandfather, Erling S. Lorentzen.
25-year-old Victoria Ribeiro, who has taken her husband’s surname, is the only child of Princess Ragnhild’s and Erling Lorentzen’s eldest daughter, Ingeborg, and her husband, Paulo Ribeiro. She is a graphic designer and runs her own company, called Vi Ragna.
I have only seen a couple of photos from the wedding, but it was interesting to note that the bride wore a tiara, which is a first for the non-royal descendants of the royal family. As the family are very well-off there is no reason to believe that the tiara is a fake, but it was not one of the two owned by Princess Ragnhild.
On the other hand it has some resemblance with the diamond tiara (convertible to a bracelet) which was a wedding present to Crown Princess Märtha from her uncle and aunt, King Gustaf V and Queen Victoria of Sweden. But this now belongs to Princess Astrid, who wore it for the first and so far only time for the state banquet during the Latvian state visit in 2011, and although Princess Astrid could have lent it to her goddaughter for her wedding it seems somewhat unlikely that it should have been sent all the way across the Atlantic to Brazil.
Victoria Ragna Lorentzen Ribeiro was born in Rio de Janeiro on 19 December 1988 and christened in the Palace Chapel in Oslo the following summer in the presence of her great-grandfather, King Olav V. Given the geographical and genealogical distance she plays no public role and rarely attends royal family events. Except for her grandmother’s funeral in the Palace Chapel in Oslo two years ago I believe her last such appearance was at the big family gathering held in Trondheim in 2006 for the centenary of King Haakon VII’s and Queen Maud’s coronation. However, she and her cousins Sophia Anne Lorentzen and Alexandra Lorentzen Long cut the ribbon when the new Norwegian seamen’s church in Rio de Janeiro, named Princess Ragnhild’s Church in honour of their grandmother, was opened on 3 May this year.

UPDATE (1 November): Having seen a better picture I can now say that it is indeed not Princess Astrid's tiara, but a previously unseen one.

Prince Amedeo marries in Rome

On Saturday Prince Amedeo of Belgium, a nephew of King Philippe, married his longtime girlfriend Elisabetta Maria Rosboch von Wolkenstein, known as Lili, in the ancient Basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere in her hometown Rome. The bride wore a Valentino dress and a tiara loaned by the groom's grandmother, Queen Paola, which originally belonged to the late Queen Astrid.
Among the guests were King Philippe and Queen Mathilde, accompanied by their four children, of whom Princess Elisabeth was a bridesmaid, King Albert and Queen Paola, and the groom's other uncle, Prince Laurent with his wife Claire and their three children, among them Princess Louise, who was also a bridesmaid. Several members of the groom's paternal family, the House of Habsburg, were also in attendance, as was Princess Beatrice of Britain.

Belgian royal wedding in Rome on 3 July

The Belgian TV channel VTM yesterday reported that the wedding of Prince Amedeo and Elisabetta Rosboch von Wolkenstein, who announced their engagement a month ago, will take place in Rome, where the bride was born, on 3 July. However, it was not made clear whether this referred to the actual wedding or the religious blessing of the marriage, or if both will take place at the same time in the same place.
VTM also reported that the groom's grandparents, King Albert and Queen Paola, will go to Rome at the end of next month to represent King Philippe at the canonisation of Pope John Paul II and Pope John XXIII on 27 April. It will be interesting to see if Queen Paola will exercise the privilège du blanc now that she is no longer the wife of a reigning monarch, but as Queen Fabiola has done so in her widowhood I expect Queen Paola to follow suit.

Luxembourg has a new princess

Luxembourg got a new princess yesterday (Tuesday 17 September) when Prince Félix, the second son of Grand Duke Henri and Grand Duchess Maria Teresa, wed his German girlfriend Claire Lademacher. The couple were married in a civil ceremony in Villa Rothschild Kempinski in the bride’s hometown Königstein im Taunus.
The groom had chosen the bride’s brother, Félix Lademacher, as his witness, while the bride’s witness was the groom’s sister, Princess Alexandra.
Only the nearest were present for today’s wedding, but several hundred guests have been invited to the religious blessing of the marriage, which will take place in the Basilica of Saint Mary Magdalene in the small French town of Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume in the department of Var (some forty kilometres east of Aix-de-Provence) on Saturday.
Interestingly, there are already several links between the bride’s hometown Königstein im Taunus and the royal house into which she married, most notably the Luxembourg Palace in the town centre. According to the newspaper Wort (external link), this building from the late seventeenth century was acquired by Duke Adolph of Nassau, who had lost his duchy to Prussia in the war of 1866, when Nassau had been among the losers. Upon the death of King Willem III of the Netherlands/Grand Duke Guillaume III of Luxembourg in 1890, the union between those two countries was dissolved through the deceased’s daughter Wilhelmina inheriting the Dutch crown while his distant kinsman Adolph succeeded to the throne of Luxembourg. He continued to spend summers in Königstein, and the Luxembourg Palace became the dower house of his widow, Grand Duchess Adéläide-Marie, who died there in 1916. The palace, which had been thoroughly rebuilt and extended by the Belgian architect Gégéon Bordiau in 1873-1876, remained in the possession of the Luxembourgian grand ducal family until 1952. Since 1981 it is the main office of the district court.
Princess Claire of Luxembourg was born in Filderstadt in Germany on 21 March 1985 and was educated in Germany, the USA, Switzerland, France and Italy. She holds as master degree in bioethics (the same degree as Prince Félix is currently studying for) and has earlier worked for Condé Nast in New York and Munich, for IMG World in Berlin and for the UNESCO Chair of Bioethics and Human Rights, and is currently working on a PhD on the topic of organ donation ethics.

Princess Christina’s eldest son marries

On Saturday Gustaf Magnuson, the eldest of the three sons of Princess Christina of Sweden and her husband Tord Magnuson, married Vicky Elisabeth Andrén in a ceremony in the chapel of Ulriksdal Palace in Solna, just outside Stockholm and close to Villa Beylon, where the groom grew up.
His brothers, Oscar and Victor Magnuson, were best men and among the other guests were of course the groom’s parents, Oscar’s wife Emma Magnuson, Victor’s girlfriend Frida Bergström, the groom’s uncle and aunt, King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia of Sweden, his cousin Crown Princess Victoria with her husband Prince Daniel, his cousin Prince Carl Philip with his girlfriend Sofia Hellqvist, his aunt Princess Désirée and the Queen of Norway, who is the groom’s godmother.
The bride wore a dress by Lars Wallin, which, with its high neck, full skirt and long sleeves was the very opposite of the sleeveless dress with a decolletage down to the navel, which Vicky Andrén wore to her first wedding.
Gustaf Magnuson works as a car salesman, while his wife is a former model with some success. On 31 July 2005, the then 22-year-old Vicky Andrén married the American nightclub owner Mark Baker, twenty years her senior. The couple separated in January 2007 and later divorced.

Princess Madeleine’s ex-fiancé has married

Last Saturday, 17 August, Princess Madeleine of Sweden’s former fiancé Jonas Bergström married Stephanie af Klercker in Stora Mellösa Church in the eponymous village southeast of Örebro. The wedding celebrations were held at nearby Hjälmarsnäs Farm, which belongs to the family of the bride’s mother, née von Horn.
Jonas Bergström, a lawyer by profession, became engaged to Princess Madeleine on 11 August 2009, but following much media speculation about the state of their relationship and a kiss and tell interview with a girl who claimed to have had a one night stand with Bergström the engagement was broken off on 24 April 2010.
Bergström announced his engagement to Stephanie af Klercker, who used to be a friend of the Princess’s (apparently this is no longer the case) at the end of October 2012, a few days after the announcement of Princess Madeleine’s engagement to Christopher “Chris” O’Neill, whom she married on 8 June this year.
Victor Magnuson, the youngest son of Princess Christina and thus a first cousin of Princess Madeleine, was among the guests at the Bergström/af Klercker wedding, accompanied by his partner Frida Bergström.

Luxembourgian royal wedding on 17 September

The grand ducal court of Luxembourg today announced that the wedding of the Grand Duke’s second son, Prince Félix, and Claire Lademacher will take place on 17 September in the bride’s home country, more specifically in Königstein im Taunus.
Four days later there will be a religious blessing of the marriage in the Basilica of Saint Mary Magdalene in the small French town of Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume in the department of Var (some forty kilometres east of Aix-de-Provence). The basilica was begun in 1295, but work stopped in 1532 without it having been completed.
Prince Félix and Claire Lademacher, who works on a PhD on the topic of organ donation ethics, became engaged in December last year.

Princess Madeleine’s wedding set for 8 June

The Swedish royal court today announced that the wedding of Princess Madeleine and Christopher “Chris” O’Neill will take place in the Palace Church in Stockholm on 8 June 2013, i.e. two days after the National Day of Sweden and two days before the Princess’s birthday.
The Palace Church is often used for royal christenings and lyings-in-state, but comparatively rarely for weddings, the previous occasions being the weddings of Princess Christina and Tord Magnuson in 1974 and of Princess Lovisa and Crown Prince Frederik (VIII) of Denmark in 1869.

Luxembourgian heir marries Belgian countess

Today Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume of Luxembourg married Countess Stéphanie de Lannoy in a ceremony in Luxembourg’s city hall. Tonight there is a ball at the Grand Ducal Palace and at 11 a.m. tomorrow there will be a religious blessing of the marriage in the Cathedral. Members of all reigning European royal families as well as some non-European and several deposed dynasties are attending the festivities.

Princess Christina’s son to marry tomorrow

Tomorrow the designer Oscar Magnuson, the third son of Princess Christina of Sweden and Tord Magnuson, will marry his fiancée Emma Ledent in the south of France, where the Magnuson family has a summer house. The couple got engaged last February.
The groom’s father has earlier told the media that it will be a relatively small wedding with some 50 guests (I happened to see him and Princess Christina depart from Arlanda Airport on Wednesday, by the way). King Carl Gustaf and Queen Silvia have been carrying out engagements in Paris in the past days, but as the King has an engagement in Sweden on Saturday it seems he will not be attending his nephew’s wedding.

POSTSCRIPT: According to Svensk Damtidning the wedding in Gattières was attended by Queen Silvia, Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel.

Semi-royal wedding in Scotland today

Several members of the British royal family were present in Canongate Kirk in Edinburgh today for the wedding of Queen Elizabeth’s granddaughter Zara Phillips to rugby player Michael “Mike” Tindall. In addition to the bride’s parents, Princess Anne and Mark Phillips with their spouses Sir Timothy Laurence and Sandy Pflueger, the guests included Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip, the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Prince Harry, the Duke of York, Princess Beatrice, Princess Eugenie, the Earl and Countess of Wessex, and the bride’s brother Peter Phillips with his wife Autumn. The bride has not taken her husband’s name and will remain known as Zara Phillips.

More guests for Monegasque wedding

With only two days to go before the wedding of Sovereign Prince Albert II of Monaco and Charlene Wittstock most of Europe’s royal houses have announced who will be their representatives.
The Swedes will apparently be the only royal family out in force by sending King Carl Gustaf, Queen Silvia, Crown Princess Victoria, Prince Daniel, Prince Carl Philip and Princess Madeleine. The Bernadottes have a quite strong connection to the French Riviera, where the King owns a summer house in Sainte-Maxime, which earlier belonged to his late uncle Prince Bertil. The Swedish royals have therefore been rather frequent visitors to the principality and Prince Bertil and Princess Lilian were among the few foreign royals who attended the wedding of Princess Caroline and Philippe Junot in 1978. The late Sovereign Prince Rainier III was even a Knight of the Seraphim, an order which had been given him as far back as 1949, shortly after his accession to the throne, by King Gustaf V, who used to holiday on the Riviera.
The ties between the Norwegian royal family and the Monegasque princely family are of a more recent date, but as earlier mentioned Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit will represent their country.
Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark is, like the groom, a member of the IOC and will be joined in Monaco by Crown Princess Mary and his brother and sister-in-law, Prince Joachim and Princess Marie.
The Luxembourgian grand ducal court has confirmed that Grand Duke Henri, Grand Duchess Maria Teresa and Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume will be present (at least at the religious blessing on Saturday). The Dutch royal website does not say anything about Dutch attendance, but obviously Queen Beatrix will not be present as she has engagements in the Netherlands on Friday and Saturday.
King Albert II of the Belgians is mentioned on the incomplete list released by the Monegasque court on 24 June, and I suppose this means that Queen Paola will also be in attendance.
I have not been able to find any official confirmation about British guests. Princess Anne might be an obvious choice as she is also a member of the IOC, but the Daily Telegraph claims to know that the Earl and Countess of Wessex will represent Britain in Monaco (they also did so at the enthronement ceremonies in 2005).
The Spanish royal family will not be represented as King Juan Carlos has declined his invitation, giving as his reason that he is still recovering from a knee operation. The King of Spain never attends royal weddings abroad anyway, but usually sends Queen Sofía and/or the Prince and Princess of Asturias to represent him. However, it seems he will send no representative this time. Relations between the King of Spain and his Monegasque counterpart are said to be cold after Madrid’s failed bid for the 2016 Olympics.
Several non-royal heads of state will also be present, headed by President Nicolas Sarkozy of France, President Mary McAleese of Ireland, President Christian Wulff of Germany and President Michel Suleiman of Lebanon. They will be joined by other VIPs, including José Manuel Barroso, the President of the European Commission, and Count Jacques Rogge, the President of the International Olympic Committee.
The celebrations will begin tomorrow morning with a concert by the Eagles in the Louis II Stadium. The civil wedding, which is the legally valid one, will take place in the Throne Room at the Princely Palace at 5 p.m. on Friday, followed by a buffet in the Palace Square and a reception and concert on the Port.
On Saturday the religious blessing of the marriage will take place in the Courtyard of the Palace, before the Prince and Princess depart to leave the bridal bouquet at the Sainte Dévote Church. In the evening there will be a dinner and a ball at the Opera.

Count Edward Bernadotte weds Nathalie Frediani

Svensk Damtidning (external link) has a short report - with what looks like a selection of paparazzi photos - from the wedding of Count Edward Bernadotte af Wisborg and Nathalie Frediani, which took place in Villa Rusconi-Clerici in Verbania in Italy last weekend. The bride seems to have worn the bridal crown of her husband’s family.
Edward Bernadotte is the son of Count Bertil Bernadotte and his second wife Jill; the grandson of the famous Count Folke Bernadotte, the great-grandson of Prince Oscar Bernadotte and the great-great-grandson of King Oscar II of Sweden and Norway. He is not in line to the Swedish throne, nor is he a member of the royal family.

Crown Prince and Crown Princess will attend Monegasque wedding

On Friday the Royal Court in Oslo informed the news agency NTB that Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit have received and accepted an invitation to attend the wedding of Sovereign Prince Albert II of Monaco and Charlene Wittstock.
The dates and the venues for the wedding have been changed several times, but the latest is that the civil wedding will take place in the Throne Room of the Princely Palace at 5 p.m. on 1 July, followed by a religious blessing in the Courtyard of the Palace on 2 July at 5 p.m.
Press photo courtsey of Sølve Sundsbø/the Royal Court.

Jan Bernadotte to make second attempt at seventh marriage

This week’s issue of Svensk Damtidning informs the readers of the latest chapter in the saga of Count Jan Bernadotte af Wisborg’s seventh wedding, which had to be postponed when it turned out that the Count was not aware of the fact that he was still married to his sixth wife.
The eldest son of the late former Prince Lennart of Sweden and his fiancée Gunilla Stenfors have now decided to wed in September, first back home in Sweden as earlier planned and then a second time in a Buddhist ceremony in Thailand, where the couple in the future plan to spend half the year in their apartment in Hua Hin.

Swedish crown princessly couple to attend British wedding

The Swedish Royal Court has now updated its online calendar to show that Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel will attend the wedding of Prince William of Britain and Kate Middleton in London on 29 April.
The attendance of the King and Queen of Norway was confirmed earlier this week, while other reigning royal families have yet to make known who will represent them.
That the Swedish royal family will be represented on a lower level than the Norwegian may be explained both by the fact that King Carl XVI Gustaf celebrates his 65th birthday the following day and as usual will receive the tributes of well-wishers at the Outer Courtyard, and by the fact that the King and Queen of Norway are personal friends both of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip and of the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall, while relations between the Windsors and the Bernadottes are distant, something which was also quite obvious from the fact that Britain was the only country not represented by a single royal at the 60th birthday celebrations of the King of Sweden five years ago.

King and Queen of Norway to attend British royal wedding

The Norwegian Royal Court has today confirmed to the news agency NTB that the King and Queen will attend the wedding of Prince William of Britain and Kate Middleton in London on 29 April.
Apparently no-one else from the Norwegian royal family has been invited, but that was what I expected after Clarence House stated that 40 foreign royals have been invited. Given this number and the fact that there are nine other monarchies in Europe and that a number of non-European royal houses are also to be expected there would hardly be possible to invite more than two representatives of each country and this probably means that only the reigning couples from each country have been invited.
The Danish weekly Billed-Bladet has earlier claimed that Queen Margrethe and Prince Henrik will also attend, but this has not yet been confirmed.
Meanwhile the British royal court has launched its official wedding website (external link), which contains information on the wedding, photos and biographical information.