Category Archives: Events

Princess Madeleine’s wedding: my day in Stockholm

Every time there’s a royal event possible to reach in real life, the same question pops up: should I stay or should I go? That is: should one stay at home and enjoy the festivities via television via which one gets the best view, can see everything and at the same time follow photos being published online OR should one go to the event in person and actually see some of those royals in real life but on the other hand get a limited experience of the full event, having to come home and catch up on everything?

Yesterday, on Princess Madeleine’s wedding day, I decided to go. After all, the number of royal weddings is very limited, especially per generation and in a small country like mine. So off I went into Stockholm in the forenoon, arriving around 10 AM to a capital with beautiful clear blue skies and a scorching sun.

After suffering from decision anxiety about where to stand during the day I had decided to first watch the guests leave the hotel to go to the wedding and then make my way to Riddarholmen, the ending point of the cortège, to see all the guests leave on boat for Drottningholm.

So after arriving to Stockholm I first made a walk to look up the locations, joining my friend Johannes who was in the capital to help Aftonbladet with their web-TV during the day. The metal barricades were already up along the cortège route and everything was prepared at the ending point, with carpets laid out and flower decorations in place. Since it was told that the public would have a viewing point there we decided where a good place to stand could be.

Walking back from Riddarholmen, Johannes left to meet up with Aftonbladet and I stayed on the other side of the road to Grand Hôtel where they had also put up metal barricades and a special box for the media. Since I was there so early Stockholm was still quite calm and there was nothing to do but wait. After a while I noticed I was not alone however, and so I came to talk to a Finnish man who shares my interest in seeing and photographing royals. I even got a chance to practice my horribly rusty Finnish a little. He had found the best spot to stand at aside from the media box and so we came to share it for a few hours. Apart from a few guests occasionally stepping out on balconies to pose for gala portraits above us, there wasn’t much to see for a few hours.

My first royal sighting was Hereditary Prince Hubertus of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, he walked back and forth to the hotel a few times, to and from somewhere. After a while Princess Benedikte of Denmark got into a car, dressed in a suit, and remained gone for quite a while.

Around noon Prince Andreas of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, first cousin of King Carl XVI Gustaf on his mother Princess Sibylla’s side, came out through the main entrance and talked to his son for a bit. It’s not often one has the chance to see German royals in Sweden and because of the family connection with our Royal Family it always feels a little extra special to see that they come to attend events. As Prince Andreas was going for a walk I grabbed my courage and went up to him, he kindly accepted to pose for a photo and accepted my greetings.

By the time guests were starting to come out of the hotel to leave, after 2:30 PM, my friend Pia had joined me. The first to leave were the groom’s best man, Cedric Notz, and someone we couldn’t ID – but after that followed an amazing row of royals. Pia and I had a wonderful time and as really the only ones who could ID all the guests we called on their attention, to the amusement and joy of the by then large assembled crowds around us, and most of them waved and were happy to be recognized. The Earl and Countess of Wessex, Prince Nikolaos and Princess Tatiana of Greece, Prince Philippos of Greece, Princess Theodora of Greece, Princess Charlene of Monaco, Hereditary Prince Hubertus and Hereditary Princess Kelly of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Crown Prince Pavlos and Crown Princess Marie-Chantal of Greece, Princess Benedikte of Denmark, Prince Andreas of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary of Denmark, Prince Joachim and Princess Marie of Denmark, Prince Leopold and Princess Ursula of Bavaria, Prince Manuel and Princess Anna of Bavaria, Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit of Norway, Princess Märtha Louise of Norway and Ari Behn.

Those were the guests we were really there to see but of course a large number of others also passed review. At times it was really crowded with guests on the sidewalk but I think we also spotted Prince Pierre and Princess Silvia d’Arenberg and Princess Khaliya Aga Khan. A few guests, like Princess Takamado of Japan and Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume and Hereditary Grand Duchess Stéphanie of Luxembourg were staying elsewhere and the closest family at the royal residences of course. The groom’s mother Mrs Eva O’Neill and her daughters and parts of their families left together and wedding dress designer Valentino was one of the last to leave for the ceremony. Most of the guests were transported on blue public transport buses with Swedish flags and marked “The Royal Wedding” for route name for the day. Some special VIP guests were driven in white chauffeured Volvo’s.

After watching the guests leave the hotel we immediately walked to Riddarholmen to find a spot for the ending point of the cortège. Since they had announced that the bride to the island would be closed off and all traffic would be halted for the cortège later on it was best to be there early, I figured. When we got there a small crowd had already gathered but we managed to get a decent spot, the press enclosement down in prime location by the boats at the quay remained empty for a long time while the public was waiting. It was a mixed crowd that grew in size as we waited, from elderly ladies sitting on camping chairs to parents with children to keep calm and young people sitting on the stone pavement. Thanks to our smartphones we watched parts of the wedding ceremony live on SVT, with the sun still shining intensely upon us but a few dark clouds occasionally appearing.

A little after 5 PM the buses transporting guests began arriving. By that time the public had been warned ahead of time that the island would be closed off and everyone would have to remain in place until the boats had left. Unfortunately for the huge crowds gathered on Riddarholmen the last stop of the cortège was not planned as a good viewing spot for the public, despite expectations raised by talk of special viewing locations. The blue double-buses stopped right in front of us and we could only see the guests get off and walk down the stairs the quay on the other side – by the time the bus had moved, one after one, most guests were out of sight. This was of course much to the disappointment of the crowds, some boos and whistles were heard, mainly aimed at the “slow” bus drivers (of course everyone knew it wasn’t their fault, it was simply planned like this).

Three boats lay at the quay to received guests on board, the first one in the row was the family and royal boat and was the only one to remain until the bride and groom – Princess Madeleine and Chris O’Neill – arrived. A few minutes before 6:30 PM the cortège arrived but apart from a few waves from the bridal couple in the carriage, also they disappeared from view on the other side before the carriage and horses had moved on.

Around 6:40 PM Stockholm blasted its horn and sailed off for Drottningholm, a large fleet of private small boats following it in a tail and crowds gathered on all sides of the water waving it off into the horizon.

After standing for the entire day and not having had anything but a bottle of water to consume, feats were tired and shoulder sun-burned. We ended the day with a meet-up at a restaurant in nearby Old Town, finally having some food, drink and a chance to share each other’s experiences. When I came back home around 11 PM there wasn’t much to do but to have a small snack and then have lights out. It wasn’t difficult to sleep after a happy and eventful day in a perfect summery Stockholm.

To see a few more of my photos (and I might add more later) please look at my Flickr stream.

New exhibition: “Från Ingegerd till Estelle”

An update on Princess Madeleine’s wedding

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Princess Madeleine and Christopher O’Neill. Photo: Patrick Demarchelier/The Royal Court.

The Royal Court has today issued several updates on the coming royal wedding between Princess Madeleine and Christopher O’Neill on 8 June. They have also published a special wedding section on their website and made a more thorough official biography of Christopher O’Neill available.

Christopher O’Neill’s title

The Marshal of the Realm, Svante Lindqvist, today issued a press release announcing that Christopher O’Neill will not receive a title subsequent to his marriage with Princess Madeleine. The wording of the announcement, translated from Swedish by me, reads:

Mister Christopher O’Neill is and remains an American citizen, and he intends to continue his business activities as before after he has entered marriage with H.R.H. Princess Madeleine. According to the policy of the Royal House a member of the Royal House should be a Swedish citizen, and not hold a position of responsibility in the business world.

This means that Mister Christopher O’Neill – according to these principles – cannot bear the title H.R.H. Prince of Sweden or Duke of Gästrikland and Hälsingland.

With reference to these demands Mister Christopher O’Neill has respectfully requested to remain a private citizen and not be bestowed with royal dignity.

The title announcement is perhaps not very surprising in my opinion; I really hadn’t expected anything else. What remains to be decided and announced is how they will handle the couple’s future children. The Swedish Act of Succession states that princes and princesses should be brought up in Sweden, the question is what legals experts would argue that it entails in today’s world. Princess Madeleine will not give up her H.R.H. or lose her position in the Royal House after the marriage.

Princess Madeleine & Christopher O’Neill’s monogram by Vladimir A Sagerlund.

Joint monogram

The heraldic artist at Riksarkivet (The National Archives) Vladimir A Sagerlund has composed the couple’s monogram. It consists of their intertwined and mirrored initials with a ducal crown adorned with Vasa vases and sceptres resting above the M.

Lysning

Lysning, the traditional announcement of an impending marriage in the church, will be held for Princess Madeleine and Christopher O’Neill this coming Sunday 19 May in the Royal Palace Church at 11 AM. The lysning announcement will be made during the Royal Court Parish’s weekly Sunday service but afterwards a reception for invited guests will be held at the Royal Palace at 2 PM.

Wedding celebrations

On Friday 7 June a wedding dinner will be held at Grand Hôtel which lies opposite the Royal Palace, just across the water. This will be a private dinner for family and friends.

On Saturday 8 June the wedding will take place in the Royal Palace Church at the Royal Palace at 4 PM. The Chief Court Chaplain Lars-Göran Lönnermark and the Pastor of the Royal Court Parish Michael Bjerkhagen will be officiating.

The Prime Minister and parliamentary party leaders are invited to the wedding.

After the ceremony is over a salute of 21 rounds will be shot from Skeppsholmen near the palace. The bridal couple have not announced a balcony appearance but will travel from the palace to Skeppsholmen in a cortège with military lining the route. From Riddarholmen the couple and invited guests will travel to Drottningholm by boat.

At Drottningholm a wedding dinner will be held, responsible chef is the court’s usual choice Stefano Catenacci from Operakällaren in Stockholm.

Sveriges Television (SVT) will air the wedding ceremony but not the dinner. It has not (yet) been announced if they will be allowed to film anything from the inside at Drottningholm, such as the speeches, but they will cover the arrivals there.

New exhibition: “Bilder av Kristina”

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Yesterday, on my birthday actually, a friend and I had the pleasure of attending the opening of a highly anticipated exhibition in Stockholm – “Bilder av Kristina” (“Images of Kristina”).

The plans for this exhibition took root in 2010 when the Vatican Library offered the Royal Armoury (Livrustkammaren) to borrow items from a collection that was started by Queen Christina and had been restored with the financial aid of The Marcus and Amalia Wallenberg Memorial Foundation.

The result of that offer and its subsequent plans has now become an exhibition and today, 324 years after the Queen’s death, the first Swedish exhibition about her life since Nationalmusem (The National Museum of Fine Arts) held one in 1966, has opened.

Princess Christina Mrs Magnuson The opening ceremony was held in the Hall of State at the Royal Palace of Stockholm. After introductions by Malin Grundberg, director of the Royal Armoury, and Magnus Hagberg, director general of the museum authority of which the Royal Armoury is a part, the word was given to Monsignor Cesare Pasini, prefect of the Vatican Library. Cellist Linnea Olsson performed and the Swedish Minister for Culture, Lena Adelsohn Liljeroth, held a quite general speech.

The actual opening of the exhibition was performed by Princess Christina Mrs Magnuson who, after a general short introduction to Queen Christina’s life, contributed with a personal anecdote.

Princess Christina told how she had the pleasure of visiting the exhibition at Nationalmuseum in 1966 and that her grandfather, King Gustaf VI Adolf, wanted to thank the pope personally for the cooperation the Swedish involved parties had received by the Vatican. To avoid attention and anyone noticing, not wanting it to be seen as an official visit, King Gustaf VI Adolf decided to deliver his greetings during one of his private stays in Rome. He and his grandchild Princess Christina were driven a back-way at the Vatican and discreetly ushered into the building where they then encountered Pope Paul VI in one of the corridors. After delivering his thank you message, King Gustaf VI Adolf and the pope sat down and talked for a good half hour, two learned men as they were, and Princess Christina remembers sitting in a corner and just listening, almost in awe.

After the opening ceremony, everyone had a chance to visit the exhibition in the armoury and the Stockholm Cathedral which shows two unique books from the Vatican. At the Royal Armoury they have divided the exhibition into sections focusing on different parts of Queen Christina’s life or aspects of her personality – it’s the warrior king’s daughter, the King Christina, the Minerva of the north, the catholic convert and queen without a land, the “queer” queen (questions of her identity), the dead majesty (with the tomb opening), and the queen of many myths.

With these sections the Royal Armoury has put focus on the sides of Queen Christina which will probably always make her a fascinating topic for research and discussion, and a historical figure one will never fully be able to categorize and describe.

The Vatican Library has contributed with several items; the most unique of those is a pergament from the 9th century. Queen Christina started her collection of books and scripts as a young student in the early 17th century Stockholm, it was then added to through all her years via purchases, gifts and looting (war booty).

Later, before abdicating from the Swedish throne, Queen Christina made sure to ship the collections she wanted to surround herself with, out of Sweden. After the Queen’s death the pope acquired much of her collection which has since 1690 been placed in the Vatican Library. The collection has since been added to through the years.

Other items in the exhibition is the coronation mantle which only bears traces of the over 700 gold crowns that it was once embroidered with, the coronation throne canopy, the Act of Abdication and a special metallic mesh mail (see Wikipedia for explanation). It’s the mail that Marquise Monaldesco wore when Queen Christina had him executed in 1657 after suspecting that he was exposing her secret plans to become Queen of Naples with the help of France. The execution was long and bloody because of this protection. The piece is a loan from Palace of Fontainebleau.

Apart from objects like these there are many portraits on display from the different life ages of Queen Christina as well as on people who were important in her life, and a varied collection of books and documents. Accompanying the old historic objects are contemporary segments, namely video installations, a sound installation and a “norm tester” for the visitors to interact with.

All in all it’s a small exhibition (because of the museum’s limited space) that gives the visitor tiny glimpses of Queen Christina’s life. One risk, I would say, is that visitors without any pre-knowledge will only learn very limited information and run a risk of taking some of these “images” of the Queen, without really grasping them, and carrying them still into the future.

Accompanying the exhibition is a book, “Bilder av Kristina: Drottning av Sverige – Drottning i Rom” (“Images of Kristina: Queen of Sweden, Queen in Rome”), which is its biggest proceed. In the book twelve authors and authorities on Queen Christina have written one chapter each and there are photographs of the exhibition’s items. So far I have only had a chance to glance through the book but it looks very interesting; although I’m already quite sure that it will feel like they have been kept on a leech and could’ve been given a bit more room. But this book will make an interesting read and a lasting piece giving our time’s thoughts and research on Queen Christina’s life.

- Gustav II Adolf’s daughter has become a bridge between different cultures and an opportunity to cooperation, to understanding and also to friendship between Kristina’s two worlds, the one in which she was born and the one she decided to take to her heart, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone writes in one of its introductions.

Overview of one of the exhibition rooms. Photo: Erik Lernestål/The Royal Armoury (Livrustkammaren).

“Bilder av Kristna” (“Images of Kristina”) opened today and is open until 5 January 2014. The exhibition is made possible by financial contribution from The Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation and is a cooperation between the Royal Armoury (Livrustkammaren), the National Archives (Riksarkivet), the Stockholm Cathedral (Storkyrkan) and the Swedish embassy at the Holy See.

30th anniversary of The Marianne & Sigvard Bernadotte Arts Fund

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Prince Carl Philip and Countess Marianne Bernadotte af Wisborg

One week ago, Thursday 7 June 2012, The Marianne & Sigvard Bernadotte Arts Fund (Marianne & Sigvard Bernadottes Konstnärsfond) celebrated its 30th anniversary with an extra grand Marianne & Sigvard Bernadotte Art Awards event in the Winter Garden of Grand Hôtel in Stockholm.

Over 200 of Countess Marianne Bernadotte af Wisborg’s closest friends and supporters turned out to celebrate the anniversary and among the royal VIP guests were Prince Carl Philip of Sweden (protector of the fund since last year), Empress Farah of Iran, Queen Noor of Jordan, Duke Duarte Pio and Duchess Isabel of Bragança, The Duchess of Orléans, Prince Lakshyaraj Singh of Mewar, Prince Leka of Albania with fiancée Elia Zaharia and Princess Christina Mrs Magnuson with husband Tord.

Other illustrious guests included Count Oscar Bernadotte af Wisborg, Madeleine Kogevinas, Baron Carl and Baroness Maria Silfverschiöld, Duchess Christina d’Otrante and the rights-contending Paul Lambrino and wife Lia from Romania (referred to as Paul and Lia Hohenzollern and Prince and Princess of Romania).

Among the many political officials present were the Speaker of Parliament, Per Westerberg with wife Ylwa, the Minister for Culture and Sport, Lena Adelsohn Liljeroth, and Filippa Reinfeldt, County Commissioner of Health Services and wife of the Prime Minister.

Guests were served Taittinger champagne (the brand’s export manager Clovis Taittinger was on the guest list) with which Countess Marianne toasted the guests with at the beginning of the sit-down dinner, a meal served on porcelain designed by her late husband and cutlery designed by Prince Carl Philip. The menu consisted of:

Carpaccio of albacore tuna with a tartar of red king crab with spring onions and avocado
Grilled fillet of veal with green asparagus, sugar snaps, yellow beets, early carrots, semi-dried stem tomatoes, tarragon cream sauce and roasted new potatoes
White chocolate bavaroise on dark shortbread with marinated strawberries and yoghurt and strawberry ice cream
Drinks: LeCheteau Pouilly Fumé 2010, Gerard Bertrand Tautavel 2008, Braastad VSOP

This year’s scholarship winners, Behnaz Aram (b. 1978 in Iran) in category design, Kristoffer Zetterstrand (b. 1973 in Sweden) in category art/painting, Nina Zanjani (b. 1981 in Iran) in category theatre, Paulina Pfeiffer (b. 1981 in Sweden) and Yinjia Gong (b. 1983 in China) both in category music, were presented on the stage in the presence of and with the help of Countess Marianne, Prince Carl Philip, Empress Farah and Queen Noor.

After presenting the scholarship to Behnaz Aram, Empress Farah held a speech in which she remembered hosting the late Count Sigvard on a visit to Iran together with her late husband the Shah. The Empress also compassionately offered her most sincere condolences to Countess Marianne on the recent loss of her son (Robert Tchang died in April) and said that she as a mother knew what it means to lose a child. Empress Farah concluded her speech with a sentence in Swedish, something that aroused great applauds. Also Queen Noor gave a speech, after awarding Nina Zanjani with her scholarship, and focused on international issues and Sweden’s role in the world, also remembering a visit by King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia to Jordan during King Hussein’s reign.

During the night artists entertained the guests on stage. Linnea Olsson with ”Dinosaur”, Anna Larsson and Matti Hirvonen with ”Mon Coeur” (from Samson and Delilah by Saint-Saëns), LaGaylia Frazier and Trio X with ”I will always love you”, Tommy Körberg and Trio X with “Anthem” and Margareta Bengtson with ”Natasha” (by Rufus Wainwright). The scholarship winners in music, Paulina Pfeiffer and Yinjia Gong, sang a applauded duet, ”O Soave fanciulla”, from La Bohème and the recent Eurovision Song Contest winner Loreen performed ”Joga” (by Björk), “My heart is refusing me” and, of course, ”Euphoria”.

To everyone’s delight, Countess Marianne absolutely loved “Euophoria” and asked for a second performance of the song to end the night with, and Loreeen agreed. So while the Countess stood in the speaker’s chair, Loreen sang her hit song especially for her and it all ended with huge applauds.

To see more of my photos from the event please visit my Flickr album dedicated to it, I will continue to upload more photos there in the coming days.