A ROYAL WEDDING on 6/19 - (No *not* THAT one!)
Many of you may be completely unaware of this, but tomorrow, Saturday June 19, the biggest royal Wedding since Charles & Diana will be taking place…in Sweden. This is MASSIVE over there, folks! (Which is why we haven’t heard a peep about it in the U.S….Naturally.)
Crown Princess Victoria and her fiance Mr. Daniel Westerling (a commoner - actually a gym owner / business man & her former-personal trainer, as the Swedish press keep breathlessly telling us, ad nauseum) will be getting married beginning at 3:30 p.m. Stockholm time. There looks to be an utterly insane amount of “wall-to-wall” media coverage, beginning at 7 a.m. ET (U.S.) I love that because she outranks him, they refer to them as the “Crown Princess Couple!”
What’s the big deal? Well, as the Swedish Royal Court website states, in English, (a “Court” has a website? Who knew?)…
--“The royal wedding between Crown Princess Victoria and Mr Daniel Westling on 19 June, 2010, is a unique event. It is the first wedding of a female successor to the throne in the list of Swedish monarchs.
--It is also a historic event in the history of the Swedish monarchy. When The Crown Princess becomes Queen she will be Sweden's fourth female regent after Queen Margareta (reigned 1389-1396), Queen Kristina (reigned 1632-1654) and Queen Ulrika Eleonora the Younger (reigned 1718-1720).
--When he marries Crown Princess Victoria, Mr Daniel Westling will be granted the title Prince, Duke of Västergötland.”
http://www.royalcourt.se/royalcourt/wedding/theweddingday.4.1a6f639212652d9b15a800013512.html
Unofficial story, per me, & why I care:
She’s a smart, bright, kind, cool 32-year-old, who had to work very hard at her studies, and was bullied as she has dyslexia. Her mom, Queen Sylvia, (a commoner) daughter to a wealthy industrialist, is actually half German and half-Brazilian, and speaks 5 languages fluently. Her parents met at the 1972 Olympics in Munich.
When Victoria studied at Yale, she went to Rangers Hockey games. (I have no idea why I like that idea so much, but I do.) She has worked at the United Nations, completed basic military training and her choice of a commoner as a partner has endeared her to the nation. She and Daniel met in 2002. For the longest time the King wasn’t crazy about the relationship. AT ALL. As he had another prince planned for her (Norway? Denmark? Hamlet?). Then, (according to my mom - a former Swedish-citizen), one Christmas things came to a head. Victoria had had enough of Daniel not being allowed over for the holidays, and calmly said that if he wasn’t welcome for Christmas, she wasn’t going to be there either. And meant it. Which finally brought Dad to heel. Among other things, I’m sure.
Anyhoo, this wedding has apparently saturated the country’s media, so that a backlash has begun. Also, questions about the Monarchy’s relevance have surfaced, which is fair enough. But from the interviews I’ve caught online, people seem to have respect for Victoria and think that she’ll do a good job - considering she has no power and that Sweden is a Democracy. But, apparently, the Swedish royal family are the 3rd least expensive in Europe to maintain, so, there you go.
But who cares! It’s a $2 million wedding. Whoo hoo! (Take THAT William and Kate with your anticipated $40 million "do!") The dress is a gigantic secret, natch. Personally, I thought her dress to tonight’s pre-wedding concert was fab!
She's followed here by her bother and sister, Carl-Phillip and Madeleine.
Wedding Schedule: The guests arrive at 3:00, she walks into the church at 3:30 with Dad, then the ceremony lasts till about 4:40, followed by a carriage ride around Stockholm, then onto a boat across the harbor to the Castle, for dinner, dancing, putting their feet up and collapsing (one imagines), etc. I LOVE that she’s said that there are going to be quiet, private moments, such as their vows, which will be for each other and NOT the television cameras. Good for her! (We’ll see if a clever soundman, with an insanely sensitive directional mic, still picks them up. Hope not, actually.)
Here are some interesting links I found for watching some of it on the web.
If you get lost, look for fireworks and this phrase, which means The Royal Wedding: Det Kungliga Bröllopet
***“THE LOCAL - Sweden’s News in English” - With a good rundown, live feed, timetable and map.
http://www.thelocal.se/27320/20100618/
SVT - Sverige’s TV (Sweden’s TV): http://svtplay.se/
***The SVT wedding site direct link & is DESIGNED FOR VIEWERS OUTSIDE THE NORDIC REGION. (Are these people hip of what?? Take that BBC, who won’t let me see my fav.shows without a hassle!) :
http://svtplay.se/v/2046599/det_kungliga_brollopet/det_kungliga_brollopet_-_for_viewers_outside_the_nordic_region?cb,a1364145,1,f,-1/pb,a1364142,1,f,-1/pl,v,,2037177/sb,p104698,1,f,-1
Embassy of Sweden website in Washington D.C.
http://www.swedenabroad.com/News____7067.aspx?slaveid=107862
And now for something completely different…
Here’s a wonderful tie-in interview on STV I stumbled upon, re: a drag show taking place tomorrow. Interviewed is a fabulous drag queen who's gorgeously dressed and made up a la Queen Sylvia. Note: The interview is in Swedish, but listen to the first minute at least and hear all of the English words scattered throughout…including “Drag.”
http://svtplay.se/v/2046728/gomorron_sverige/kunglig_drag-show_?cb,a1366518,1,f,-1/pb,a1366516,1,f,-1/pl,v,,2046333/sb,p119636,1,f,-1
And here’s Vanity Fair Magazine’s take…
http://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2010/06/a-prince-is-madeswedens-royal-wedding-this-weekend-is-a-triumph-of-loveand-pr.html
Is that last image iconic or what? Kudos, Talented Photog.!! Entrance - Pre-Wedding Concert tonight. Enjoy!
