Princess Madeleine, Chris O'Neill, Princess Leonore
I'd heard she was probably going to miss the wedding, due to being about to have her baby, but how nice that she made it. She looks FAB in this Elie Saab, and I've decided that now that she and Chris are moving to London, she and Kate need to have a playdate. Leonore's ensemble, by the way, is something like 100 years old, and all these vintage royal baby clothes are really bad for my hoarding.
Crown Princess Victoria and Daniel
I enjoy that Daniel appears to be attempting to hitchhike. I also need to tell you that Crown Prince Vic is wearing H&M. She is OBSESSED with H&M; she is OFTEN wearing them for formal events. I don't hate it, but it feels a little like it's from the family of patterns that MIGHT be mold.
Princess Mette-Marit and Prince Haakon
I like the IDEA here -- and I love the Temperley skirt -- but I don't know if I think this is the most flattering thing she's ever worn. Her tiara also seems to be lost in her hair. I NEED A BETTER LOOK AT YOUR JEWELS, M-M.
Queen Silvia and King Carl Gustaf
Like, THAT is a tiara. (And I actually love that gown. Well done, Parents of the Groom.)
Crown Princess Mary and Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark
I think CPM and CPF look extremely glamorous and dashing.
Princess Marie and Prince Joaquim of Denmark
I need information about that hat. The Wacky Ceremonial Hats of a Variety of Royal People is probably one of my very favorite topics of conversation.
Queen Margrethe of Denmark
Did you know that Queen M studied prehistoric archaeology at Cambridge? She also went to the Sorbonne and the London School of Economics. (Each of these was for like a year, but still.) Also, per Wikipedia, "her illustrations—under the pseudonym Ingahild Grathmer—were used for the Danish edition of The Lord of the Rings." She must be an interesting woman to be seated next to at dinner.
Sophie and Edward
Sophie looks elegant in this color, and this dress fits her very nicely (apparently, it was a gift she received when she went to Prague). Good showing from the Brits!
Queen Mathilde of Belgium
She came stag to this event, which made it easier for her to SWOOP IN wearing this floaty dress. (Maxima, coming up next, ALSO came solo. I'm not sure why so many of the Dudes Royal ditched this shindig, but I like to think that Mathilde and Maxima were basically each other's dates.)
Queen Sonja of Norway, and Queen Maxima
I cannot sign off on this yellow pleated number on Queen Sonja, but Maxima looks FABULOUS, no?
Prince Nikolaos and Princess Tatiana of Greece
She looks FANTASTIC, I think. The best detail about him on his Wiki page is that he was at the party where CPF met Mary. Do something scandalous, Nikolaos! (She worked for DVF back in the day.)
Princess Takamado
She's the member of the Japanese royal family whose husband died playing squash, and she's often - from what I can tell -- their representative at events like this. I think this dress is extremely pretty and I wish I had a full-length shot of it. You can see the entire thing at Order of Splendor.
Lina Hellqvist, Jonas Frejd
The bride's sister...
Sara Hellqvist and Oskar Bergman
...and her other sister. Let's call them The Pippas. I prefer Lina's dress to Sara's, I think.
Prince Leopold and Ursula of Bavaria
Leopold is very dashing; he looks like Richard Chamberlain to me. He is apparently also a former race car driver!
Princess Maertha Louise of Norway and Ari Behn
She is Prince Haakon's sister and I wish the flounce on her skirt had been located either higher, or lower, on her body. Per Wiki, she has her "own commercial entertainment business based on giving public and televised performances reciting folk tales and singing with well-known Norwegian choirs." As one does. She also "claims she can communicate with animals and angels and started her own alternative therapy center named Astarte Education, after one of the oldest goddesses in the Middle East," which apparently DID NOT go over well in Norway.
Countess Marianne Bernadotte of Wisborg
Marianne and her divine fur cape/coat was an actress until she married Count Sigvard Bernadotte of Wisborg (who was the oldest living great-grandchild of Queen Victoria until he ceased the living part in 2002), who married not one, not two, but THREE COMMONERS. He married Commoner #2 A MERE 12 DAYS after divorcing Commoner #1, and he married Marianne A MONTH after dropping Commoner #2. (Wiki notes that, at the time, she also "had three children by the son of a Chinese minister in Stockholm, " which implies she wasn't married to said Chinese minister. She totally was. Don't stir shit up, Wikipedia.) He lost his place in the line of succession after Marriage Number One, but he spent the rest of his life trying to get it back and his father never went for it, and he ended up having to clarify that he HAD been born a prince ON HIS TOMBSTONE. His Wiki entry ends with a bang: "He also designed glasses frames."
Princess Christina and Tord Magnuson
Princess Christina met Tord "at lunch," which is a lovely place to meet one's spouse.
Princess Birgitta and Princess Margaretha
PLEASE let whatever this is become a TV show. Princess Birgitta (she's the one in the jumpsuit [!!!]) has been estranged from her husband for 24 years, which seems about right, and according to Wiki, has her own golf competition every year at her "home golf course," and I am unsure as to whether that means her USUAL golf course, or a golf course she has AT HER HOUSE.
Princess Margaretha apparently had a very dramatic love affair as a youth with a Scottish lord (one of my favorite kinds of lords) and rumor has it they were FORBIDDEN TO MARRY. She and her (now dead) husband were ALSO estranged for like 20 years. So many polite estrangements for the Swedish. More interestingly, perhaps, said Scottish lord then went on to have an affair with Princess Margaret (who was also married), which broke up his actual marriage, and 18 months later, he was committed (!) and eventually killed himself. That Wikipedia wormhole went to a really dark place considering that it started with a fur stole and a crazy jumpsuit.
ESTELLE
So let's end on a happier note. ESTELLE. You are THE BEST.