Crown Princess Victoria and Michel Mayor
Before we get to CPV's MASSIVE GOWN, she's going into the Nobel Banquet with the co-laureate in Physics, Michel Mayor, who discovered something called an "exoplanet," 51 Pegasi b. What? Like it's hard? (It is hard.) Behind them is Daniel, escorting Olga Tokarczuk, who was given last year's literature prize this year (because the Nobel's literature wing is really wacked up, a topic we discuss more in the body of this post.)
And onto MY area of expertise, this giant-ass gown. It is, objectively, insane. And when I first saw it, I gasped. But now I sort of love it? It's VERY VERY princess-y. It's FULL princess.
Crown Princess Victoria
I always think of these tiaras as "the stabby ones." (Our friends at The Court Jeweller have fantastic coverage of this event, jewels-wise, as ever.)
Princess Madeleine and William Kaelin Jr,
William Kaelin Jr. is this year's Nobel laureate in medicine. He shared the award this year for, and I quote Wikipedia here, "discoveries of how cells sense and adapt to oxygen availability.” (This is related to cancer treatment therapies.) Madeleine's dress is fab on her, although it does have a surprise that I don't love...
...I thought this was a surprise tattoo! It is not.
Princess Madeleine
Like I was going to deny you a better look at that amazing tiara.
Princess Sofia of Sweden and Didier Queloz
Didier Queloz shared the Nobel Physics laureate with Michel Mayor, and they both shared it with Jim Peebles, who "his theoretical discoveries in physical cosmology." This is a rather poetic statement from him, with a lead-in from Wikipedia, where he is wearing a very familiar LL Bean sweater that I also own: "While much of his work relates to the development of the universe from its first few seconds, he is more skeptical about what we can know about the very beginning, and stated, “It's very unfortunate that one thinks of the beginning whereas in fact, we have no good theory of such a thing as the beginning.”"
Dr Queloz here also thinks we will discover alien life in the next thirty years AND has an astroid named after him!
I really like Sofia's gown here, but the real stars of the show are her jewels.
Princess Sofia of Sweden and Prince Carl Philip
There are matching earrings under there, too. (This is her wedding tiara, with new stones in it. That was a very charming wedding, as an aside. They're VERY hot for each other. And who would not be hot for either of these two very attractive humans?)
Queen Silvia and Carl-Henrik Heldin
This gown is glam on Silvia! (It's Elie Saab.) (C-H is Chairman of the Nobel Foundation and also a molecular biologist.)
Queen Silvia
I love this tiara (although apparently this is divisive). It feels like the platonic ideal of a tiara.
Prince Carl Philip and Esther Duflo
Esther Duflo took home the Nobel in economics, AND got to chat with Carl Philip! (She shared the award this year with -- per her very impressive Wiki -- "'Abhijit Banerjee [to whom she is married] and Michael Kremer, “for their experimental approach to alleviating global poverty'.") She's also the youngest professor to ever get tenture at MIT.
Akira and Kumiko Yoshino
I don't usually use pics of Nobel laureates who aren't being escorted by a royal but Ms Yoshino's kimino is too beautiful to keep to myself. (Akira Yoshino took the award for chemistry and he INVENTED the safe lithium battery, along with M. Stanley Whittingham and John B. Goodenough, with whom he shared the award. Damn, people are smart! The Nobel prizes do sometimes make me feel like maybe the world WON'T end.)
Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! There has been theorizing that this dress is a salute to Sara Danius, a pussybow blouse enthusiast, and the former head of the Nobel's literature committee, who died in October, and who took the fall for the literature committee's sexual harrassment scandal in 2018 despite not being involved in it directly. I suspect that is accurate. It's a very dramatic statement!
Princess Madeleine
Princess Madeleine looks fine -- Chris O'Neill did not attend; I assume he's home with the kids? They're sort of out of the chain of command now so I guess he's free to not be her date if he doesn't want to be. I'd want to meet the Nobel winners, but that's just me!!!
Princess Sofia and Prince Carl Philip
This is very fussy, but in a way that works on her. No one can really do anything to top Victoria. (FWIW, I LOVE that Victoria has gone very sartorially DRAMATIC this week.)
Queen Silvia and King Carl Gustaf
This is lovely, but almost feels boring in comparison to all....everything else.
Nobel Peace Prize
Meanwhile, in Norway, we've got Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Abiy Ahmed Ali with all of Norway's royals, in their more subdued daytime even. Aiby is Ethiopia's prime minister, and, per his Wiki, was awarded the Nobel for "his work in ending the 20-year post-war territorial stalemate between Ethiopia and Eritrea."
Queen Silvia and Princess Madeleine
This is a great suit on Madeleine!
Commissioning of HMS The Prince of Wales,
Meanwhile, over in the UK, Camz put on this very sassy hat to commission the HMS The Prince of Wales. (Charles was also there. I just forgot to buy a photo of him. He looked normal.)
Charity Christmas party at Clarence House
Informative Caption tells me that here, Camz is feeding a reindeer with a young lady named Meghan Attwood, before the annual Clarence House holiday party that she holds for the Helen & Douglas House and Roald Dahl's Marvellous Children's Charity.
Camz
This was a "service of Thanksgiving" for a
Sir Donald Gosling, who was a Car Parks Magnate, and who left a whole bunch of money in his will for the royals to get a new yacht! (That link goes to the Mail, FYI.) That...is quite a bequest! What if the Queen doesn't WANT a new yacht??
Wills and Edward
"I don't know. Perhaps we WOULD like a new yacht."
Sophs and Eds
Edward's getting a lot of play today! Two for you, Glenn Coco. (Sophie has gone full jumpsuit.)
Sovereign's Parade at Royal Military Academy Sandhurst
Sophie was the Reviewing Officer at The Sovereign's Parade at Royal Military Academy Sandhurst today. This coat reminds me very much of one Kate has. Please God, let them be sharing wardrobes.
The International Meeting, Cheltenham Racecourse
Informative Caption WAS Informative! It tells us that Zara is watching "Princess Anne's horse 'Chequered View', ridden by jockey Gavin Sheehan, come in second place." Also, it's apparently poncho season.
Audiences at Buckingham Palace
Meanwhile, Her Majesty is greeting the Ambassador of Japan, Yasumasa Nagamine, and his wife Ayako.
Queen Letizia
There was a Europe-wide desire for SLEEVES this week, I see.
Queen Letizia
Dishy!