And we’re back with one of our favorite royal families doing what they do best: tiaras! Yesterday, February 11, the Swedish Royal Family stepped out for the first official dinner of the year at the Royal Palace in Stockholm. As per usual, guests included representatives from the diplomatic corps, parliament, government, government agencies, science, sport, business, and culture. There was a big royal turn out which included King Carl XVI Gustaf, Queen Silvia, Crown Princess Victoria, Prince Daniel, Prince Carl Philip, Sofia Hellqvist, and Princess Madeleine (Chris sat this one out). Guests were received in the White Sea and dinner was served in Karl XI’s Gallery.
Queen Silvia wore a light gold gown with lots of bead work and a slight train, matching gold shoes, and gold bag. She wore the Connaught Tiara, pearl earrings and a diamond necklace and brooch, as well as her family order and the Order of the Seraphim. Not going to lie, I don’t really like this color on Silvia. It washes her out.
Crown Princess Victoria repeated a pink and grey pleated Escada evening gown from the Resort 2012 collection. She first wore the dress to Albert and Charlene’s wedding in 2011. Vic accessorized with the Six Button Tiara and cameo jewelry (earrings, brooch, and bracelet), as well as her family order and the Order of the Seraphim. I think Vic looks lovely, but I’m not sure I like that belt thing. I wish it were made of pink fabric instead of… whatever that is.
Princess Madeleine wore a new silk/satin lavender dress from Pronovia, a bespoke version of their “Nallibe” dress from the 2015 collection, with a lace overlay on the bodice. She wore her 18th birthday Aquamarine Tiara across her forehead, bandeau style. She paired that with diamond earrings and a diamond bracelet, as well as her family order and the Order of the Seraphim. I’m a bit disappointed with the small tiara, and she needs to get over her love of lace, but I think she looks nice.
Sofia Hellqvist looked like a sparkly Morticia Addams in her black gown with full sleeves from Kay Senchai (the “Mystique” from the SS15 collection). Sofia’s gown game really sucks. More jewelry would have served her well and brightened up the look, but unfortunately all she wore were small drop earrings.
Shout out to Princess Christina. You can’t really see her small tiara through her hair, but she looks ecstatic to be there.
Let’s talk food! The first course consisted of butter baked Norway lobster with smoked haddock fillet and lobster vinaigrette, followed by fried fillet of Hjalmaren with truffle butter sauce, cabbage puree, Brussels sprouts and mashed potatoes. The main course consisted of a roast fallow deer saddle with sherry cognac, compote of puy lentils with foie gras and roasted artichoke. For dessert, there was lemon mousse with raspberry sorbet, toasted dark rye bread, licorice crisp and licorice candy. The glassware used was part of a wedding gift from parliament to Carl Gustaf and Silvia in 1976.
Let’s play a round of Who Wore it Better?
The contestants: Sofia Hellqvist at the last official dinner on November 18, 2014; and Josefin Nilsson, wife of floor hockey player Kim Nilsson, at last night’s event.
The dress: this floor-length red lace gown from Tadashi Shoji with 3/4 length sleeves, bateau neckline, and a ribbon belt.
The verdict: I’m going to have to give this one to Sofia. Though I prefer Josefin’s blonde hair and lighter skin against the red, the dress looks too big and long on her; she needed to get it tailored.
More photos:
Photos: Expressen/Kungahuset
I’m digging Victoria’s look – like an ancient Greek goddess!
Kuddos to Madde for showing up and dressing up.
I think the birthday tiaras definitely need to be altered so that wearing them past the age of 20 makes sense.
In Madeleine’s case, she didn’t have many events to attend at that age, but Victoria did.
And Victoria’s 18th birthday tiara was pitiful. She wore it to the Nobel Prizes, of all events. Even though she was young she did not deserve such a tiny tiara small enough to hide in her hair.
The birthday tiaras are a nice gesture, but not very versatile for ageing although Madeleine might want a lighter tiara for her pregnancy though,
I like tiaras that are versatile enough to be worn as necklaces or taken apart to be worn as earrings.
A tiara that can only be worn as a tiara is not very useful especially if it’s not an attractive tiara.
That’s why the fringe tiaras are great, because they are both tiara and necklace.
Maybe they’re trying to downplay no tiara on SofiaH? They could be moving towards smaller tiaras for extended family, and saving the big historic ones for Victoria and eventually Estelle. Cameo for Victoria’s wedding, much smaller Modern Fringe for Maddie’s.
Tiaras are chosen. Madeleine’s favorite tiara is the Modern Fringe although it previously “belonged” to Queen Silvia (it was an anniversary gift). Madeleine even wore it to the Nobel Prizes in December after her wedding.
Madeleine probably chose this tiara because it’s light and makes her feel more comfortable during her pregnancy.
The above comment was me. Edit: My name appeared after all.
That doesn’t negate my point. I could see someone “guiding” Maddie into choosing a smaller tiara to make Sofia feel less left out.
If Sofia “chose” the cameo for the wedding, I think she might be strongly guided in a different direction. It will be interesting to see what she wears, and if it is the rumored gift tiara from C-P.
I’m thinking Sofia might get her own, brand new tiara for her wedding. If Carl Philip asked Daddy for it, he surely would get it. And I can’t see Sofia wearing any of the other tiaras in the collection.
Victoria’s 18th birthday tiara was just sad. I get why the birthday tiaras are small, so the girls can get used to wearing them and they can grow from there, but still, Vic’s was sad. I don’t totally hate Maddie’s birthday tiara… for an 18 year old… when worn on the head not across the forehead. But it is way too small for Maddie at this point. It’s totally possible Maddie had a headache and didn’t want a large tiara that night, though.
Maddie’s could be slightly improved with the addition of more aquamarines, either 4 large stones or clusters of smaller stones to look like a larger stone. The cyclops bit is just bad.
I liked Victoria’s look to (would’ve been better without the belt thingy). You’re right, that pale gold doesn’t work well with Silvia’s coloring. Maddie looked nice, but I would’ve liked a bigger tiara. And Sofia just looks bland.
I’m actually more than a little over lace dresses. They all seem to have the same necklines, it’s just a matter of how long the sleeves and skirts are.
I really wish the royals would get over their love of lace. Kate loves lace, and the Swedes seem to as well. They all need to STOP.
Amen
I just do not care for Madeleine’s tiara, but the rest is lovely. To bad Chris was not present, since Daniel looked nice in his tails and it would have been nice to see Chris in the same attire.
As for Sofia, I rarely think her gown choices work and hope after the wedding, she will settle in to some better styles.
Oh, no, that’s the infamous Cyclops/third eye tiara as I like to refer to it. I really had hoped Maddie would have retired it, but I see she’s dusted it off for a rare outing. I really dislike the style and it’s just very juvenile for a woman and mother in her 30s. And it also gives her a squatty, shortened appearance. I believe she got that for her 18th birthday. Let’s hope she puts the tiara back in the vaults for a very, very long time and it gets modified for Leonore if she gets it.
I hope Sofia steps up her gown game, because right now it’s this side of tragic.
What a lovely event. I like how you add the details about the food. Some dishes sound delish and the others not so much.
Victoria looked beautiful. I didn’t like the “belt” but I think she looked great. Madde’s tiara looked like she had the third eye or something. Sofia – gosh, she has such a nice figure and hair, she needs to find a dress that fits her. The part in the middle and the all black made her look harsh. It looks like the clothes are wearing her. Maybe her hair needed to be down and have a shock of jewels. I will say that the pic of Daniel escorting Madde and Vic made me crush on him just a little harder, lol.
I think Sofia is sort of over-compensating with conservative styles because she did get flack for some of her other more cheap-looking and tattoo showing fashions. Plus she is trying to distance herself from her porno past. I don’t blame her and actually give her credit. Madeline’s tiara is way too small on her pregnant frame, but her dress is just lovely. I like the color and the touch of lace on top. (I am older, so maybe that is why.) Sylvia needs to stay with brighter colors. KMR is correct that this one washes her out. Overall, they all look nice and appropriate, however. Thanks for this post, KMR!
The dishes all sound fancy. In my opinion, fancy doesn’t always equal tasty. Like you said, some dishes sound yummy, some aren’t appealing to me.
I love the pic of Daniel with Vic and Maddie. He looks so suave.
Unfortunately, I didn’t like any of them. Maybe I still have hangover from last year when everyone looked so fantastic. Vic’s face expression is great but the dress looks like drapes. Somebody needs to bury the lace- love your comment about Sofia KMR, so true. Why not a modern take on taffeta? Anything would be better. The Connaught tiara is beautiful, wish Maddie had picked something else but maybe she couldn’t get one from the vault on short-notice. She may have decided to go since she just got press hammered and didn’t want to be called lazy. The Swedish press needs to visit the UK to understand that term better.
I like the drape-y effect of Victoria’s dress. As Liz upthread put it, she looks Greek Goddess-y.
She’s in great shape and good skin, I’d like to see her in something stronger with structure. She could pull it off.
On first glance, I did not like Victoria’s dress. In the photo with her husband and Maddie, I did, though. Maddie is one of my faves, but I thought her choice of gown was not the best. Exaggerated her pregnancy in an unflattering way. Loved Victoria’s tiara, but not Maddie’s.
Sofia looked so boring. Don’t like that dress. Agree with Fairygodmom as to why she seems to favor that look.
Queen Silvia was elegant — so gracious. The way a Queen should look.
Loved the description of the food at the gala. Took us right there.
In the Swedish press Sofia was the “winner” of the night, something I don’t quite understand. I find her efforts to shed her past coming up short, bordering on bland. At least she sported an updo for this event, but needs to lose the middle part. She looks like an Italian widow.