Crown Princess Victoria celebrated her 38th birthday yesterday, July 14. Victoria celebrated Victoriadagen (Victoria Day) by greeting a crowd of more than 3,000 people outside Solliden Palace on Öland where King Carl XVI Gustaf led cheers and a sing-a-long of “Yes, May She Live”. Prince Daniel, Princess Estelle, and Queen Silvia joined for the greeting outside Solliden. They then of course met the crowd.
Victoria wore a floral Ralph Lauren dress – the Marie Short Sleeve Casual Dress. Over her dress she wore what looks like the exact same pale pink cardigan she wore to Victoriadagen last year.
Estelle wore a similar outfit to her mom, opting for a light blue floral dress with a similar Peter Pan collar, an off white cardigan, and a blue bow in her hair.
In the evening, Princess Madeleine, Chris O’Neill, Prince Carl Philip, and Princess Sofia (formerly Sofia Hellqvist) joined the rest of the family (minus Estelle) for a carriage procession from Solliden to Borgholm where there was a concert.
While at Borgholm, Victoria presented the Crown Princess Victoria Scholarship to swimmer Sarah Sjostrom. Sjostrom received the scholarship because in 2014 she beat three world records and won 6 gold medals and 5 silver medals in competitions.
Both Victoria and Silvia wore the traditional dress.
While Maddie and Sofia opted for normal clothes. Madeleine, making her first appearance since giving birth to Prince Nicolas on June 15, wore a puffy jacket and some yellow patterned pants. I may be a Madeleine-apologist, or just a yellow-apologist, but I surprisingly don’t hate these pants. I would wear these pants. Maybe not out, but definitely around the house.
Sofia, coming back from her honeymoon, wore a black and white Karen Millen dress.
While doing the greeting outside Solliden Palace, guess who stole the show? That’s right, the adorable Princess Estelle (and her dog).
Estelle has so much personality!
I’m going to gossip genie a torrid romance between her and prince george in 16 years. With their personalities it would have too much passion and emotion to lasr but it would be fun to watch!
I don’t know.
I like Estelle too much. I like Georgie now, but then he will probably grow up and take after his father :S or mother 🙁 wouldn’t want that for Estelle… unless he takes after his uncle Harry 😉 fun & wild but aware of duty.
Estelle is such an outgoing kid. I would love to watch a relationship between Estelle and George. They both seem to have outgoing personalities, and that would be fun to watch. Estelle would also put him in his place. I’d love it.
Happy Belated Birthday Victoria.
Estelle is adorable. Estelle is such an outgoing ,neat and presentable girl. The warmth in the portrait of the three of them is obvious.
Maybe Estelle and George would get on as they say opposites attract. Friends have more similar interests.
Please with the midd clan raising george, to be entitled, lazy, brat, estelle does not need that??
I read that Victoria stood in the drizzly rain for 2 hours, talking and greeting people.
She’s great – I love her! What a wonderful queen she’ll be!
Also, I think the blonde woman kneeling next to Estelle is her nanny.
Go Victoria!!!! 🙂
That should teach a certain duchess who just makes headlines when a SINGLE engagement (filled with a photo-shoot, greeting children, greeting parents, dumb questions to the experts, etc) gets close to a whole 2 hours!!! ((rolling my eyes))
I love love love this. Victoria is a class act. She truly enjoys her role. She thrives in it. She can wear her Swedish costume with pride and not make it look foolish. Daniel is a babe as always.
Estelle just warms my cold, indifferent and cynical heart. The picture of her squatting and the other of kissing the dog made me smile. Those are two shots that shows that she is just a happy kid with no pretense. She is a child who is well loved and encouraged to be herself. I hope that she keeps this for the rest of her life. And yes, that is her nanny.
Sofia looked lovely. Maddie’s whole look was nice except the hem on those pants. The picture of her standing on the grass, which yes, I know that you sink in grass wearing a heel like that. And who knew that Chris aka Mr. Smoldering Looks was so barrel-chested.
Btw, I miss ArtHistorian. I had to out that out there.
Great roundup as always!
I have been wondering about ArtHistorian too!
I miss ArtHistorian too, hope everything is okay.
Estelle really does seem like a happy, outgoing, beloved little girl. You can tell how much her parents adore her.
I miss ArtHistorian, too. She always had such great insight.
I’m always impressed by Victoria, Dan and Estelle. Estelle is adorable and very comfortable in her position. No running and crying, just relaxed and having fun. I really wish (and hope) they have another baby, they are great parents.
Absolutely. If a child pouts like George what does that mean? I don’t have children only nieces and they always seem happy in my company. Estelle seems a very secure happy little girl in comparison.
I don’t have any children but do have many many nieces and nephews. I get the feeling it just shows how sheltered George is and therefore how uncomfortable he is with a bigger crowd and strangers.
I say that because I have a nephew, living in Chicago so kept mostly indoors at his home during the LONG winter and he never liked being at family gatherings and away from his home. So his parents decided to host most events and even then he was unhappy as soon as people started filling up his home. Or maybe he just hates us all 😛 lol
Hi Beatriz, it could be that your nephew is more introverted than most of the family. I too am very introverted and for me it’s very stressful being around large group of people who expect me to be chatty and bubbly, frankly it’s exhausting. So your nephew probably doesn’t hate you all, he’s just overwhelmed. It might be helpful if he had a place to have so alone time during family get togethers, a place for him to recharge and relax. Also, the book “Quiet – The power of introverts in a world that can’t stop talking” by Susan Cain is very helpful for those around an introvert to learn how to help them cope and not take their need for space and quiet personally.
Beatriz, being an introvert myself I agree with Lauri. He may just be overwhelmed and need a place to retreat to. Also, Huffington Post has been doing some great articles on introverts and how they react with the world and how people who know them should react to them and/or what to expect from them.
I agree Lauri. As an introvert, it is so hard to be around a large group of people. Extroverts draw energy from those around them , but introverts draw energy wholly from within and that gets so exhausting and overwhelming when having to deal with people.
I agree with the others. He is probably much better one on one. He will probably be drawn out of his shell if one parent sits with him and introduces him to another aunt/uncle and the three of them play together for a bit, and then the parent leaves letting the child interact with the aunt/uncle. Slowly he will get used to the idea of strangers and be able to trust them more.
My son who is not really an introvert but a very outgoing and bubbly child (both my kids are actually very happy bubbly kids) would get very very stressed at huge parties we had to throw at that time. He still does, actually. He is okay with crowds of 25 -30 now (this is after years of being taken to parties) and will usually run around with other kids, but when it is 100 people or so he still wants to leave and would rather read/play a game than interact with anyone.
As with everything else it is very important not to let the child feel guilty for not enjoying the party – it is who he is. With time I think that your nephew will be more and more comfortable with crowds even if he never thrives in them. Your family can help by never making any observations about his nature and ignoring his outbursts. His parents will thank you later on for your empathy – trust me.
@Beatrix:
As someone who did the exact same thing as a child that your nephew does, there are three options I see:
1) He is an introvert.
2) He is depressed.
3) He does not have a ton of friends and is not used to crowds.
Me, personally, I was a depressed introvert who did not have a ton of friends and therefore did not like crowds.
How awful it must be if you’re supposed to be a king one day and you happen to be an introvert. Maybe William is an introvert trying hard to cope?
I would love to see Victoria and Dan have more children. They seem like such loving parents, and you can tell they adore Estelle.
Yes, a happy new year of life for Victoria! She, Daniel and Estelle make a loving family. Victoria is the real deal. She seems to make things look so effortless in her Royal role.
Estelle is such a loving and dear child. You can tell she is so loved. SHe’s not spoiled at all. Just a sweet and fun-loving little girl.
Maddie looks great after Baby 2 and the newly-weds looked happy.
A lovely family — the Swedish Royals.
Happy Birthday Victoria!!! Thanks KMR for sharing these great photos with us! It’s so great to see V&D&E together, the love and affection they have for one another is so evident and how cute is Estelle waving to the crowds like a pro 🙂
Victoria, Daniel and Estelle are a lovely family. I hope Victoria had a Happy Birthday and that her life continues to be a happy one. You can see it on her face and the faces of her husband and daughter that they are truly happy. The Swedish Royals are doing it right! Maddie looks great after giving birth the second time. And, the newlyweds seem very happy, too.
It’s nice to see genuine love, isn’t it?
I love how Victoria and Dan interact with Estelle. Such warmth there and you can tell they love her to bits.
It seems like anything and everything the SRF does makes me like them more.
They seem like a such a tight fun bunch and I’m just in love with how they include the people in their family affairs (I would go as far to say that I believe W&K [or Jason, whatever] have also taken notice and that was the whole reason behind them being “so nice” to have the plebes at Charlotte’s christening).
Happy Belated Birthday to Victoria!!! She is the best heir out there. I also love to see her proudly wearing their traditional clothing.
Estelle, cute as a button!!! What a confident, fun and sweet girl (my heart just melts by seeing her love that puppy).
I’m not really a fan of Maddie’s outfit, but whatever. She gets a pass. She should wear whatever she likes and is comfortable (at least for now). It’s nice to see she didn’t make up an excuse and showed up to celebrate her sister, especially since she was out supporting her family to very last minute before going into labor.
Good to see the newlyweds are back. I’m looking forward to seeing more of Sofia.
I am also happy to see Chris appears more at ease/comfortable in official events. In the beginning I got the feeling he didn’t want to be there or simply wasn’t comfortable.
“I am also happy to see Chris appears more at ease/comfortable in official events. In the beginning I got the feeling he didn’t want to be there or simply wasn’t comfortable.”
I agree. Chris seemed very uncomfortable with the whole thing early on. But he seems to be better now. I love that he’s supporting Maddie more.
How old is Estelle?
Estelle is three. She was born in 2012.