Princess Madeleine and Queen Silvia have been in NYC the past couple of days to attend meetings and charity events related to the World Childhood Foundation, which Silvia founded in 1999 and Madeleine works for since 2007.
On Monday, October 2, Silvia and Madeleine attended the World Childhood Foundation USA 2017 Thank You Gala. Madeleine wore a black lace Self Portrait “Moni Maxi Dress” and those gorgeous aquamarine and diamond drop earrings she has. Silvia wore an Alexis “Holly Long Sleeve Embellished Gown”.
Madeleine’s friend, Malin Akerman, whom I had no idea was Swedish, also attended the gala. She gave an interview to Hola US about Madeleine, saying:
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“They are so down-to-earth. They are such a lovely family. Sweden is quite down to earth really. [Princess Madeleine is] absolutely lovely and is just, I hate to say a regular girl, but she’s a regular girl, who is wonderful and a little bit more poised than most of us. But she’s great. A really cool girl.”
Earlier in the day on October 2, Silvia and Madeleine attended a UN meeting called “Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals for Children: Collective Actions and Innovative Solutions”.
Silvia gave a speech in which she talked about the Sustainable Development Goals, why she founded Childhood, and the work that Childhood does. It’s a long speech, so I am only quoting one section – about online harassment and technology – which I thought was well put (given how many times I’ve complained about the way William speaks about technology):
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“With increased access to the Internet and the omnipresence of smart phones, we are experiencing a global increase in cyber violence against children. This is, of course, a frightening development. But let’s not forget that technology can also be a powerful tool for good. It can provide access to education and healthcare. It fuels economic development and provides access to markets. It helps us to collect vital data and monitor progress.”
On October 3, Silvia and Madeleine took part in a Childhood International Council meeting with representatives from the offices in Sweden, Brazil, Germany, and the US to discuss experiences and common issues and challenges.
I like Q Sil’s call out on the internet – both positive and negative aspects. Bullying in any form is not acceptable. I also like Q Sil’s new hair style – much softer – of course it may prove more of a challenge for tiaras – we will see !!! Not sure about the green wrap with the dress though. As for her necklace combination – looks a bit busy with what she is wearing – a plain top might be a better pairing with it. If those are giant diamond studs then fantastic. Maddie as always looks great – I like the black lace and pleated dress – and the earrings are to swoon over.
They smile so beautiful in the first picture.
And the gowns are gorgeous. They both look really beautiful.
It has often been said before, but I adore the work of Silvia and her children. As an organization, you can feel respected and taken seriously by the swedish royals.
Have you seen what’s going on in Spain at the moment Catalonia seem to be extremely angry that the king didn’t denounce the violence
I really like seeing Maddie and Sil working together and for such a great cause!! I’d like to think that it also speaks of their close mother/daughter relationship.
I appreciate how Silvia noted both the good and bad about technology. It has struck me recently that so many folks today are viewing the world and the people on it in very black or white terms. It seems to be either all bad or all good, with no room for human quirks and frailties. Imho, this view really works to divide us, them vs. us, good vs. bad, again without any room to find common ground.
Anyhow, I rather like Silvia’s dress, not sure about the green wrap though but I guess it does add a touch of color. And while I can’t get a good look at her necklace, it appears to have a whopper of stone in the front. I think Mad looks lovely but I’m soooo over the lace dresses. I think having them pop up everywhere as taken away the “specialness” of them. I can’t wait for designers to branch out and discovery other fabrics.
Mother and daughter make a fabulous team. Both are working hard for important causes. Both are loving and beautiful. in the board room, it’s nice to see Silvia so apparently involved. Maddie, too. When you think of Kate in such situations, she seems overwhelmed many times, anyway,
it’s always nice to read anything about the Swedish Royals. Thanks for the post.
Madeleine looks gorgeous but self portrait is a label I’m loathing. All their designs seem to be all things a detest in fashion at the moment: lots of lace, high and/or Peter Pan collars and ruffles! Bleh but I’ll forgive her since she’s wearing those fab earrings!
Silvia’s dress has lots going on with it.
Her speech was pretty good. All these people who are focusing on cyber bullying only seem to address he negative aspect of the internet so it was nice that she included several positives too.
I agree….Madeleine and Silvia are buttoned up to the neck and frou-frou looking and Malin Akerman has a plunging neckline. There does not seem to be a happy medium these days.
So I’m a long time lurker but this post in particular is perfect for a question I’ve had for quite some time. I do not at all consider myself a sugar and try and approach all royal stories, positive and negative, with a healthy dose of skepticism which is why I have long enjoyed this blog and the tone of the posts. However in trying to learn more about the royals I’ve also been to a website called royaldish, royalforums was a tad sweet for me, and what they post there, about Queen Silvia specifically is almost exclusively negative. And while I obviously realize she is in no way perfect she always struck me as a modern consort who found a good balance of supporting the King in addition to having her own cause that is genuinely doing good in the world. Plus she seems close with her children and grandchildren. So my question to you trusted fellow KMR readers is, have I become an accidental sugar or is royaldish mostly unsubstantiated gossip?
No ( and welcome). The Swedish royals are much more low key than the BRF but they do seem to have some genuine global influence. Many of us have doubts about the King, but the family seem genuine, happy, connected to their people and trying to make a difference on global issues, be that children or the Oceans in particular.
But maybe KMRers are all a little bit Swedish sugars?
I’d say most of here genuinely enjoy the SRF. I detest the King nor am I a fan of carl Philip or his wife. But I love Vic and Madeleine’s families!
As for Silvia, I think she’s done some great things but my issues with her are more that women of her generation and social position staying with a despicable guy.
She seems to have a good relationship with her kids and the siblings seem to get along so that’s something.
Royaldish is a hate site. The posters on that site have gone way past being critical and are full-fledged raving haters. It’s not even about being anti-monarchist it’s just a site to spew hatred. It’s pathetic.
Silvia is probably hated over there because the King openly favors CP and Mad and has had affairs but they remain married. But the problem with that site is that they’ll never say anything positive about her even if she is doing or has done something good. They do a lot of body-shaming as well; they used to call Princess Mary fat and then called her anorexic but still made fun of her body. I hate Royal Dish.
I don’t see a lot of negativity there towards Silvia, it seems people pity her. I sure do considering all she puts up with with that horrendous disgusting husband of hers who is a piece of garbage. Blech, I cannot say how much I despise CG.
Yes RD is run my a few people who bag out anyone who does not agree with them. Some posters seem to be able to make any comment and get an OK, others make a IMO vague reference to something and get “Warned”. I sometimes read it to see photos etc of lesser known Royals with a minimal public profile – but don’t comment
Exactly; you are allowed to hate certain royals but can’t say anything critical about other royals. It’s stupid; I prefer the Royal Order of the Splendor. That site is super informative. The Royal Forums is pretty good as well.
Oh I love ROOS! I don’t comment there or even read the comments but wow I love Tiara Thursdays!! And it’s really quite informative on royal jewels and such.
I would be afraid to comment on royal dish. I think it has gotten more over the top, and the moderation bewilders me. But you often find photos there first.
Second the recommendation of OOS.
Thank you all for taking the time to answer my question. Looking forward to future conversations on this blog.
I got warned for something really stupid (some vaguely passive aggressive comment regarding all the Harry hate which is really OTT) but people who were outright rude and other posters (not to mention unacceptable commentary about freakin’ children!) are A-okay. It has become a strange place in the last few years. They all hate hate hate Harry now for example. I dislike Mary A LOT but I find the hate-on for her quite bizarre, and bashing royal children and calling them names makes me angry… The worst forum though is Royal Gossip omg those people need lobotomies.
Royal Forums is too sugary and worshipful to me, any vague criticism gets you banned there. Imagine any of KMR’s posts there–yikes–they’d have a cow not bowing down to the martyr Catherine and the amazing future king who will save the monarchy William.
I have made some wonderful friends on RD, and like following stuff about Sophie or whatever because I adore her. and Victoria, and Madeleine, and Letizia and felipe.
That’s because there is a lot of racism on RD; they hate Harry because of Meghan. A lot of the comments directed at Meghan were race-based.
Does anyone know the story behind this
http://theduchessdiary.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/happy-birthday-kate-middleton7.gif
They were at a performance I think of Cirque du Soleil and she was laughing over it. Also sniffing her hair. Really weird behavior.
It looked like she tried to use her hair to cover her laughing. I’m looking for a video.
They were at Cirque du Soleil performance at the Royal Albert Hall for Kate’s birthday in I want to say 2013, but I could be mistaken, with Kate’s family and a friend. I believe she was pregnant with George at the time.
That gif is quite manic, but the video of this moment was much slower. She whispered something to William, then threw her head back and laughed. She clearly found something amusing but William was stone faced. Also she was putting her hair in front of her mouth; I don’t know why. She could have been sniffing her hair, she could have been using her hair to cover her laugh, or she could have just been playing with her hair. I’ve put my hair to my mouth out of boredom while playing with my hair before.
I notice she plays with her hair a lot, it’s pretty weird. I mean, I do it sometimes, but in the privacy of my own home, haha. There are plenty of weird pictures of her with her hand pressing her hair into her mouth at the Olympics! I always found her behavior really immature.
Immature, yes I can agree with that. I used to put my hair to my mouth while bored in class during middle and high school. But I haven’t done it much at all since then.
I used to chew on my hair in elementary school. I had very, very long hair then, it was fun to play with.
Not so fun to do when you’re a grown woman though. Haha.
I have anxiety and I touch my hair constantly when I’m nervous. It’s a nervous habit and tick for me; some days I hardly touch it other times it’s practically all day. I don’t know if she’s been diagnosed with anxiety though.
After noticing Kate and her hair fiddling constantly and how she’ll put it in her face, even to her mouth, etcetera, I notice I’ve become so much less apt to do ANYTHING to touch my hair in public! I think because she grosses me out with how much she fusses with it and so on, so I’ve been more aware, lol. Same with my posture!
Was reading Royal Forums and I read through People’s birth announcement on Prince Harry. Lookie here…
“A compulsive shopper with a weekly budget of $34,000, Diana logged many hours at Harrods, picking up baby supplies such as towels (she bought two sets, one in pink and one in blue) and ordering a new crib, bedecked with pink satin ribbons. Diana also bought the baby a new wardrobe.”
http://people.com/archive/cover-story-hello-harry-vol-22-no-14/
This would be $79,500 in today’s money. I can’t imagine this is true; this had to have been her total budget for everything. But still that’s high.
Holy crap!
And we get angry at Kate for being so wasteful, Diana was a billion times worse. But back then the monarchy was still held in some reverence and nobody seemed to care about the wasteful spending. Nowadays it’s quite different obviously…but jeez.
Not defending the excess spending, but Diana also logged in way more appearances than Kate ever has, so maybe if Diana is out and about attending things the shopping is overlooked a bit more.
Yeah, there’s a point there, too–Kate spends as much or more and how many engagements has she logged so far this year?
William is also stingy and cheap, and his dad pays for it all. Charles was well known for spoiling Diana and telling her to buy whatever she liked.
“Not defending the excess spending, but Diana also logged in way more appearances than Kate ever has, so maybe if Diana is out and about attending things the shopping is overlooked a bit more.”
So I have looked at engagement numbers for Diana v Catherine and I wasn’t that impressed. Diana in the first 5 years of her marriage did only a slightly higher number of engagements than Catherine and she was the PoW. No way Catherine is spending $80,000 a week and Diana wasn’t doing enough to justify her budget back in the 80’s. After she had Prince Harry she did uptick her numbers but it’s quite clear she did that as a ‘revenge’ on the RF (but it I guess it was good for her charities).
I will look for that chart and try to post it.
Diana also got pregnant almost right after the wedding, so that might excuse some of her low numbers. But Kate didn’t do much even before having kids.
Kate did pretty much nothing but wait around for William too and they framed it as how she was so ready to get really working now that she’d be married! Yeahright.
Diana had odd jobs at least.
@Ellie
Well this wasn’t really to compare and contrast their courtship but I just thought that weekly budget tidbit was interesting. I’m curious to know if anyone has any solid information on the weekly or monthly budget for the Cambridges now. I highly doubt it’s $79,500 a week or $318,000 a month.
I found this but it includes recycled pieces…
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-4386006/Duchess-Cambridge-spent-57K-new-clothes.html
Diana was constantly criticized for her spending she got through millions a year she definitely spent more than kate she been kind of white washed by a lot of people since she died she also wasnt very liked before she died either which everyone seems to forget if you look at press story’s the year before she died and the stories that came out just after she died you would think it was a completely different person
Princess Mary apparently spent two hundred grand in five years on bags
But that still is less then Princess of Wales have a clothing budget of over $4,000,000 every year.
I did some quick math on Princess Mary and that amounts to 1 bag a month that costs around $3,300. I actually don’t know how many bags she brought so I don’t have that to go off of. Luxury bags are expensive and range about $1,000 per bag. That’s obviously not realistic for a middle-class person but it’s apart of her budget.
Another car incident; this time in front of the Natural History Museum
https://twitter.com/guardian/status/916667905869262848
They’re thinking it isn’t terror related.
So bizarre. Spent much time in that area when we’ve visited.
Yes I saw the update; just random craziness.
The Royal Foundation is donating 2m towards mental health. Sort of.
“Today, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry announce the next phase of their mission: a £2 million investment fund to help improve the nation’s mental health through technology.
Their Royal Foundation has confirmed its largest single grant yet, intended to develop a digital tool to help people find trusted information about their mental health and get help in times of need.”
Seems like very little and for what? Not for much. I suppose digital technology so people can access therapists and get help is good if that is what it is but it seems basically like a whole lot of nothing after all the hub-bub and the money donated to HT through the Marathon.
Goodness, Queen Silvia’s hair is FAB!!! 😀