Swedish Royal Wedding fever

Commemorative china? Check.

Official stamps? Check

Monograms unveiled? Check

Royal Barge Vasaorden on standby? Check

Only two more sleeps to go until the Swedish royal wedding and I'm about as passibly excited as I never thought I would be for a non-British royal wedding. Despite this, on Saturday June 19th I will allow myself to live vicariously through news reports about Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden's marriage to Daniel Westling. That extraordinarily photogenic couple who beat Prince William and Kate Middleton to the altar. Damn their non-receding hairlines, glorious bone-structure and progressive succession laws.

Members of various royal families and illustrious public figures will converge on Stockholm ready to take part in history; the first royal wedding of a female heir to the Swedish throne. Pint-sized future monarchs: HRH Princess Catharina-Amalia of the Netherlands, HRH Princess Ingrid-Alexandra of Norway and HRH Prince Christian of Denmark will be amongst the young attendants on hand to upstage the bride and groom. Royal wedding traditions will be upheld, the bride will look stunning and it is certain to be a memorable occasion for royal watchers.

The ceremony is set to begin at 3:30PM in Stockholm (about 9:30AM in Canada) and I will attempt to simultaneously cover it both on this blog and as a guest writer at The Royal Representative.

© Marilyn Braun 2010

Male Royal Consorts

I rarely blog about non-British royals but in honor of the upcoming marriage of Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden to Daniel Westling, I thought it would be appropriate to give a brief history of male royal consorts. Their destiny is to walk two paces behind, living in the shadow of their reigning wives. The future Prince Daniel is in good company.

Prince Albert, Prince Consort

Arguably the most famous Prince Consort in history, he his the only consort of a Queen Regnant to hold the title. He was a first cousin of Queen Victoria. They married in February 1840 and he was a devoted hisband until his death in 1861. Victoria mourned him for the rest of her life, imortalizing him in countless statues and landmarks.

Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh

Currently the longest serving royal consort in history. The husband of

Queen Elizabeth II, he was born in 1921 on a dining room table in Villa Mon Repos on the Greek island of Corfu. He was known as Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark until his engagement to Princess Elizabeth in 1947. He became a naturalized British subject in the same year, giving up his royal titles to become plain Ltn. Philip Mountbatten. Upon his marriage he became HRH Duke of Edinburgh and in 1957 he was given the title Prince of the United Kingdom. In 2007, The Queen and Prince Philip celebrated their Diamond wedding anniversary - the first for any British monarch in history.

Prince Claus of the Netherlands

The late consort of Queen Beatrix was a controversial choice for the Crown Princess. He was German and a former Hitler Youth Member. 60,000 Dutch signed a petition against the marriage and the Jewish community boycotted the celebration. They were married on March 10, 1966. On the day of the ceremony there were several attempts at sabotage, Dutch TV crews had an important cable cut. Protestors lined the route with smoke bombs. He gradually won over the Dutch public and was a popular member of the royal family when he died in 2002.

Prince Henrik of Denmark

The consort of Queen Margarethe II of Denmark. Henri Marie Jean André de

Laborde de Monpezat was born in 1934. He married the heir presumptive to the Danish throne, Crown Princess Margarethe, in 1967. Prior to his marriage he was a French diplomat. Raised as a Catholic he converted to Protestantism. At the time of his marriage his name was 'Danicised' to Prince Henrik.

© Marilyn Braun 2010

And I turn towards Sweden..

I'm having a serious case of royal watching envy as Sweden prepares for the wedding of their Crown Princess. All of the romance, the preparation, the speculation that the British royal family should be experiencing if only Prince William would get off his regal tush and propose to Kate Middleton. Or if he already has proposed then tell the world about it already!

Sweden has what the British royals do not - a happy ending.

I've lamented the lack of royal news, it's depressing to think that the last wedding happened in 2008 and wasn't really a royal wedding at all. Sure the trappings were there, the royal pedigree was unquestioned. But when the groom, Peter Philips, was born he was plain Master Peter Philips. As a grandchild in the female line, he and his sister Zara were the first children of a royal to be born commoners in over 500 years.

William and Kate's wedding would undoubtably be a royal wedding. In fact it would be the royal wedding. As his father's first wedding and his grandmother, the Queen's had been before that. The wedding of a direct heir to the throne captures the imagination. After all there is a lot at stake. Not only would Kate become the newest Princess, she would be expected to secure the line, and eventually take her place beside William on the throne. Heady stuff but Kate has had eight years to consider it. And William has had just as much time to consider it as well. Unlike his father who was reportedly bullied into marrying Lady Diana Spencer, William is in a position where he can take his time to make the right decision. When he will let us know is anyones guess.

Sweden had a similar wait for their Crown Princess. She reportedly began dating Daniel Westling in 2002 and their engagement was announced in February 2009. I admit that until recently I didn't pay much attention to what went on in the Swedish royal family other than to note how exceptionally photogenic they are. Now on June 19th they will take their place on the royal watching centre stage - The beautiful princess and her handsome prince-to-be. Not only a glamorous and regal event but a historic one too. The Crown Princess's marriage will be the first wedding of a female successor to the throne in the history of Swedish monarchs. It will also be the largest event ever covered in Stockholm.

And all I can do is watch and sigh enviously...

© Marilyn Braun 2010