Last modified: 19 December 2011
Wednesday, 19 May 2010
Information Briefing at the Royal Mews in Stockholm on the preparations ahead of the cortège after the wedding of Crown Princess Victoria and Daniel Westling.
Monday, 24 May 2010
Information briefing about the wedding preparations of the Swedish Royal Court at the Bernadotte Library of the Royal Palace in Stockholm.
Sunday, 30 May 2010
The banns of marriage between Crown Princess Victoria and Daniel Westling were published in the Royal Chapel of the Royal Palace in Stockholm at 11am. See Kungahuset.se
Reception to celebrate the banns at the Royal Palace in Stockholm for public authorities, organisations, associations and companies from 10am to noon. See Kungahuset.se
Tuesday, 1 June 2010
Reception to celebrate the banns at the Royal Palace in Stockholm for public authorities, organisations, associations and companies from 2pm to 4pm. See Kungahuset.se (second reception) and Kungahuset.se (afternoon reception)
Thursday, 3 June 2010
Reception to celebrate the banns at the Royal Palace in Stockholm for public authorities, organisations, associations and companies from 10am to noon. See Kungahuset.se
Saturday, 5 June 2010 & Sunday, 6 June 2010
Greeting lists could be signed by the general public at the Royal Palace in Stockholm from 10am to 4pm.
Tuesday, 15 June 2010
There were still greeting lists to be signed at the royal palace shop. On the first day of my stay in Stockholm I of course wrote down my congratulations to Crown Princess Victoria and the future Prince Daniel here.
Wednesday, 16 June 2010
The county governors of Sweden hosted a dinner in honour of Crown Princess Victoria and her fiancé Daniel Westling at the East Indies Ship Götheborg at Skeppsholmen, Stockholm. Crown Princess Victoria and Daniel Westling were accompanied by King Carl XVI Gustaf, Queen Silvia, Prince Carl Philip and Princess Madeleine of Sweden. The last one had her first official appearance after a break of several weeks after her broken engagement. Each county was represented at the dinner by the county governor and an additional three selected guests.
The food that was served during the dinner was inspired by Swedish regional dishes, and was provided by Swedish top gourmet chefs under the management of Leif Mannerström. Entertainment was provided by the Gothenburg Opera. Mezzo-soprano Katarina Karnéus and Gunilla Backman, who sang a piece from the musical Mamma Mia, performed. Artist Stefan Andersson performed songs written about the Götheborg ship.
Three of my friends and I arrived at Skeppsholmen pretty early and we managed to find ourselves a place at the Af Chapman sailing ship located next to the Götheborg. The distance to the Götheborg was still quite far, but the weather was nice, so we could see enough. People and children in historical costumes walked at the quay. The royal family arrived by car and walked via the landing-stage to the ship. There they were welcomed with singing and cheering by the people working on the ship.
Thursday, 17 June 2010
Rehearsal at the cathedral
In the morning we accidentally arrived at the cathedral just before Crown Princess Victoria and Daniel Westling left after one of the rehearsals during these days. It was our first sighting of the couple, and the first ever of the groom.
Private lunch
A private lunch had been organised for wedding guests, family and friends at Rosendals Trädgårdar.
Arrival of guests
The royal guests started arriving in Stockholm by plane, ship or train. The wedding guests stayed at the Drottningholm Palace, the Royal Palace and at the Grand Hotel in Stockholm. We had a look there part of the day on Thursday and spotted several royals. I had a short chat with Crown Princess Margarita of Romania who received a huge bouquet of flowers upon arrival. She was also interviewed by the Swedish television channel SVT.
Private dinner
A private dinner was hosted by King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia at Drottningholm Palace. About 200 guests were attending, mainly friends. As there wouldn’t be much chance to see something at the palace, we decided to stay outside the Grand Hotel to see the guests leaving there. Unfortunately the distance to the guests was quite far, and several times policemen and security stood in front of the cameras. That made it often even hard to recognise who left the hotel.
Friday, 18 June 2010
The guests headed for lunch at Sturehofs Slott. Guests were transported there from Drottningholm and the town hall in Stockholm by boat. Just before 11am we saw a bus leaving the hotel. Spotted behind one of the windows was Princess Máxima of the Netherlands. See also Kungahuset.se
When passing the Danish royal yacht Dannebrog in the afternoon we accidentally saw Prince Richard zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg leaving the ship.
Government reception
2.30pm-4pm: Government reception at the Stockholm City Hall in Stockholm, hosted by the Swedish government. About 700 guests were attending. We decided to have a look and see Crown Princess Victoria, Daniel Westling, King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia leaving the city hall. Unfortunately it slowly started to rain, and when the car with the royals left the town hall around 4.35pm, it started raining heavily. We however saw them in the car and waved before finding a good place to shelter from the rain. See also Kungahuset.se
Dinner and concert
6.30pm-8pm: Dinner at the Eric Ericsson-hall on Skeppsholmen in Stockholm, hosted by the Swedish government. About 300 guests were attending.
8.30pm: Concert at Stockholm Concert Hall, hosted by the Swedish parliament. A number of prominent artists and musicians will take part, together with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra. About 1600 guests were attending.
After the rain shower at the town hall and a quick visit to the hotel, we arrived at the Konserthuset (concert hall), where the Swedish parliament hosted a concert for the bridal couple that evening. It was cloudy, but fortunately we didn’t feel more than a few drops of rain. A real pity was that we couldn’t see the concert itself on television. The newspapers the next day showed lots of female guests in tears when a children’s choir performed at the end of the show. See for information also here.
Program
- Hugo Alfvén: Festspel
- Malena Ernman & Roland Pöntinen: Jag elsker dig
- Magnus Uggla: Värsta grymma tjejen
- Helen Sjöholm: Hymne à l’amour
- Martin Fröst: Let’s be happy
- Salem Al Fakir: All day love
- Lars Cleveman: Nessun dorma
- Kungliga Filharmonikerna: Overtyr till Ruslan & Ludmila
- Peter Jöback: She
- Orphei Drängar: Bröllopskören
- Sarah Dawn Finer: Kärleksvisan
- Jazz Divas of Scandinavia: Lovers
- Peter Mattei: Deh vieni alla finestra, from Don Giovanni
- Lisa Nilsson: Utan dina andetag
- The Real Group: Gee! Mine or Mozart’s
- Lisa Nilsson & Sarah Dawn Finer: At last
- Malena Ernman & Martin Fröst: Csárdás/Flight of the bumble bee
- Ballet by Wu Zhengdan & Wei Baohua
- Helen Sjöholm & Peter Jöback: Come what may
- Roxette: The look
- All: Can’t help falling in love
- Choir of the Adolf Fredriks musikklasser: I morr’n är det bröllopskalas
10.15pm: Reception at the Grünewaldssalen at Stockholm Concert Hall.