“Royal Jewelry” Coming to Swedish Television

Get excited, Scandinavian royal jewel lovers: a brand-new documentary about the Swedish royal family’s jewelry is coming to television!

SVT, Sweden’s national public broadcaster, recently announced a new two-part documentary series, “Kungliga smycken” (“Royal Jewelry”), which will air on April 2 and April 9. The documentary features interviews with Queen Silvia, Crown Princess Victoria, and Princess Christina, who showcase important pieces of jewelry from the family’s collection.

Jewels featured on the documentary include the Braganza Tiara, the Cameo Parure, the Connaught Diamond Tiara, the Russian Pink Topaz Suite, the Leuchtenberg Sapphire Parure, the Six-Button Tiara, and hopefully many others. A press release from SVT promises that the jewels will be discussed as “symbols of power and love,” tracing their history across the centuries. Crown Princess Victoria will tell us that the jewels help the history “come alive.”

Princess Christina shows off the Connaught Diamond Tiara in one press image. The tiara is particularly special to her: not only is it often called “Princess Sibylla’s Tiara” because it was a favorite of her late mother, Christina also chose it as her bridal diadem. In the documentary, she will reveal that she and her three sisters convinced Queen Silvia to wear the tiara for the gala held the night before her wedding to King Carl XVI Gustaf in 1976. “You must wear this. Our mother must be able to attend when Carl Gustaf finally gets married!” they told their new sister-in-law. (Silvia did wear the tiara for the gala, which included a famous performance of “Dancing Queen” by ABBA.)

Queen Silvia will also reveal that King Carl XVI Gustaf is the one who suggested that she should wear the Cameo Tiara as her bridal diadem in 1976. She explains, “For me, it was so nice to know that both Princess Birgitta and Princess Desirée had worn the cameos. It was like a good omen to me.” It was — and the tiara was later worn by Crown Princess Victoria on her wedding day as well.

The first part of the documentary will air on Thursday, April 2, at 2 PM Stockholm time. The second episode will be aired a week later (Thursday, April 9). I’m hopeful that we’ll all be able to stream the documentary (which will be in Swedish, of course) on the SVT Play website. The link to the program page is here. I’ll share more details on my Twitter account if I find out more about the program’s availability in other countries!