On Tuesday, the Swedish royal family gathered in Stockholm for one of their most important diplomatic appearances of the year. Today, we’ve got a closer look at the jewels they wore for the annual Opening of Parliament.
King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia of Sweden arrived at Parliament House, the seat of the Swedish Riksdag, for the opening of the legislative session on Tuesday. The event is considerably less grand than it was in years past, but the royals still arrive for the ceremony in carriages.
Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel were also present for the event, and they arrived by carriage as well.
Andreas Norlén, who has been Speaker of the Riksdag since 2018, greeted the royals on their arrival at Parliament House. You’ll note that both Queen Silvia and Crown Princess Victoria adhered to the traditional black-and-white color scheme for attire at the event.
The black-and-white colors hearken back to a previous royal era. The annual opening of the Riksdag used to be a much grander and more bejeweled event, with men in uniforms and formal suits, and the women in black-and-white gowns with ermine-trimmed cloaks and tiaras (and, for the married royal women, veils). Above, Princess Sibylla (the mother of King Carl Gustaf) wears the old formal court dress as she arrives at the Riksdag opening in 1957. She accessorized with her favorite royal jewel, the Connaught Diamond Tiara, and the Bernadotte Emeralds.
Following reforms in the 1970s, the event has become a much more scaled-back ceremony, though the royal ladies still wear black and white as a nod to the old court dress rules. The jewels for the event, fittingly, are usually diamonds and pearls, to coordinate with the overall look.
For this year’s Riksdag opening, Queen Silvia wore pearl drop earrings, Princess Sibylla’s two-stranded pearl necklace, and the family’s Floral Pearl Drop Brooch.
Crown Princess Victoria also wore pearls and diamonds. Her earrings are her diamond and pearl cluster stud earrings, which have been part of her collection for more than 15 years. She also wore her silver-toned necklace with the horseshoe-shaped charm.
Like her mother, Victoria also wore a petite pearl drop brooch. This brooch features a small central pearl in an open setting with a diamond halo. Two larger diamonds are positioned atop the halo on either side of the central pearl. Queen Silvia has worn the piece in the past as well, including an appearance at the Swedish Academy in 2019.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.