The Best Royal Jewels of 2023: #3 (Sweden’s Glittering Golden Jubilee Celebrations)

King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden marked the 50th anniversary of his accession to the throne on September 15, 2023. The Swedish royal court marked the important milestone with numerous events throughout the year, including special regional visits and new official portraits.

The King’s entire family gathered with him in Stockholm for the celebrations, including his wife, Queen Silvia; their three children, Crown Princess Victoria, Prince Carl Philip, and Princess Madeleine, and their spouses; and his eight grandchildren. His heirs, Crown Princess Victoria and Princess Estelle, were featured prominently during a year when accession was on everyone’s mind.

The celebrations really kicked into gear in September with a series of glamorous festivities. Heirloom jewels were on display for an opera performance at the Drottningholm Palace Theatre on September 14, which was followed by a private dinner. Queen Silvia brought out the Vasa Earrings, eighteenth-century diamond jewels that date back to the reign of King Adolf Frederik of Sweden (1710-1771).

The King’s fellow Scandinavian monarchs—who are also his cousins—also attended the festivities, wearing pieces of jewelry that hearken back to their own Swedish royal heritage. Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, who is a granddaughter of King Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden, wore a diamond and pearl brooch that originally belonged to another ancestor, Princess Lovisa of Sweden (1851-1926), the wife of King Frederick VIII of Denmark. And Margrethe’s daughter-in-law, Crown Princess Mary of Denmark, wore the fabulous diamond and turquoise earrings that Crown Princess Margareta of Sweden, Margrethe’s grandmother, inherited from Catherine the Great.

On the King’s Accession Day, September 15, the royals attended a Te Deum service at the Royal Palace in Stockholm. More important heirloom royal jewels were on display. Queen Silvia wore a gorgeous diamond and sapphire brooch from the Leuchtenberg Sapphire Parure, a suite of French imperial jewels that came to Stockholm with Queen Josefina of Sweden (1807-1876).

The diamond earrings that Princess Madeleine wore for the Te Deum also come from Queen Josefina’s collection. They were made by repurposing a set of diamond pendants that could be worn with her diamond stomacher (now worn as a necklace).

Queen Margrethe II of Denmark brought out another sentimental family brooch with Swedish royal roots for the service. She wore the Diamond Daisy Brooch, which is set with diamonds that belonged to her maternal grandmother, Crown Princess Margareta of Sweden. Both royal women share the nickname “Daisy.”

And in the evening on September 15, there were astonishing royal heirlooms sparkling at the Royal Palace for the King’s Golden Jubilee banquet. Queen Silvia wore the towering Braganza Tiara, inherited by Queen Josefina of Sweden from her sister, Empress Amelie of Brazil. She paired it with the Karl Johan Earrings, which date to the reign of the first Bernadotte king of Sweden.

Crown Princess Victoria wore one of her signature royal jewels, the Baden Fringe Tiara, which came to Stockholm from Germany with Queen Victoria of Sweden (1862-1930). She also wore the same sapphire and diamond brooch that her mother had donned for the Te Deum service earlier that morning.

Princess Madeleine glittered in her bridal diadem, the Modern Fringe Tiara, pairing it with a special set of royal earrings. These diamond and pink topaz jewels are part of the Russian Pink Topaz Suite, imperial jewels that were presented by a Romanov tsarina to her daughter in 1811. The topazes came to Stockholm in the 1920s when they were inherited by Queen Victoria of Sweden from her mother, Grand Duchess Louise of Baden.

Princess Sofia thrilled royal watchers by debuting yet another set of gemstone toppers—citrines!—to wear with her diamond palmette tiara. But she also added some pieces from the vault to her ensemble, including the family’s diamond floral earrings and the Swedish Diamond Lozenge Brooch. The brooch has been in the family’s collection for more than a century.

The King’s sister, Princess Christina, was also present, wearing the grand Connaught Diamond Tiara. Made in 1905 as a wedding gift for their grandmother, Crown Princess Margareta of Sweden, the tiara was a favorite of the late Princess Sibylla, and Princess Christina wore it on her wedding day to honor her mother’s memory.

The foreign royals in attendance also brought out incredible Swedish heirloom gala jewels for the banquet. Queen Margrethe II of Denmark wore the Pearl Poiré Tiara and its married parure. The tiara and brooch were inherited by Queen Lovisa of Sweden (1828-1871) from her mother, Princess Louise of the Netherlands, and then almost immediately passed on to her daughter, the younger Princess Lovisa of Sweden. The necklace and earrings were wedding presents to Princess Lovisa from the Khedive of Egypt in 1869.

Queen Margrethe’s sister, Queen Anne-Marie, also wore a tiara with Swedish royal roots. The Khedive of Egypt Tiara was gifted by Abbas II of Egypt to Crown Princess Margareta of Sweden as a wedding present in 1905. It was inherited by Margareta’s only daughter, Princess Ingrid of Sweden (1910-2000), who married King Frederik IX of Denmark in 1935. It is now the traditional bridal diadem for Ingrid’s female descendants.

And Queen Sonja of Norway also arrived wearing a suite of heirloom emerald jewelry that resided in the royal vaults Stockholm for many years. The Norwegian Emerald Parure, as we now call it, has roots in imperial Brazil. Queen Josefina of Sweden inherited the set from her sister, Empress Amelie, in 1873. It was later worn by Queen Sofia, Crown Princess Margareta, and Princess Ingeborg, who gave it to her daughter, Crown Princess Märtha of Norway, as an insurance policy as she headed into exile during World War II.

Overall, it was a truly remarkable gathering of royal jewels, celebrating half a century of royal continuity in Sweden. No one does these celebrations quite like the Bernadottes!