Drottningholm in winter robes

The fantastic royal UNESCO World Heritage Site Drottningholm is probably associated with summer more than it is with any other season. Beautiful summer days, magnificent water fountains, lush green hedges and grass, frying direct sun over the open park, boats passing by in open water. And that’s also how it’s most often photographed. But Drottningholm in the winter is like a fairy-tale landscape, as was my experience last Saturday when I first saw it nestled in the snow.

The stunning palace, the cultural jewel of the Drottningholm Palace Theatre and all the other important and beautiful historic buildings and the huge park were all covered in white. The large fountain was at rest, the trimmed hedges were neither green nor particularly visible, and the water frozen. Everything laid in a beautiful quiet winter rest. But alone in the park, I was not. We were quite a few brave Saturday walkers who took a round through the park, some children went sledding and a few people skied as well.

Crown Princess Victoria and Daniel to set up their own home, her father’s birthplace

On Thursday it was announced that Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden and her future husband Daniel Westling will make Haga Palace their home residence in connection to their upcoming marriage. The question on whether Victoria would be interested to make the residence a royal one once again came from the Prime Minister himself and the answer was positive. On Thursday the government officially signed over the disposition rights to King Carl XVI Gustaf.
- I hope that the Crown Princess and Daniel will feel that this is going to be a good home, a good environment for family formation, Prime Minister Reinfeldt said in connection to a press conference following the formal decision. (more…)

Royally fooled

This past Wednesday was the first day of April and also April Fools’ Day – the one day of the year when everyone – even news agencies and media – can play jokes with people. In Sweden it seems that this day is experiencing a little bit of a renaissance, as I remember it didn’t really use to be very popular and media not very good at using the day to fool the people some years ago, but now it’s on the march up again and both media and people are becoming more and more creative in their plans. Also this year, several big media here in Sweden took the opportunity to try and fool the people royally, literally speaking.

In our fourth largest city, Uppsala, the daily newspaper Upsala Nya Tidning really blew the horns as they announced that Crown Princess Victoria and Daniel Westling would not be marrying in Stockholm next year as previously announced, instead they had decided to move their wedding to Uppsala and the Uppsala Cathedral. The reasons given were that the Stockholm Cathedral was too small while Uppsala Cathedral is the largest cathedral in the Nordic countries, and that the alleys of the Old Town in Stockholm which surrounds the Stockholm Cathedral were too narrow and would make it hard to guarantee the security of the guests. (more…)

Unique chance to see a glimpse of a royal apartment

18 January this year was the centenary of Princess Sibylla’s birth. Tomorrow on Sweden’s National Day, this jubilee will be the theme of the annual “Open Palace” events at the Royal Palace of Stockholm. In the Royal Armoury visitors can see some of her bags on display in the ongoing exhibition “The indispensable bag”, in the Royal Chapel the author of last year’s first biography of the King’s mother, Roger Lundgren, will hold a short lecture, and most special of all – Princess Sibylla’s Apartment will be open to the public for a few hours.

The apartment, situated in the eastern part of the palace, is normally closed to the public and tomorrow presents a unique chance to see the historic rooms that have been the home and working space for generations of Swedish royals. Past royal occupiers include Prince Gustaf (later King Gustaf III) whom had his nursery here and occupied the apartment as Crown Prince, Duchess Hedvig Elisabeth Charlotta (later Queen of Sweden), Crown Princess Josefina (later Queen of Sweden), Queen Viktoria and Princess Sibylla.

It was to this apartment that Princess Sibylla moved together with her children and two nannies in October 1950 when the idyllic Haga Palace had to undergo extensive repairs. The family never returned to the more county like Haga and it was here in the middle of the bustling city that King Carl XVI Gustaf spent the rest of his childhood years looking out through the windows on the cars coming and going, following the change of the guards, playing in the private small garden below and walking through the streets of the Old Town together with his nanny – sometimes even stopping to buy a hotdog. When the family moved in the apartment was called Queen Viktoria’s Apartment after its previous resident, but Sibylla whom had a keen interest in design, forms shape and even fashion, made it her task to furnish and decorate the private and official parts of it (as it was then) to suit the family as good as it possibly could.

Since the 1970’s the apartment is King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia’s working apartments where they receive and entertain guests on a daily basis. The rooms showcase some of Sweden’s most beautiful interiors, once planned by Carl Hårleman, and with some fantastic carved decorations by Adrien Masreliez. Antiques and family treasures share the space with some modern pieces of decorations and art, framed photos and other personal mementoes. The apartment’s most famous piece must be the “engagement sofa” in the Yellow Salon, bought for Princess Birtgitta’s engagement announcement in 1960, where all of Princess Sibylla’s children have posed as newly engaged before members of the media.

(Screencaps from SVT)

More: see a video clip from SVT’s regional news program ABC’s visit to the apartment