The Swedes do this wonderful thing called representationsmiddag, or something like that - couldn't speak Swedish if my life depended on it, kids - where they invite representatives from the government and other sectors over to the palace for an official dinner a few times a year. They started this tradition to give them more opportunities to bust out their tiaras and ballgowns. That's the truth. (Disclaimer: no, it's not.)
Anyhoo, they had one such dinner last night. And before we get to the sparkly new stuff, I thought we could do a little flashback, and see what Crown Princess Victoria has brought to the table in years past. (This is probably not every representation dinner appearance, just the ones I could find.)
Immediately, we can see that these dinners are not banner occasions. This is not the spot for debuting new gowns and fancy new hairdos, like the Nobel festivities are. Just look at the triple appearance of that red Christmas wrapping paper gown if you have any doubt.
And the wrapping paper makes one last appearance! With the exception of that particularly Vegas-y number from 2008, this is a pretty good set of gowns.
But just like Victoria's style on the whole, these gowns get better with time. 2010 is a bit of a shower curtain, and the last dinner we had is a nightgown, but I think the two from 2009 make up for that, don't you? That's the best year for me.
Oh, what's that you say? You can't see enough of the tiaras? Fine, here you go:
As it goes with the gowns, so it goes with the tiaras: mostly a slew of old faithfuls on show here. The birthday tiara (I'm sorry, b-day tiara defenders, I just can't. It's all wire! Blech.), a few button appearances, a wee bit of
Cut Steel, and mostly that yummy Baden Fringe.
Now, to add yesterday's dinner to the mix:
Yup, the same holds true. Victoria wore this gown to the
Greek royal wedding last year, and Prince Joachim's wedding before that. And now it's on maternity duty, where oddly the bump is not the thing that needs a little more space. S'ok, V, we love you no matter what. She's once again chosen the
Cut Steel Tiara, while that sparkly mermaid Queen Silvia has opted for the Connaught Diamond Tiara.
What did you make of this year's choices? And which is your favorite year so far?
Photos: Kungahuset/ANP/IBL/Scanpix/Svenskdam/IBL/Charles Hammarsten
