(picture courtesy of Prolineserver 2010, Wikipedia/Wikimedia Commons)
I'm not a royalist by any means, but I've always been fascinated by the Swedish Royal Family for some reason. So needless to say I was very interested in the recent Swedish royal wedding of Crown Princess Victoria and Daniel Westling, which took place on 19th June in Stockholm.
In the lead-up to the wedding, the Love Stockholm 2010 festival took place in the Swedish capital, which featured a number of events and free concerts all over the city, featuring some of the country's top musical artists. The event attracted 2 million people and guess whose concert attracted the biggest crowd (10,000)??
Given the country's strong musical heritage, the royal family have always been linked with Swedish music: top Swedish artists appear at the annual Victoriadagen concert every year, for example. On the night before the wedding, a gala concert took place in the Stockholm Konserthuset, attended by all the royalty and dignitaries in Stockholm for the wedding, and the guests of honour were of course Victoria and Daniel themselves. The concert featured Malena Ernman, Magnus Uggla, Helen Sjöholm, Peter Jöback, and a reunited Roxette singing ‘The Look’
But the best thing about it all? This song, specially written and performed for the happy couple...
As for the wedding itself, it was a natural and joyous occasion. Victoria, in a simple but classy dress, was a happy and serene bride, and Daniel had that usual facial mix of admiration and embarrassment going on (!). Unlike many royal weddings, where the spouses are headhunted for the sole purpose of an "heir and a spare" with no consideration whatsoever given to, well, love, at least Victoria dug her heels in and made sure she actually married someone she loved, rather than someone she was told to marry. I hope they have a long and happy married life together.
On a final musical note, two of Sweden's biggest musical stars, past and present - Agnes and Björn Skifs - got together to perform a specially written song at the wedding ceremony. Here's "When You Tell The World You're Mine" which has remained at the top of the Swedish singles chart since the wedding.
(picture courtesy of Prolineserver 2010, Wikipedia/Wikimedia Commons)
