Länge leve brudparet!

Posted on 21 June 2010 at 4:16 in Scandinavia

Last Saturday marks an important day in Swedish history, the marriage of Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden to Daniel Westling. As tradition dictates, the marriage was held in Storkyrkan (The Great Church) in Stockholm, followed by a reception in Stockholms slott (Stockholm Palace). Numerous royal dignitaries from around the world attended and the entire event was broadcasted on television. Victoria and Daniel are now peacefully residing in Haga slott (Haga Palace).

Crown Princess Victoria and Daniel Westling at their wedding. [1]

The royal wedding was monumental because Victoria is the first heiress apparent to marry and Daniel Westling is the first male commoner to become a member of the Swedish Royal Family since the Middle Ages. Since 1980, the Swedish monarchy has practised absolute cognatic primogeniture, in which the first-born inherits the throne regardless of gender. Victoria will be one of Sweden’s few queens regnant, the fourth to be precise, and therefore the royal protocol in this situation is far less established than it would be for a crown prince.

Furthermore, many people were upset with Victoria marrying a commoner; Daniel Westling was the Crown Princess’ personal trainer. However, numerous Swedish princes and kings have married women outside of royal stock, including the current King Carl XVI Gustaf. Queen Silvia originally worked as an interpreter before she met the King at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich. Needless to say, there is no reason a princess should not be able to marry a commoner if a prince or king can.

The Swedish Royal Court bestowed Daniel Westling with the title Hans Kunglig Höghet Prins Daniel av Sverige, Hertig av Västergötland (His Royal Highness Prince Daniel of Sweden, Duke of Västergötland).

Here are a few news articles summarising the wedding:

Personally, as the monarch is meant to represent the people, I see no problem with Victoria’s marriage. We all ideally want to marry for love, so why should our representative have to do otherwise? Most Swedes I know have no problem with whom Victoria married, merely that the tax payers picked up the bill for the immaculate wedding. That, however, is a topic for another day!

I only wish Victoria and Daniel a happy life together. Länge leve brudparet!

References

  1. Royal Wedding Stockholm 2010-Slottsbacken-05. Digital image. Wikimedia Commons. 19 June 2010. Web. 21 June 2010. <http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Royal_Wedding_Stockholm_2010-Slottsbacken-05.jpg (external link)>.

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