One royal family has embraced the tacky Christmas trend as they made their final preparations for the season.
Norway’s future king even put aside the traditional regal suit and tie to get ready for the holidays in an ugly Christmas sweater.
Crown Prince Haakon gets full marks for his Gen X take on the festivities as he was seen decorating the tree in a jumper with a huge Santa on the front.
It’s a full on Christmas sweater with the Santa against an eye watering red and black check motif.
The Crown Prince, 52, was clearly loving this year’s trend for a 90s Christmas where the old decorations are dusted down and everything looks thrown together. However, he took a Gen Z lead to show off his efforts, adding a reel to the Norwegian royal Instagram feed complete with Christmas music playing in the background.
His family trimmed their tree with a mish mash of decorations that have clearly been kept over the years including a sparkly party hat shaped bauble and a strange little Santa figure that’s been loved through the decades. There were also plenty of glitterball baubles and decorations with extra sparkle to keep the tacky Christmas theme going.
While it didn’t quite look like Christmas had thrown up in their palace, the end result was a long way from the usual uniform collection of red, gold and green baubles or neat strings of off white lights that trim most regal trees. And just to add the final 90s touch, these royals didn’t decorate their tree until the final Sunday before Advent, rejecting the 2020s push to get the decs up earlier every year.
There was, however, a nod to their royal past as instead of tinsel, they had a garland of Norwegian flags with what appeared to be black and white photos of past princes and princesses to wrap around the middle of the fir tree. And it kept with another of the 2025 Christmas trends – enjoying the memories and feelings that reverting to the 90s for your festive celebrations invokes.
The future king’s family didn’t follow his ugly Christmas sweater lead. His wife, Crown Princess Mette-Marit, chose a rather elegant fir green jumper for the event while their son, Prince Sverre Magnus, went the way of all 20 year olds and chose jeans with a plain sweater. His sister, 21 year old Princess Ingrid Alexandra, had an on trend winter white sweater with blue snowflake motif for the occasion.
However, Sverre, had already snuck a novelty Christmas twist into the official Norwegian royal Christmas photo. As he joined his grandparents, King Harald and Queen Sonja, for the portrait, the third in line to the throne went off script with his outfit.
While the King and Queen of Norway looked the picture of elegance as they sat on gilded chairs in front of a picture perfect Christmas tree, their only grandson took things his own way. Sverre added a novelty Christmas tie to the mix, setting the tone for the later dive into 90s nostalgia led by his dad.
Royal nods to festive dressing are usually just that – royal. We might get a red or green tie from the men and perhaps a ruby or emerald brooch from the women in the run up. For major Christmas events, it’s perhaps a red coat or green dress for the queens and princesses and, well, a red or green tie for the kings and princes. This year, two princes have decided to embrace the latest tacky trend and we all like them just a little bit more for it.
