Sweden and the Swedish Royal Family celebrated the 41st birthday of Crown Princess Victoria yesterday at Solliden Palace and Borgholm’s sports venue. Each year Victoriadagen (Victoria Day) is observed in Sweden in honour of their future monarch.
As is tradition, the day kicked off with the festivities at Solliden Palace. Crown Princess Victoria greeted the assembled crowds and received gifts from the public with King Carl XVI Gustaf, Queen Silvia, Prince Daniel, Princess Estelle and Prince Oscar in attendance. One of the many gifts she received was a portrait painting by Ukrainian artist Sergey. Over 3,000 people had gathered to wish Her Royal Highness a happy birthday, and the King led the crowd in three cheers for his oldest child.
A salute was held at noon in Stockholm from Skeppsholmen and other places throughout Sweden.
Celebrations continued in the evening with the annual folk festival at Borgholm’s sports venue. Alongside the King, Queen and Crown Princess Family (minus two-year-old Prince Oscar), Prince Carl Philip, Princess Sofia, Princess Madeleine and Chris O’Neill were also in attendance. The royals arrived in horseback carriage as they do each year. Peter Jöback, Alexander Rybak, Jessica Andersson, John Lundvik, Emmi Christensson, Nova Miller and Kalle Moraeus all participated in the festivities.
The Victoria Scholarship is handed out each year to a sportsperson who has performed great athletics over the past year. This year’s winner was Olympian skier Stina Nilsson who competed in the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea. There she won gold in the sprint, silver in the relay and sprint and bronze in 30 km cross-country skiing.
Earlier in the day, a new photograph of the Crown Princess was released by the Royal Court, taken by Linda Broström.