The birthday celebrations for Sweden’s future monarch looked very different this year as Crown Princess Victoria turned 43 without the usual public events that mark her big day. The coronavirus pandemic meant that the popular gathering at Solliden in Sweden, where the Crown Princess and her family greet wellwishers, couldn’t take place. However, celebrations still continued.
The day began with the Swedish Royal Family sharing a video birthday message from Victoria while in Stockholm, at 21 gun salute was fired at Skeppsholmen with similar tributes taking place at Kungshall in Karlskrona, Skansen Lejonet in Gothenburg, Kusthöjden in Härnösand and Kvarnängen in Boden.
Victoria’s children, Princess Estelle and Prince Oscar, are usually the stars of the show when the Swedish Royal Family meets crowds at Solliden for the birthday of the heir to the throne. Although that couldn’t happen this year, the young princess and prince still joined their mother and their father, Prince Daniel, for a photocall at the royal summer home.
Victoria couldn’t spend her special day with her parents because of the isolation measures still in place because of the pandemic.
[getty src=”1227111717″ width=”594″ height=”396″ tld=”co.uk”]However, she was able to celebrate with her brother, Prince Carl Philip, and her sister-in-law, Princess Sofia, who joined the Crown Princess, Daniel and Estelle for the traditional open air concert that takes place every year to mark the royal birthday.
The setting was the castle ruins at Borgholm with the royals standing in family groups with social distancing as they posed for photographers.
The concert featured music from stars including Ann Sofie von Otter and Linnéa Henriksson. The Crown Princess also presented the Victoria Prize which has been handed out on her birthday every year since 1979 to mark sporting achievement. This year’s winner is Swedish-American pole vaulter, Armand Duplantis.
Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden was born on July 14th 1977.
