King of Sweden celebrates 80th birthday surrounded by royalty

The King of Sweden marked his 80th birthday with a day of celebrations including a glittering gala dinner attended by royalty from around the world.

Carl XVI Gustaf welcomed kings, queens, princes and princesses to the royal palace in Stockholm as he marked his milestone birthday.

Birthday celebrations had already taken place in the weeks before April 30, the day Sweden’s king turned 80, and the day itself was packed with more festivities.

On the morning of the big day, King Carl Gustaf was joined by his family for a special church service. The Te Deum, held at the Royal Palace Chapel, also brought together other royal guests including the King and Queen of Denmark, the King and Queen of Norway as well as the King and Queen of Thailand.

However, it was the nine grandchildren of King Carl Gustaf and Queen Silvia who stole the show as the celebrations began.

The youngest of them, Princess Ines, was the centre of attention during the service. The fourteen month old was cradled by her father, Prince Carl Philip, while her big brothers showered her with attention. At one point, Queen Mary of Denmark was seen smiling and gesturing to the little princess who was born in February 2025.

The eldest of the grandchildren of the King and Queen of Sweden, Princess Estelle, also took a lead role in the celebrations. The 14 year old walked into church behind her mother, Crown Princess Victoria, who was dressed in military uniform for the event, as were her father and brother.

During the service, specially composed music was played including the appropriately named Te Deum op. 80 by Michael Waldenby.

Following the church service, the King of Sweden continued a popular birthday tradition by heading to the Outer Courtyard of the Royal Palace for a military salute and musical tribute. This short ceremony, held every year on his birthday, is also the moment that wellwishers hand over their own gifts, often bunches of flowers. As usual, there were plenty of young people who wanted to celebrate the royal birthday and King Carl Gustaf spent some time chatting with them as they presented him with flowers and homemade crowns.

Meanwhile, Princess Ines stole the show again as she watched from the balcony along with her mum, Princess Sofia, making a first public appearance with the whole Swedish royal family since she was named in the Epstein files.

Princess Estelle, who is a godmother to Ines, helped out with duties and was seen cuddling the toddler as the military tribute playd out beneath them

But as this was the king’s 80th birthday, a bigger public tribute followed. The King of Sweden headed out on to the balcony terrace of the Royal Palace for some more special music and celebrations. He was joined by many of his royal guests for this first big set piece of the birthday.

Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands, 88, was among the first to appear for this part of the celebrations, along with Margareta, the Custodian of the Crown of Romania. King Harald of Norway, 89, and Queen Sonja, 88, were also there along with Queen Margrethe of Denmark, who turned 86 just weeks earlier.

Choirs and bands gave special musical performances for King Carl XVI Gustaf while the celebrations were rounded off by a military flypast.

There was a stylish nod to the 80th celebrations as the King and Queen of Sweden headed to Stockholm City Hall for a lunch to mark the occasion. They arrived in a Volvo PV60 made in 1946, the year Carl Gustaf was born.

However, the centre piece of the day was the gala dinner held at the Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts and Sciences, as dusk fell. White tie and tiaras dominated with some of the most famous jewels in Europe making an appearance at this huge gathering of royals.

Queen Silvia wore the star piece in the Swedish vaults, the Braganza tiara, which only comes out for really special occasions. The diadem, made of diamonds shaped into flowers, weighs around 3kg and was originally created for an empress. Its first owner was Empress Amelie of Brazil who passed the tiara to her sister, Queen Josephine of Sweden. It has been one of the country’s most important royal jewels ever since.

She had been sharing royal history notes with the Queen of Norway who wore one of her most famous tiaras, made of emeralds, which is also believed to have belonged at some point to Empress Amelie whose own royal life was far more dramatic and included exile.

Meanwhile, Queen Mary of Denmark pulled a jewel surprise and wore a new tiara. Mary had dived into her own royal history to create the piece, taking a diamond bracelet belonging to Queen Louisa of Denmark who had been consort in the 19th century. The piece had been used as a necklace before but Mary had it transformed into a diadem for the night. There was also a nod to her hosts in her pick as Louisa had inherited the piece from her mother, who had been Queen of Norway and Sweden.

The Swedish royals celebrated the 80th birthday of Carl Gustaf with an historic photo, with the King of Sweden sat in the middle of his many royal guests. The roll of royals had expanded by the evening with Queen Sofia of Spain, King Philippe and Queen Mathilde of the Belgians and the new Grand Duke and Grand Duchess of Luxembourg also joining the party.

There was another very special guest as Princess Estelle, second in line to the throne, attended her first gala dinner.

During the banquet, Crown Princess Victoria led tributes to her father, in a speech in which she paid tribute to his devotion to Sweden – he became heir to the country’s throne in 1950, the year he turned four. He has now reigned for 52 years, the longest tenure of any monarch in Swedish history. Crown Princess Victoria said ”Serving Sweden has been, and is, not only your life’s work, but your calling.”

The King of Sweden placed his milestone birthday in context as he recalled his own links to the past. He told his guests that ”the other day it struck me that as a child I was sitting on the lap of King Gustaf V, who in turn was sitting on the lap of Queen Desirée, consort of King Karl XIV Johan – the first Bernadotte on the throne of Sweden. When I thought about time in this way, I also became aware of my own journey.”

The birthday celebrations brought a big wave of public support for Sweden’s royals and the party is set to continue as King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia plan big events to mark their golden wedding anniversary in the summer. It will also mark 50 years since Silvia became Queen of Sweden and she has gone on to become the longest serving consort in the country’s history.