Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden showed there’s no such thing as hard and fast royal protocol as she made a surprising decision for her latest gala appearance.
Victoria, 48, wore one of her country’s highest honours in a very unusual way and all in the name of style.
The heir to the throne had chosen to fully embrace the trend for 90s vintage at his year’s prestigious Nobel Prize ceremony in Stockholm.
The Crown Princess appeared in a monochrome dress that belongs to her mum, Queen Silvia, and her pick meant that her special honour had to go fully versatile.
As the dress is completely strapless, Victoria had to wear her sash for the Order of the Seraphim across her bare shoulders and underneath the bodice.
The pale blue sash disappeared into the dress – usually it is worn over a gown and finishes at the waist.
However, this on trend 1990s creation meant that the woman who will one day be in charge of the Order of the Seraphim had to start shaking up its rules before she’s even queen.
The dress was first seen in 1994 and was designed by Jacques Zehnder.
Victoria wore it with a diamond fringe tiara that had first belonged to Queen Sofia of Sweden.
Queen Silvia also made her own fashion statement at the banquet which took place at Stockholm’s Radhus. The Swedish queen chose a bright yellow dress which she also wore to the Golden Jubilee celebrations of her husband, King Carl XVI Gustaf, in September 2023.
(Sara Friberg/Kungl. Hovstaterna)
For the banquet, held on a chilly Stockholm evening, she added a bright green scarf around her shoulders. Danish paper, Billed-Bladet, speculated that Queen Silvia might be giving a nod to the colours of the flag of Brazil – her mother, Alice, was Brazilian.
The Queen of Sweden wore one of her favourite tiaras, an all diamond diadem that finishes in ”prongs”.
Princess Madeleine, Victoria’s younger sister, went full princess mode for this year’s Nobel gala, wearing an ice blue gown with a sequinned cape top. It matched her favourite tiara, an aquamarine kokoshnik, to perfection. She was accompanied by her husband, Christopher O’Neill.
Prince Carl Philip, only son of King Carl Gustaf and Queen Silvia, and one time heir to the throne was also present. However, his wife, Princess Sofia, missed the event.
Sofia, who turned 41 just a few days ago, was said to be staying at home to look after the couple’s fourth child, Princess Ines, who is now ten months old.
However, in the hours before the banquet, it was reported that Sofia had once had links with Jeffrey Epstein. The Swedish royal palace then confirmed that she had met him several times while she was working as a glamour model before her relationship with Prince Carl Philip began.
The news came to light after emails were leaked showing that Sofia had a connection to the convicted sex offender via a mutual contact, Barbro Ehnbom, who introduced her to Epstein in New York in 2005, three years before he was convicted.
The correspondence from Barbro Ehnbom described Sofia, then aged 21, as an ”aspiring actress’;. It also says that Ehnbom had mentioned Sofia to Epstein before. He then offered to send Sofia a ticket to travel to his now notorious private island in the Caribbean but she refused it.
In its statement, the Swedish royal court said that Sofia had met ”the person in question” on ”a few occasions” in 2005. It also added that she ”has not had any contact with the person in question for 20 years”. Jeffrey Epstein was found dead in his prison cell in 2019.
Princess Sofia’s links to Epstein were revealed just weeks after Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor lost his royal titles over his own connections to him. King Charles removed his brother’s HRH and Prince and had his titles of Duke of York, Earl of Inverness and Baron Killyleagh struck from the Roll of Peerage after further controversy.
Andrew Mountbatten Windsor’s connections with Epstein spanned many years. The former prince also faced accusations from Virginia Giuffre that she was forced to have sex with him when she was just 17 years old. He has always denied those allegations although he settled a legal case with Ms Guiffre out of court.
The Swedish Royal Family turned out in force for the Nobel Prize ceremony and following banquet.
