Yesterday was Sweden’s National Day, so we have a slew of new royal photos from all of the appearances and events. Princess Victoria is one of my favorite royals, and her husband Prince Daniel was there, and they brought out their daughter Princess Estelle, who is second in line to the Swedish throne. Estella is all of 16 months old, and she has a little white bow, a stuffed lion, a traditional Swedish dress and an adorably grumpy, inquisitive face. Princess Estelle isn’t playing, y’all. She’s ready to rule this bitch.
One-year-old Princess Estelle looked adorable today as she joined her mother, Crown Princess Victoria, and father, Prince Daniel, at a celebration of Swedish National Day. The toddler, who is second in line to the throne, carried a crown-wearing toy lion as the royal family paraded through Stockholm and opened the Royal Palace to the public.
All eyes were on the mother-and-daughter pair, who coordinated in white ensembles – Estelle in a sailor outfit, and Princess Victoria in a flattering and figure-hugging white sheath dress. The Princesses were accompanied by Prince Daniel – formerly Daniel Westling – who married Victoria in 2010.
He looked on as his gorgeous 35-year-old wife addressed the public with baby Estelle in arms, who couldn’t help fidgeting during the speech. Truly the doting father, the Prince – who first met Princess Victoria in 2002 when he was her personal trainer – was also seen giving his daughter a loving kiss on the cheek.
Prior to the official event, the family, including King Carl Gustaf and Queen Silvia, donned traditional Swedish garb as they paraded through the city in a carriage. The official event comes just days before the wedding of Princess Madeleine, Victoria’s younger sister, to New York financier Christopher O’Neill on Saturday.
It will be the first royal wedding in the family since Princess Victoria and her former personal trainer exchanged vows in June 2010.
Mr Westling grew up in a middle-class family in the village of Ockelbo, in central Sweden. Once his relationship with the princess became public, Mr Westling was mocked as an outsider for having a country accent. But the moment he said ‘I do’ in the afternoon ceremony, the gym owner became Duke of Vastergotland and a prince for life – endowed with his own coat of arms and monogram. The royal couple welcomed Estelle, their first and only child thus far, in February 2012.
Are you enjoying the not-so-subtle shade The Mail is throwing at the Swedish royals? Personally, I don’t think the British people have anything to be snooty about when they’re comparing their royal family to other royal houses. I adore Victoria and Daniel. I think they’re a lovely couple and they seem like they are very much in love. They seem devoted to their family and they are not as work-shy as some young royals from other houses.
I’m also including some pics of Princess Madeleine, her fiancé and Victoria and Maddy’s brother Prince Carl-Phillip. Is it just me or is Carl-Phillip bringing some BEARD REALNESS? God, he looks like Henry Cavill. Which is to say, HOT.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
Yes, wave and applause.. but remember.. I am serious baby.. seriously..
Haha, I already love her! 😉
earlier in the week, the Court took a picture of Estelle running in the park of Haga Palace with a huge laugh.
http://www.kungahuset.se/kungafamiljen/aktuellahandelser/aktuellt2013apriljuni/nationaldagshalsningfranhagaslott.5.4ea495e313c19c119aa6abd.html
i think that she has just used her quota of smiles and sunshine for the week to make that picture. 🙂
she is seriously serious!
That baby is beyond adorable and the outfits put it over the top for me. Her serious face matches her father. And she looks tickled pink to have her daughter and husband.
I’m guilty of that mom smile too. As if smiling extra big will get your serious baby to smile, lol. Totally guilty. I look like an idiot in so many pics.
I love it! I saw that first picture and thought of Grumpy Cat’s “No.” meme.
My thought was that she’s the new Grumpy Cat. She’s going to really get a laugh some day when she looks at herself in those pictures. Hopefully.
I love it how grumpy/annoyed she is. She looks quite happy in the other pics, so I assume she’s not feeling the yellow/blue outfit. Haha
Oh please the British Royals are nouveau riche in comparsion to other royal families. The Windsors are on the throne since Queen Victoria and that’s barely 200 years.
But all the royal families are related to the “godfather” of Europe aka Christian IV of Denmark (I think that’s his name – I watched a documentary series all about it with my mum haha)
The Bernadotte’s have ruled since 1818 and weren’t originally royals so they’re quite equal then with the Windsors, I guess?
CP’s hotness is kind of ruined by him dating a p0rn model. I like the rest of the family. Estelle is too cute and Vic and Dan make a cute couple.
The British Royal Family are descended from Alfred the Great. They do go though the female line sometimes. Victoria did not just come out of nowhere – she was the granddaughter of George III. George’s family, the House of Hanover were descended on the female line from James I, (Stuart kings), who were descended (female line) from the elder daughter of Henry VII, whose wife was the daughter of Edward IV (Plantagenets), who date back to Henry II, whose mother was the daughter of Henry I ( son of William the Conquerer, Norman kings) by his wife Edith of Scotland, who was daughter of Malcolm III of Scotland and his wife Queen Margaret. Margaret was the daughter of the Anglo Saxon (English)prince Edward the Exile and the granddaughter of Edmund Ironside, who was a king of the line of Wessex – the line of Alfred the Great.
So the current Royals are not newcomers. Unless you believe that children are only the children of their fathers and not their mothers.
The Swedish Royals are descended from Jean Baptiste Bernadotte, one of Napoleon’s Marshals.
And yes Estelle is a real cutie!
Wow! Great comment! I get so confused when it comes to how the Hanovers got involved and your take on the family tree makes it much easier to comprehend. I am incredibly impressed you can remember all that! Thanks!
And the baby is indeed adorable.
Hi Another K – thanks. To get more specific on the Hanovers- James I’s daughter Elizabeth had a daughter Sophia, who married the Elector of Hanover. When the Protestant Stuart line died out with Queen Anne in 1714, her son George became King of Great Britain. He was her closest Protestant relative in the royal line.
There were Catholics who were closer (including Anne’s half-brother James) but Parliament had excluded them from the throne.
I’m a real geek with this stuff 🙂
Justme, I truly appreciate your geekness! Would Anne’s brother James be the so-called “warming pan baby?”
Indexed he was, the “Old Pretender” in whose name the Jacobite uprising of 1715 was started. His son was the famous “Bonnie Prince Charlie” who raised the Jaobite Rebellion of 1745.
Charles of course died a hopeless alcoholic. His younger brother Henry became a Cardinal ( he was known in Jacobites as Henry Ix. Of course he died childless.
Estelle is so darn cute! And I love Victoria and Daniel, they seem like they are going last.
I agree, they are such a cute family
I really liking Prince Daniel now or the former Daniel Westling or whatever you want to call him. He apparently owned a few gyms as well as being a personal trainer (I heard), so he wasn’t a total wastling. And he appears to adore his wife and daughter who is a shade throwing marvel @ 18 months! If Victoria is happy, then that’s good enough for me. And I’m not even Swedish.
Unlike some new additions to the British Royals? *cough*
Are these royals better than British royals? Do they have any purpose? Do any royals have any purpose in the 21st century?
The baby is soooo cute.
Tourism? Plus, without the Queen, a series of deeply unpopular and totally useless Prime Ministers would have been our head of state.
Tony “lying, warmongering b*****d” Blair on the stamps?
*shudder*
I notice that gender equality in the Swedish royal family doesn’t extend to the men wearing traditional costumes!
Oh come on, you really think the Queen ( who I actually like) is the reason people visit Britain?
And Prime Ministers actually DO something, and they were elected and it wasn’t their birth right.
Dlisted has a bunch of pictures of the royal wedding in Sweden. Many of the men present are in ceremonial garb, matching that of their wives.
They have many purposes. The Swedish royal family work their asses off for this country. A few years ago, the Queen sat down with some brazilian CEO’s for a dinner and suddenly 60 swedes got employed through their investments.
The swedish royals are great for this nation and we truly need them. The PR they bring is also priceless.
I’m confused by the tone of your post. Is it snark or is it genuine admiration?
I have some 25ish year old Swedish friends who I’ve known for ages but only recently discovered that they’re both quite negative towards the Swedish royals.. Their argument is that Sweden prides itself on equality and this concept of “jantelagen” in which no one is better than anyone else and they just think it’s so ridiculous they can espouse these views and maintain a royal family. That having been said, I love royal families! It’s like a living history!! 😀
Well there’s a difference between disapproving of an institution vs disliking its members on a personal level. I always found them pretty warm and personable (esp Vic), maybe not quite as much as the Dutch royals, but much more so than the British.
There is absolutely no reason for royals to exist.
Meh, I think of them as essentially like any other celebrity. Yeah they got where they are via the Lucky Sperm Club but didn’t every actress who was born pretty, singer with a beautiful voice or sportsman who has perfect athletic genes?
It’s a diplomatic role without privacy and one which I don’t envy. I’d rather be an anonymous heiress.
Just my 2 cents.
Whenever someone makes an argument to banish a monarchy, I think back to a West Wing episode where one congresswoman proposed a bill to establish a monarchy in the US, because something like 70% of the presidential schedule is taken up by ceremonial duties – ribbon cutting, gala-hosting etc. You barely see someone like David Cameron making those appearances – instead the PMs are busy governing and legislating. Royal families have in a way become state employees, and while they are more than adequately compensated for their function (btw, most of the relatives outside of the core royal family are not taxpayer-supported), they also do more to promote their countries than an elected or appointed person would, based simply on who they are. And btw, at least in Europe all these countries have parliaments and referendums that could abolish those monarchies if the will of the people so decides.
Personally, I think that there are too many gala-hosting, ribbon-cutting events in general.
And I don’t get the whole “they promote their country” thing. Athletes, artists, scientists could do that. People with achievements. When I think of Sweden, or England, or The Netherlands, royals are not the first I think about.
@Spooks –
When I say ‘promote’ I mean it less in a ‘hey, they have a queen, let’s invest some money there!’ way and more in a ‘Queen Max spoke at X events, and met with X representatives to promote ABC initiatives .’ It’s everything from education to commerce to general diplomacy, not to mention charities.
I know what you meant, but I still think they’re useless and unnecessary.
Spooks- Maybe athletes have nothing better to do in the off season than promote, but please leave the scientists out of it! There is nothing about scientific education or experience that prepares a person for promotional duties. If we wanted to do that, we’d go into sales or diplomacy rather than science. Let us continue to do what we know about and where our interests and abilities lie! Which of course is a grand argument for royals in countries that already have them, although I think it’s cruddy to push a kid into it by birth. We really do need to separate functions more, and the habit in the US of expecting the wife of the President and other politicians to do all that stuff will backfire some day. Husbands of politicians seem to get a free pass to continue doing whatever they’re doing…
The same could be said of most elected politicians.
I didn’t mean scientist should actively promote their country, I meant that their work is a huge promotion by itself.
You shouldn’t take what negative things a Swede says about our royal family too seriously. I’m a Swede myself and trust me, most Swedes are extremely proud of their royals but we pretend otherwise in public…
I love that Sweden is a monarchy, even though we had to import a French career soldier to save our monarchy when Karl XIII didn’t produce an heir. I do however blame Jean-Baptiste for the questionable taste in partners the royal children exhibits. M is marrying a wall street w-nker today, V fell for her trainer and CP is living with a p0rn model. Well, at least they’re not inbreeding…
Estelle is the most serious Royal ever. She makes Queen EII look like a giggly airhead.
that eyebrow is severe.. these are adorable pictures though.
So right!
Cute baby and hoootttt brother!
Cute baby. But you can’t really compere one Royal Family to another you will find the British Royals do way more engagements then any others no matter what the rank. The european royals are more relaxed. Love the baby she isn’t smiling for anyone. LOL
Well it all depends on how you count engagements, the British royals count each stop in a day as a different engagement, other royal houses tend to count each day of work as one engagement.
He was mocked for his country accent? What is this, high school?
And what is it with you British people and obsession with accents?
I hope some Brit answers this because it is fascinating to me the snobbery that arises from someone’s speech patterns or their voice.
iirc, the people who mocked him were Victoria’s so-called high society friends (the Stureplan gangs, or whatever, named after an area of rich/uppercrust people). they’re like: oh he’s a child of the forests etc etc.
ha! who had the last laugh then, when he stood there and delivered one of the best groom’s speech i’ve ever heard, in front of so many VVIPs without notes and no stumbling. it’s like an effective “middle finger” to all those snooty upperclass people.
nevermind that the whole Westling family (the whole town even!) imho is classier than them or most. Prince Daniel’s parents are upstanding and carries themselves with dignity. the whole town rallie around the family and PROTECTS them. 10 years of dating, and almost no “sources say this sources say that” “mama says this papa says that”. none. the press hated Daniel because he, his family, and his townspeople never played ball.
i guess Estelle won’t play ball too.
his speech was sooooo sweet and perfect! Everyone could see he loves Victoria dearly and she loves him. Best Royal Wedding ever! Total emotional. Just beautiful!
Look at the little bow with the tiny fountain of hair! What a gorgeous little tot. And family. And the hot brother.
Carl Phillip is very handsome, though.
I am TOTALLY seeing the Henry Cavill thing now! Wish I could un-read the post.
I love baby Estella’s look of dignified outrage in the first pic and her imperious hand waving in another. “Please, people, enough of this frivolity- this is a serious occasion!”
No judgement on Daniel for having been a personal trainer/gym owner. At least he worked for a living and did something productive and helpful with his time, like helping people be healthy. Unlike some royal consorts who shall remain nameless who did nothing for 10 years but party.
Anyone I know? (lol)
That kid is hilarious in those photos.
CP Victoria and Prince Daniel are my favorite royals. I love little Estelle. She is so cute and usually looks a like a happy a baby maybe shes just tired/grumpy on that day. Her dad looks tired too so maybe neither of them got much sleep the night before. Anyway, I love their costumes but I wish the men would dress up too and Carl Phillip is hot.
It was my understanding that her husband, Prince Daniel, actually owned several gyms. Is this true?
He probably trained her personally because she was the Princess (plus she was adorable and single).
Yes, he owned a chain of gyms with 100 employees and 5000 members. He met Victoria in one of the gyms first and they started dating after some time. The were able to hide the relationship for about a year.
Plus, he apparently helped her overcome an eating disorder. So instead of encouraging her to become a skeleton like some other royal partners *coughWillycough* he encouraged her to gain weight and be healthier.
He’s a total doll, IMO. And, OMG, his wedding speech, I watched it in Swedish (which I don’t speak) and still teared up. The love and support between them is really clear. I’m just sad he has a health problem (kidney disease?? and I think that’s why he often looks “tired”) – hopefully he’ll be okay in the long run though!
Daniel got a transplant a year before the wedding, that’s why he will be on drugs all his life, and those meds don’t come without serious side effects.
Never understood why people had problems with him. He was a boy from a tiny forest village. He worked hard as personal trainer and became the chef of his own studios. That´s impressive! He´s super!
I think he wasn’t even her personal trainer at first. She just went to the gym (imagine William going to the gym together with commoners…), they met and he started to be her personal trainer after some time.
That’s the best part of their story imho: He was not her personal trainer in the castle, but the next queen of Sweden went to a gym, met a guy there, liked him and now they are married. I don’t care if that’s not “royal” enough for the british press, but I like this love story much more than the long wait of Duchess Kate…
@ EllaM the British are quite fast at turning their noses, but ya know, people with glass ceilings shouldn’t throw stones. The Middletons, UGh… air steward (former, whatever), and whatever Waity’s dad did… well, they’ll be the grandparents of their future monarch haha.
Best.Karma.Ever.
ahahahahahahah that baby isn’t buying any of this! I love the shot (#7) of her mother with the big smile and her with the suspicious knitted brows!
I do love the one where her head is tilted back and chin jutted out.I feel a grumpy baby meme coming on.
Are you covering Madeleine`s wedding on Saturday?
She’s adorably grumpy.
Love Victoria & Daniel.
The DM worships at the altar of the Laziest Duchess of all Time. They can’t judge or throw shade at anyone.
Exactly. And the European royals have far more pizazz than the stodgy Brits. Pure jealousy there!
I am a royaloonie who thinks the institution is absurd but loves following the individuals. And this is one of my favorite royal families – and probably the best looking of the bunch.
I love Swedes and all things Scandanavian!
But poor Queen Silvia – she was so so beautiful when she was young – and now she is so pulled and tucked she is almost unrecognizable.
“Royaloonie!” Love it! 🙂
Am I the only one who thinks Princess Estelle looks so much like Prince Daniel in these pics? She’s adorable.
The current Swedish royals aren’t even from royalty. The original Swedish bloodline died out in the 1800s and the royal family was given to a commoner (who was given nobility titles by Napoleon). Useless people anyway. What civilized, industrialized, progressive nation actually entertains a monarchy? So backwards.
A modern constitutional monarchy is not backwards as it has a division of powers and the monarch is only head of state with mostly representative duties. Just have a look at Belarus or several countries in Africa, where the head of state is a “democratic elected” president who acts like a dictator. How is that more “modern” then the constitutional monarchy in the UK? Tradition doesn’t have to mean that something is backwards…
Monarchs are strong representatives of their countries or does anybody of you know any head of state outside your country, who is not also head of the government, like Obama? The only one I know would be Putin and that’s it. Al the other bland men and women with no real powers are not as interesting as kings and queens…
What do you mean “aren’t even from royalty”? You can say that about any royal house — they all started off as nobility at one point. Princess Victoria of Sweden is related to one of the oldest dynasties in Sweden, the house of Vasa, and actually also the first King of Sweden, Eric the Victorious, who ruled Sweden from the year 970 to 995.
http://www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/kolumnister/hermanlindqvist/article12261827.ab
Prince Carl-Phillip’s doppelgänger is Orlando Bloom, not Henry Cavill. IMHO
complete with a glamor model girlfriend!
plus the what-have-you-done-lately credentials!
they could’ve been twins in face and circumstance!
I didn’t realize till these pictures that Estella’s Uncle, Prince Carl Phillip, is a really hot looking guy. How come he never gets into the news like Prince Harry.
Without beard CarlPhilip looks like Orlando Bloom 🙂
http://younghotandroyal.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/cp-orlando2.jpg
The name’s misspelled in the title – it’s Estelle with an E, not Estella!
Estella is very cute. I never realized that Daniel had such big bags under his eyes.
That is some seriously great genetic material there.
There was a PBS documentary a few years back that showed all the royal families are connected through the Danish royal family.
yes, though ChristianIX (father-in-law of Europe). The most royals are descendants of him.
By the way, The Danish Monarchy is the oldest in Europe.
maddie’s fiance has a scary look in his eyes, always
Princess Estelle needs to marry Louis Bullock when she grows up and they can create an entire family of epic baby side-eyes. Zahara Jolie-Pitt will be everyone’s godmother.
So wait… she married the help? I’ll be nice – at least he’s bringing good looking genes into the family? SMH.
Who are you talking about? Her husband was a successful businessman who didn’t work for the royal family. He did eventually become her personal trainer, but he still had his gym, at least up until their engagement.
I’m all for a little snark but it has to be rooted in some sort of reality.
Victoria is one of my favorite royals. I’d like to see the 200 or so people ahead of her for the British throne abdicate so she can take that throne too.
As for the baloney that royal families are good for tourism — only the royals themselves would argue that. Who visits Japan simply because Japan still has an imperial family? Nobody that I know. And in 2011, Buckingham Palace had a record-breaking 600,000 visitors (and that number was so large only because of the wedding hoopla). By comparison, Versailles has 5 MILLION visitors every year, and France doesn’t have a monarchy.
If anything, getting rid of the monarchy may INCREASE tourism because the palaces can then be opened to the public. The main reason a monarchy benefits tourism is so tourists can visit palaces. Yet no new palaces are being built, and I think there would be a huge public outcry if new ones were proposed. So really, there’s no reason to continue to have the monarchy. At least the “it benefits tourism” is a sham argument.
Is there any online live stream of Princess Madeleine’s marriage, tomorrow?
Yes, you can watch the live stream here:
http://www.svt.se/prinsessbrollopet/
Oh, thanks so much livingdots!
GOD, this little girl! What a total sweetheart 🙂 As for the rest of the Swedish royals, I really like everything I’ve learned about them up until this point: They live in normal homes-not palaces-once they reach adulthood; they’re all expected to get real, FULL-TIME jobs once they’ve graduated from college; they all seem endlessly kind and you never ever hear anything remotely bad or scandalous about them *cough, the Windsors, cough*
As for Victoria & Daniel, I ADORE them and, as Wendy Williams would say, “love their love.” They’re living, breathing proof that being a royal does not mean you have to be stodgy and dull and avoid appearing like a normal human being at all costs. Whenever I see pics of them together they’re always smiling ear to ear, cuddling and kissing (whether at official engagements or not)! Now that ‘s real love y’all 😀
Correct me if i’m wrong, but Her husband isn’t so much her Former Personal Trainer as he was a Gym Entrepreneur and owned several gyms, No? If i’m wrong then fine. If i’m right I wonder why the DM can’t just let it go. Their coverage is so slanted I feel like I should automatically question why they are covering certain items and why they’re so negative and positive. When did the news become more opinion based and not fact based?
Patrice above me. There is real love there and that’s what it looks like. WW bugs me to death, but “Love their love” is so fitting those pics makes me smile.
Why just the ladies in dress?? Doesn’t seem fair.
She’s like “I’m over this s***, Imma be head you all when I’m Queen!”
He was here personal trainer because she was the Princess, but he was also the owner of a chain of gyms where the famous and prospirant.
Ooooh, the baby was so cute during the wedding. I particularly liked when she decided she needed to be up front too when her mom did the reading and also loved when she decided that she wanted her mom’s necklace…what a cutie. She is going to rule the world…And despite some initial misgivings about the groom, he appears very much in love with the bride.
Been wondering what Moe Berg of TPOH has been up to these days – good on him for marrying a Princess 🙂
Why are the women wearing traditional clothing and the men are in suits? Is there not a traditional male costume?
Baby Estelle’s expression reminds me of a family picture my parents tried to take with my sister and I when we were young. That picture now graces our family room and honest to God, my sister is making the VERY SAME expression as Estelle! Though she is not as young, maybe around 2 years old. We were not cooperating that day with the photographer–I look less than thrilled too. Can’t get little kids to perform on cue!