In 1974 an anti-nobility law was passed in the Swedish government which barred Royal Orders (aka knighthoods) from being conferred onto Swedish subjects. Foreigners could still be knighted; no, I can’t make it make sense. After decades of handing out top honors to the rest of the world, Sweden recently passed a new law so that her own citizens can once again be named to one of the Orders of the Seraphim, Sword, Polar Star, or Vasa. (Sidenote: these order names are so much better than England’s ‘Order of the Garter,’ which sounds like an uptight lingerie party.) And so last Friday in Stockholm the members of ABBA became the first Swedes in 50 years to be named to the Order of the Vasa by King Carl XVI Gustaf. The history book on the shelf is always repeating itself!
The winners take it all: The pop legends were recognised by King Carl XVI Gustaf on Friday for their cultural impact, which has taken Swedish pop music to a huge global audience. The group — Benny Andersson, Agnetha Fältskog, Anni-Frid Lyngstad and Björn Ulvaeus — made a rare public appearance together in Stockholm where they were given the Royal Order of Vasa for “outstanding efforts in Swedish and international music”. Sweden stopped awarding royal orders to its citizens in 1975, but continued to award royal orders to foreigners. However, the country’s parliament reinstated the practice in 2022, and Friday’s ceremony marked the first time the orders had been awarded to Swedes in half a century.
Where they play the right music: Abba are still one of the biggest pop acts in the world, even though they have not played live since appearing on Noel Edmonds’ The Late, Late Breakfast Show on the BBC in 1982. … They have sold more than 400m albums and singles and were the first Swedes to clinch a Eurovision victory, while digital versions of the group, known as “Abbatars”, are playing to sold-out crowds in London as part of Abba Voyage. The show, which plays in a purpose-built venue in east London’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, took seven years and $175m to develop, with more than 1 million people having bought tickets since its launch.
Here we go again: Abba’s popularity was rekindled by the Mamma Mia! musical and subsequent film adaptation, which introduced the group’s music to new generations. The Abba name is still a huge draw and in January this year Andersson and Ulvaeus shared in a dividend of nearly £1m after a surge in profits at the production company behind the Mamma Mia! stage musical and film adaptations. Andersson, Lyngstad and Ulvaeus attended the first anniversary of the Abba Voyage show in east London but quickly dismissed rumours of a reunion for this year’s Eurovision, which marked 50 years since their breakout win in 1974 with Waterloo.
Oh by the way, some Nobel prize winners were honored too: In total, 13 Swedes were honoured at the ceremony at the Royal Palace in Stockholm, including two Nobel prize winners: the geneticist Svante Pääbo and the French-Swedish physicist Ann L’Huillier.
Congrats to the baker’s dozen of Swedes who were singled out for the momentous occasion! (And yes, I had to include the mention of the geneticist and physicist, because the way The Guardian tagged it on at the end like a throwaway line just cracked me up.) Whether you’re a fan of pop/disco music or not (I’m a fan!), ABBA’s reach across the globe would make any nation proud. But I also have a theater geek lurking inside me, so I cannot miss this opportunity to say: when are we getting a Chess movie?! Or at least a revival?! I cannot be the only one out there yearning to see a 2-3 hour musical about chess grandmasters, set against the backdrop of Cold War era US vs USSR tensions? And even if I am, take a chance on me! (Nope, not sorry, had to do it. Ba ba ba ba baa, ba ba ba ba baa…)
Photos via Instagram. Frontpage photo is a screenshot from YouTube
“The history book on the shelf is always repeating itself!”
I see what you did there! I’ll be singing that song all afternoon now
Waterloo is my favorite of all their songs!
Waterloo is fantastic. Will always remember the importance of ABBA music in Muriel’s Wedding with 2 very exceptional actress Toni Collete & Rachel Griffiths. Great movie. My older siblings showing me the greatness of ABBA way before Muriel’s Wedding. Thank you. A few other faves: Thank You For the Music & Fernando. My personal ultimate, the one I may have listened to countless times sitting on my bedroom floor as a teenager who didn’t feel so great about herself or life (along with Howard Jones Life Can Only Get Better & No One Is to Blame), depression.
It would be awesome for tik tok influencers? is that the right wording? made the song popular again. Just coming from my remembered youth. Chiquitita. It really is a song for teenagers battling whatever is going on in their heads. I just know that around the 1:40 mark, I would perk up, listen to the end and then become the girl who chose to dance in her bedroom to Dancing Queen playing in the background.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9Y3N_2xUsw
Sing a new song Chiquitita!
Thank you Kismet. For more reasons than you’ll know. Go ABBA!
‘Uptight lingerie party’ LMAO
Fan or no fan, they objectively deserved this honor for the way they hugely influenced pop music and stage shows.
So good of the Swedish parliament to reinstate this way of acknowledging their citizens.
ABBA is truly iconic.
I want the backstory on how this law came about! Something interesting must have happened to necessitate removing the ability from the monarchy to honor its own citizens. Only foreigners were knighted for 50 years? Huh.
Definitely an anti-monarchist/anti-nobility/”modernization” movement of the 1970s. Carl Gustaf inherited from his grandfather who was quite elderly. From what I understand, he was treading very carefully lest the govt decide they wanted to be a republic and put him out of a job.
At the start, he wasn’t even allowed to grant orders to Swedish members of the royal family. His wife and his aunt by marriage were able to be granted orders because they were German and British nationals respectively before marrying in. The government relented by the time that Crown Princess Victoria turned 18.
eta: with his grandchildren, Carl Gustaf has presented “The Order of the Seraphim” to them at their baptisms, putting a wee baby sash on them.
Why just citizens of Sweden? I would think if you were trying to kneecap a monarchy (ahem, England, you should definitely do this, bags of cash and all…), you would take away their ability to give honors to foreigners, since that’s obviously how the really lucrative part of the grift works.
Yes, they truly deserve it! My mum was surprised when she found an Abba CD in my car years ago, because she thought of it as her generation’s music. It was of course, but they’ve had a big impact on later generations as well.
I cried like a baby when their reunion album came out.
I love CHESS! I saw the original London production, and I’ve seen several revivals since then. I’m amazed that we haven’t had a CHESS movie.
I’m here for the Chess! It’s been heavy in my Spotify rotation for the last few months. I yearn to see a live concert.
This is grest for all of them good news!
Nothing particularly scandalous, this law was just 1 of a group of laws formally removing any power remaining with the monarch. Faced with increasing republican sentiment in Sweden the SRF decided the best way forward was to legally handover to the government all the power and authority the monarch traditionally didn’t exercise but still held.
Someone just pointed out to me that the Swedish national day (Sweden Day?) is June 6: that’s this Thursday/ in a couple of days. Maybe ABBA will be in the news again soon.
Well deserved. They’re living legends and their influence on pop music is still felt to this day … not to mention the fact that they basically created the industry juggernaut that is Swedish pop. They walked so Max Martin could run.
LOVE how in the individual pics with the Swedish king and queen, the courtier at the door is smiling 🥰
ABBA makes everyone happy 🎊🥳🎉
Ah such great memories. First album I bought was “ABBA – The Album” in 1978. Voulez-vous came out the next year and I remember listening to it over and over in the basement with my friends.
They also wrote ”
dancing Queen” for the current Swedish Queen Sillvia, and played it before her marriage to King Carl Gustav, so there’s that
Ok well that’s a fantastic bit of pop trivia. Thank you!