Saturday, June 8, 2013

The Swedish Wedding

Photo: Getty Images / Daylife
Princess Madeleine of Sweden, youngest child of King Carl XVI Gustav and Queen Silvia, married her British-American fiance Christopher O'Neill in Stockholm today. A lot has been said about the couple and the groom in particular over the past weeks and months but after seeing the wedding, there is no use denying how utterly smitten Chris is with his wife and how in love they are.

As Princess Madeleine is only a younger child of a reigning monarch, the event was a private affair, or as private as a royal wedding can be. Hence the royal guest list did not include any fellow heads of states and some European monarchies weren't present at all, one of them being Liechtenstein. Luckily for us, the Grand Ducal Family of Luxembourg and the Royal Family of Sweden do seem to share some personal friendships and the Hereditary Grand Duke and the Hereditary Grand Duchess were among the guests. 

Photos: Getty Images / Daylife



















While Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume was his usual dashing self in his gala uniform and the Order of the Gold Lion of the House of Nassau, Hereditary Grand Duchess Stéphanie wore a golden Elie Saab gown and a tiara belonging to the Grand Ducal collection (more on it in a bit) alongside of her hightest order, the Civil and Military Order of Merit of Adolphe of Nassau.

Maybe I'm my usual overly critical self - you can probably scratch the maybe - but I feel there is something off about Stéphanie's look, it's lovely but not stunning like last night. A few slight alterations, like a different neckline, would have done wonders methinks. Also, the tiara placement also was a little suboptimal, especially when viewing it from the front.

On a brighter note, I love how the new Hereditary Grand Duchess is digging in the Grand Ducal tiara vault! We have already seen her in four different tiaras including her own wedding and National Day Gala is just around the corner - if we don't get to see pictures this year, there is going to be a major fit, I tell you. While this is probably not the tiara that I would have chosen for her, it's nice to see one of the lesser known pieces getting dusted off every once in a while.

Photos: Cour grand-ducale / SIP / Luc Deflorenne / Place Royale / Profimedia














The tiara itself is a bit of a mystery... It seems to be made of either citrine or topaz and pearls. It's a rather small piece and thus fitting for today's occassion which was a rather small-ish royal affair. The tiara is part of a parure consisting of some major earrings - my earlobes start aching just looking at it - a necklace with three detachable pendants, bracelet, and brooch.

Not much known is about the parure's history, either. To the best of my knowledge, the tiara firstly [*] appeared on then Hereditary Grand Duchess Maria Teresa's head early in her marriage. It wasn't seen after this outing for quite a while and only resurfaced when it was worn by Princess Margaretha during her parents 1999 state visit to Belgium. It vanished once again until Princess Alexandra got it out of the vault for National Day in 2011. The Grand Duchess wore the tiara and bracelet for the state visit to Germany last year.

[* As Stefan of Royal Travel has kindly pointed out, the tiara and the necklace have also been worn by Grand Duchess Joséphine-Charlotte on a state visit to Italy in 1980.]

Also in attendance seems to have been Princess Sibilla's Art Deco Tiara on the head of Princess Silvia d'Arenberg. (We, your servicey bloggers at Luxarazzi, have extensively compared both tiaras and counted diamonds and if these two are not the same, they are replicas of eachother.) As members of the Grand Ducal Family and the Arenberg family are quite close in general - Princess Sibilla and Silvia's husband Prince Pierre are both board members of the Venetian Heritage Foundation and other art ventures for example - it wouldn't be the most surprising move. In addition, Princess Sibilla has been generous in lending out her jewels before.

Pictures of the wedding today are available at Daylife, Getty Images, PPE and basically any other photo agency of your choice.

4 comments:

  1. I have also seen somwhere pics of GRand Dcuhess Joséphine-Charlotte wearing the tiara.

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  2. Never heard of it. If you are ever able to locate the picture again, would be lovely if you could let me know. As I said it's a bit of a mystery to me (like many tiaras of the family). Never thought that it was owned by MT though as it was worn by Margaretha,

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  3. Do you, by chance, have the book? I'd love to see JC in this piece!

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  4. Yes I will scan the pic and mail it to you.

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