When Prince Carl Philip of Sweden weds Sofia Hellqvist at the weekend in Stockholm it will mark the fairytale wedding of the year.
Unlike his eldest sister and queen-to-be, Crown Princess Victoria whose wedding was dominated by formality, Prince Carl Philip, the Duke of Värmland, will likely be celebrating his nuptials in the same vein as his other sister, Princess Madeleine who wed financier Christopher O’Neill in 2013 in a lavish yet by royal standards, understated ceremony. But in accordance with tradition, the ceremony will be held at Royal Chapel at the Royal Palace in Stockholm.
“I think we will see a big difference from the wedding of Crown Princess Victoria to Daniel, she is first in line to the throne and will be Queen one day and there is a lot of ceremony involved when it comes to a wedding of such magnitude,” Juan Navas, a former palace press secretary told Swedish radio this week.
“Princess Madeleine, who is further away from the throne, had the opportunity to shape her wedding in more the way she wanted to and we will see the same, I think, with the marriage of Prince Carl Philip and his bride-to-be.”
Juan also said that all three Swedish royals have chosen to marry out of love rather than obligation.
“They are living in a world that is very different to 50 years ago. Nowadays, royals aren’t always marrying royals, and I don’t think there is anything strange about that,” said Navas.
Carl’s wife to be who hails from Älvdalen, and is a former model and reality TV star so aajusting to life as a royal might be a bit of a challenge but Juan maintains that the Swedish royals will ensure she will be coached to live in the spotlight.
“One is constantly in the public eye. One cannot walk down the street without being recognized or photographed. It’s not easy for everyone to handle that, but she will get a lot of support,” Navas told the radio station.
It has been rumoured that Prince Carl’s niece and goddaughter, Princess Estelle, 3, will have a starring role in the nuptials.
To give the extravagant celebration a particularly personal family touch, the toddler and future queen is expected to be one of the ring bearers.
Royal flower girls and ring bearers have had a habit of stealing the show. Who can forget the Prince William’s three-year-old goddaughter, Grace van Cutsem’s sullen face as she covered her ears during the fly past at the Cambridge’s 2011 royal wedding?
We’ve rounded up some royal page boys, the likes of Prince Harry and Prince William, and flower girls, including Queen Elizabeth, in this adorable little gallery of little royals.
It has been rumoured that Prince Carl Philip’s niece and goddaughter, Princess Estelle, 3, will have a starring role as ring bearer when he weds former Swedish model and TV star, Sofia Hellqvist.
Who can forget the Prince William’s three-year-old goddaughter Grace van Cutsem sullen face as she covered her ears during the fly past at the Cambridge’s 2011 royal wedding?
Pippa Middleton arrives with the brides maids and page boys at Westminster Abbey for the Royal Wedding of Prince William to Catherine Middleton at Westminster Abbey in 2011.
Prince Harry with page boy Tom Pettifer and bridesmaid Eliza Lopes (R) make the journey by carriage procession to Buckingham Palace following the wedding of Harry’s older brother Prince William to the Duchess of Cambridge.
But Harry has had his own turn to be page boy. Here is the young prince and his cousin Eleanor Fellowes at the wedding of his uncle, Viscount Althorp, to Victoria Lockwood.
Prince William sported pink suspenders as a pageboy at the society wedding of Miss Camilla Dunne to the honourable Rupert Soames at hereford Cathedral in 1988.
Even as a youngster Prince William was ever the gentleman, escorting his wedding date out of the cathedral.
Prince William was only a few years earlier a pageboy at the wedding of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson. Here is a cute moment he was spotted playing with Lady Davina Windsor in the grounds of Buckingham Palace following the ceremony.
The Duchess of York’s daughters, Princess Eugenie and Princess Beatrice were bridesmaids at one of their former nannies’ weddings in 1993.
The wedding of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson, the Duke And Duchess of York saw Peter Phillips (second from the left) and his sister Zara (center) as page boy and flower girl for the royal wedding, 1986.
Zara Phillips as bridesmaid at the wedding of Richard Plunkett-Ernle-Erle- Drax to Zara Legge-Bourke at Guards Chapel Wellington Barracks in 1985.
In royal tradition the flower girls at Zara’s own wedding to Mike Tindall were dressed in white at their 2011 ceremony in Canongate Kirk in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Golden wedding celebrations of the Duke and Duchess Strathmore at the Glamis Castle in Scotland, attended by the young Princess, later Queen Elizabeth II, in 1930.
The flower girls of Princess Diana and Prince Charles included the daughters of important royal friends, including Princess Margaret’s daughter, Winston Churchill’s great-granddaughter, Charles’ goddaughter India Hicks, Charles’ racehorse trainer’s daughter, and the daughter of close friends of the prince.
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