Parliament season continued this week in Europe with the opening of Sweden’s Riksdag in Stockholm, featuring the Bernadotte ladies following the traditional black and white dress code for the event.
King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia led the royal party as they attended the traditional slate of events to mark the opening of the parliamentary session. With the Speaker of the Riksdag, Andreas Norlén, they attended a service at Storkyrkan before traveling a short distance to the Riksdaghuset.
The King and Queen were joined by their children for the occasion: Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel, Prince Carl Philip and Princess Sofia, and Princess Madeleine and Christopher O’Neill.
The opening of the Riksdag used to be a grand gala event, with the ladies of the family dressed in traditional velvet and ermine court gowns, lace veils, and sparkling jewels. Here, the King’s mother, Princess Sibylla, attends the Riksdag opening in 1957. With her gown and robes, she wears the Connaught Diamond Tiara and the Bernadotte Emeralds.
The event was modernized in the 1970s, but today, the ladies of the royal family still wear black-and-white ensembles for the opening as a nod to the colors of the old court dress gowns. Here, Queen Silvia arrives at the Riksdaghuset on Tuesday wearing a white tweed jacket with pearl cluster embroidery, paired with a black skirt, bag, and shoes and a white and black hat.
Silvia usually wears a brooch for this event, but the embroidery on the jacket sort of spoke for itself this time around. She did reach into the vaults for a spectacular pair of diamond and pearl drop earrings to complete the ensemble.
Crown Princess Victoria echoed her mother’s outfit, wearing a textured white jacket with a black skirt, shoes, headpiece, belt, and bag.
Victoria added several bejeweled touches to her outfit, including small pearl and diamond cluster earrings, a necklace with a diamond horseshoe charm, and a gorgeous diamond and pearl drop brooch from the family collection. Queen Silvia wore this brooch for the same event in 2023.
Princess Sofia and Princess Madeleine both followed the dress code, too. Sofia wore a black jacket with an ’80s-inspired silhouette and a matching skirt. Madeleine opted for a black blouse with a bold white collar and cuffs, also paired with a black skirt and accessories.
Both princesses kept their accessories simple for the occasion. Princess Sofia wore silver toned hoop earrings with one of her favorite necklaces. It features diamond-set charms in the shape of her children’s zodiac signs.
And Madeleine, sensibly opting not to try to compete with the white collar and cuffs, left her necklaces and bracelets at home. She wore a pair of classic diamond stud earrings for the event instead.
There’s more bejeweled splendor to come in just a few hours, when the (free!) Wednesday edition of Hidden Gems drops in your email inboxes. We’ll be chatting about a surprising wedding tiara, jewels at the UN, and the story behind a classic dance-inspired brooch series. Be sure to subscribe, and I’ll see you there!
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