CONGRATULATIONS ...

... to Sweden!!!!

Yeah, I know we Norwegians bitch about the Swedes a lot, but we do love them really. And I'm sure I am so far from the only Norwegian who is completely glued to the TV set right now. :-) Congratulations to any & all Swedes reading this on what I'm sure is going to be a fantastic and beautiful royal wedding. And most of all congratulations to Victoria and Daniel. :-)

Watching all the bigwigs arrive to these things is always fun ... the women mostly, since the men all dress the same. ;-) There are some dresses here that I take exception to, especially that hot pink one that whoever it was was wearing ... and I have to say that I don't think our own Princess Märtha has been very successful in her choice today. Grown women in all pink just is not the thing. IMO. Wear all the pink you want, but personally, I think that as a general rule pink dresses aren't for grownups.

Mette-Marit though looks amazing ... as I knew she would. The dress is a bit too flouncy for my taste but it's lovely on her. I knew she would wear pastel ... baby blue is totally her color. Aw, she's so pretty. I can't wait to see what Victoria will wear though. Can you imagine how many people are waiting for that ... ! :-D I'm sure that whatever she's picked, it will be beautiful ... and she will look a perfect princess ... but I don't think that the dress can be quite as gorgeous as Mette-Marit's dress was. I am not a wedding person but I have to say that that gown is my favorite wedding dress ever.

Ooh, Harald and Sonja ... Queen Sonja looks great as always. And Queen Margrete too. She just is such a totally classy lady. Now Queen Silvia and Princess Madeleine ... the latter an impeccable beauty, but the former a little too surgically enhanced for my taste. (But I like her dress a lot - even though it's pink! Ouch, my brain ... ! Can we agree that it's actually more purple than pink?) The groom and his about-to-be-brother in law ... who I think the Swedes should bless themselves for avoiding as king, because he really seems to be a grade A dimwit. Despite what his father may think.

The male commentator just said that this is special because it's the marriage of a future 'statschef' ... but that can't be right? At least in Norwegian it would be wrong. She will not be 'chief of state' as in head of government, she will be head of state, which isn't the same thing at all. A little gaffe there, I think?

But now - the bride ... !! Oooh, she's so pretty ... !! Oh, she looks fantastic, and so happy. Entering the church on her father's arm ... he will give her away, I don't approve of that at all. It's a disgusting tradition, but what are you gonna do. The king's in his, what, grand admiral uniform ... looking very spiffy. What are the children who walk ahead of the bride down the aisle called in English? o_O Our future queen is one of them, and the future king of Denmark too. She is six years old and he is four. I love royal weddings. :-D

OK, the dress is gorgeous, except for that massive train. That is too much. I hope no one steps on it. >:-) So ... beautiful dress, but could have been better. She herself looks absolutely perfect though. Extremely happy and a little nervous. :-) I have to say that I love that Daniel is wearing his chunky nerd glasses. I mean, it's his wedding, he wants to look his best, so anyone would forgive him for switching to contacts just for today. He did for the engagement announcement. But nope. Those are his glasses and he's gonna stand by them. :-D

Aw, they're holding hands, they're both nervous. :-D She kissed his hand even. :-) How messed up is it that the prelates are turning their backs on the bride and groom ... I mean, to an atheist there is just so much here that looks so freaky. Please, invisible man in the sky, bless this couple! I have no idea what either of them personally believe, but they have no choice, they have to have this massive church wedding with the archbishop and hymns and praise be to God. That is one of the very few arguments I can accept against the constitutional monarchy. But they don't seem to be very worried about it ... or about anything much. :-) OMG they're married!! Aw, Daniel had to cry a little bit. :-D He's not used to this kind of thing like she is ... but now there's no going back, Prince Daniel. Pretty crazy actually. o_O Hm, Dagbladet's saying that she cried too ... I didn't see that. She was smiling so much that I didn't think to look for it. :-)

The archbishop was the first person EVAR to be able to say 'you, Prince Daniel' ... that's all well and good, but did he have to actually mention the fact in his speech to the couple? o_O I gotta hand it to Victoria, she is perfect in public, she carries herself with absolutely utter perfection. I love it that she winks at Daniel like that, it's so charming. :-) Reminds me of my favorite part of any royal wedding ever ...

Namely when Willem-Alexander, Prince of Orange, married Maxima Zorreguieta back in 2002. :-) They had the second ceremony in the New Church in Amsterdam, it's from the 17th century and has stone walls that are something like a meter thick. Yet when the prince said 'Yes', the cheers from the crowd outside were so loud that they could be heard even inside the church. (The ceremony was being broadcast live on giant TV screens set up outside the building.) And the officiating prelate said to the prince, 'They can hear you!' Then everyone laughed. It was soo Dutch, I loved it. :-)

Anyway ... they're married, everything's gone well, and people are cheering madly in the streets as the wedding cortège passes through the city. The bride and groom are riding in an open carriage and smiling and waving at everybody, and there are crowds everywhere shouting and cheering and waving flags. (With Security Police officers running alongside literally the whole way. Poor bastards. :-D) Kind of sad to think that we won't be seeing anything like this in Oslo again for what, 20 years. :-( But again, massive congratulations to the Swedes. A wonderful event and a great memory for the entire Swedish people ... but most of all of course for Crown Princess Victoria and the brand new Prince Daniel.

Aw. :-)


Edited to add that I realized why he's wearing glasses and not contacts. It's because he knew he would be crying. ;-)