Lucy Meadmore: Like a Virgin...
Melani Robinson: Is He Toy Worthy? Looking for Mr. Goodvibe
This weekend all of Sweden will come to a halt for the royal wedding of Crown Princess Queen Victoria, as she weds her commoner fiance (and former personal trainer) Daniel Westling on June 19.It's a bit of a letdown to the portion of the country who would like to see Miss Princess make a more advantageous alliance, which is curious to us, since Sweden is, after all, a more or less socialist country and the king is a figurehead and hey, we're all commoners. But anyway.
Though the country has rolled out a full fortnight -- a more regal way to say "two weeks" -- of love-themed festivities, it's for less mushy-gushy goings-on that Sweden and its royals have recently nabbed headlines.
Back in April, Victoria's many-named younger sister, Princess Madeleine Therese Amelie Josephine, 27, called off her wedding on account of a cheating fiance. Word on the street was that his worst offense wasn't straying with a college student, but straying with a Norwegian one. (The rivalries between these two Scandinavian countries seem to date back to the Ice Age.)
We sure hope relations between the two princesses aren't quite as glacial. Though Madeleine fled the country after the news broke -- allegedly licking her wounds in the U.S. -- the latest reports say she will attend the wedding.
And we're sure that won't be easy. As one writer attested last week, having her sister marry first led to nothing but "So Annie, are you dating someone?"–type inquiries all summer long. We imagine it would be even worse to don a royal bridesmaid's dress while nursing a broken heart.
Rock on, your royal highness. Let's hope Daniel has a lot of cute grubensmenen -- or however you say "do-able groomsmen" in Sveeeedish.
Comments:
Add a comment
Saturday 19 June
By hanne
The ceremony was BEAUTIFUL :)
...and for the record (not that it's anything to be proud of) but the girl that princess Madeleine's former fiancé allegedly cheated with was Norwegian, not Danish...
:D
Reply
Sunday 20 June
By Stella
Sweden's not a Socialist country. Hasn't ever been. The present government's conservative-liberal. The country was once governed by the Social-Democrats (a far cry from Socialists, really, more like right-wing Labour) but the present Prime Minister's a Conservative. Get your facts right please, two errors in such a short text is rather sloppy.
Reply
Wednesday 23 June
By Nanie
No offiense intended, but all your rebuttal comment did was to refer to the posturing or leaning of the persons involved in the government and not to define the system of government that is in place.
Friday 25 June
By Cae
Stella- RU kidding. I visited Sweden as a kid for a summer and I love it too... But to say it is not a socialist country would be ridiculous. It prides itself on being a welfare state. When Candidate Obama said he would redistribute the wealth he was no doubt thinking of the exorbitant tax burdens of Sweden. Yes there is private ownership of companies allowed. While this is not your Grandpa's socialism it is a socialist nation. I also question the conservative label. Where are they on the political spectrum? My Guess is slightly to the right of our current WH Chief of Staff and all his Czar buddies past and present.
Wednesday 23 June
By Alex
That´s one of the silliest articles I´ve ever read on this subject. I sincerely doubt that princess Madeleine cared what nationality the girl her fiancé cheated with has and the rivalry between the countries are more in the line of jokes than actual rivalry. Also, Norway cares more than Sweden about the rivalry because of the fact that Sweden "released" Norway from being an unwilling part of Sweden for a century.
Oh, and groomsmen are "bröllopsmarskalk". If you think this story is that silly, and Sweden is such a joke that you can´t resist making up words you really shouldn´t write about it.
Reply