The Wedding of Prince Carl Philip and Sofia Hellqvist

The wedding of HRH Prince Carl Philip and Miss Sofia Hellqvist took place in the Royal Chapel at the Royal Palace of Stockholm on Saturday 13 June 2015 at 4.30pm (Swedish Royal Court website here).
The ceremony was conducted by Royal Court Chief Chaplain, the Rt. Rev. Lars-Göran Lönnermark, assisted by Royal Court Chaplain, the Rev. Michael Bjerkhagen.

The arrival of the wedding guests:

 

Queen Mathilde of Belgium, wearing the Nine Provinces tiara in its smaller form (more on the tiara in my previous blog post here) and Queen Fabiola's Fringe brooch.

 

Queen Maxima of the Netherlands, in a Jan Taminiau gown first seen at King Willem-Alexander's inaugural dinner in 2013 and the Mellerio Ruby parure.

 

 

 

Crown Princess Mary, in her wedding tiara and earrings, and Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark.

 

 

 

Princess Marie, in an Alberta Ferretti gown her wedding tiara, and Prince Joachim of Denmark.

 

 

Queen Margrethe of Denmark, in the same red gown she wore for her 75th birthday celebrations in April 2015 and the Baden Palmette tiara.

 

The Earl and Countess of Wessex. Sophie wears her aquamarine and diamond tiara and a gown by Czech deisgnerTaťána Kovaříková (info via My Small Obsessions on Facebook).

 

Queen Sonja of Norway in her trademark yellow gown and Queen Maud's pearl and diamond tiara.

 

Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit of Norway, in a Temperley London skirt, Nina Skarra top, the Diamond Daisy tiara and the most gorgeous diamond and rubellite (a coloured gemstone from the family of the tourmalines) earrings.

 

Princess Märtha Louise of Norway and Ari Behn. The Princess wore the King Olav Gift tiara, a diamond necklace and new green peridot, purple amethyst and white gold with pavé diamonds earrings, both by Norwegian company HiD Jewellery.

King Carl XVI Gustaf's sisters, l-r: Princess Christna, Mrs. Magnuson (wearing the Six Button tiara) with her husband, Princess Desirée, Baroness Silfverschiöld (wearing the Napoleonic Cut-Steel tiara), with her husband, Princess Birgitta (in the Baden Fringe tiara) and Princess Margaretha, Mrs. Ambler (in the Aquamarine Kokoshnik tiara).

 

The groom's parents, the King and Queen of Sweden. Queen Sylvia wore the Leuchtenberg Sapphire tiara, earrings and brooch and a diamond collet necklace. The King was in the uniform of an Admiral of the Fleet.

 

 

Princess Madeleine, who gave birth to her second child only two days after the wedding, in an Elie Saab gown, the Modern Fringe tiara and the Vasa earrings, with husband Chris O'Neill and daughter Leonore, in an antique dress once worn by her great-great-grandfather King Gustaf VI Adolf in 1884 and a white hair bow by Swedish children's clothing company Livly.

 

 

 

Crown Princess Victoria, in a bespoke H&M Conscious gown and the Connaught tiara, with husband Crown Prince Daniel. 

 

The bride's wedding dress, in three shades of white, was created by the Swedish designer Ida Sjöstedt. The dress is made from silk crepe overlaid with Italian silk organza. Couture lace made by José María Ruiz was applied to the dress and the train was hand-cut and then hand-stitched in Ida Sjöstedt's atelier in Stockholm.

 

The bride wore a new diamond and emerald tiara, a gift from the King and Queen, in an Art Deco palmette motif and diamond drop earrings. I'm not a huge fan of coloured wedding tiaras, to tell the truth. I wonder whether the emerald are removable, to be exchanged with diamonds/pearls:

 

 

The veil in thin bridal tulle was also hand-embroidered with sheer cotton lace.

The bride's hair and make-up were by Marwan Hitti and William Värnild.

 

 

The bride carried a cascade style bouquet of garden roses with a traditional sprig of myrtle from Sofiero. The flowers were in shades of cream and coral.

 

Prince Carl Philip is a major in the Swedish Amphibious Corps, and wore mess dress model 1878. The Prince wore the light blue sash of the Order of the Seraphim, together with the Star of the Order, as well as the Order of the Polar Star cross, on a black band around his neck.

The bridesmaids for the ceremony were Princess Estelle, Tiara Larsson, Anaïs Sommerlath and Chloé Sommerlath. All wore dresses in pure silk and Italian silk organza made by the Swedish designer Ida Sjöstedt and had round bouquets that were exact copies of the bride's bouquet, with garden roses in various shades of cream and coral:

 

Princess Estelle completed her look with a white Livly bow, like her cousin Leonore:

 

 

 

 

 

UPDATED: The Royal Family and the WI

The Women's Institutes are a British community-based voluntary organization for women, formed in 1915 to revitalise rural communities and encourage women to become more involved in producing food during the First World War. Since then the organisation's aims have broadened and the WI is now the largest voluntary women's organisation in the UK.

The WI has had a long association with the Royal Family, ever since Queen Mary became president of Sandringham WI in 1919, a role subsequently taken on by the Queen Mother, who held the position until her death in 2002.

The Queen and the Queen Mother join WI members at West Newton Village Hall in Norfolk in 1990.

The Queen Mother attending a garden fete held by Hertfordshire WI at Knebworth House, Hertfordshire, in June 1949.
 

 

Guests at the Buckingham Palace garden party held to celebrate the WI's 50th anniversary in 1965.

 

 

The Queen and the Queen Mother visiting Sandringham WI in January 1974.

 

Today, the Queen is president of Sandringham WI and usually pays them an annual visit over the course of her Christmas holidays.

 

 

Clockwise from top left: the Queen arriving at Sandringham WI for her annual visit in 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015.

 

The Queen, as president, usually wears her WI President's brooch in sterling silver, featuring a Tree of Life motif

 

 

The Duchess of Cornwall, who was apparently inspired to join after watching the the movie Calendar Girls, is a member of Tetbury WI, in Gloucestershire near Highgrove.

 

The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall meeting the original Calendar Girls in 2005.

 

The Duchess of Cornwall getting down to business during a visit to Lincolnshire South WI.

 

The Countess of Wessex has been a member of Bagshot WI, near her country residence of Bagshot Park, since 2007.

 

 

The Countess of Wessex leaving Bagshot WI after a 90th anniversary commemoration in 2013.

 

The Duchess of Cornwall has recently expressed an interest in joining her local branch of the WI at Anmer in Norfolk. The Princess Royal is also an associate member of her local WI near her country residence of Gatcombe Park in Gloucestershire.

A number of events are planned to celebrate the Women's Insitute centenary, beginning with a garden party at Buckingham Palace on 2 June, hosted by the Duchess of Cornwall, which will also be attended by Princess Alexandra, The Countess of Wessex and The Duchess of Gloucester.

 

The Duchess of Cornwall met the original Calendar Girls again at the garden party (via @BritishMonarchy Twitter feed).

 

Members of the Knapely branch of the Women's Institute made famous in the film 'Calendar Girls', arrive at Buckingham Palace for a special WI centenary Garden Party on 2 June 2015.

The Duchess of Cornwall and Princess Alexandra arrive at the garden party.

The Countess of Wessex (above) and the Duchess of Gloucester (below) chatting to garden party guests.

 

In addition to the garden party, The Queen accompanied by The Princess Royal and The Countess of Wessex will attend the Centenary Annual General Meeting of the National Federation of Women's Institutes (NFWI) at the Royal Albert Hall on 4 June 2015.
For the AGM, the Queen repeated a beautiful powder blue crepe coat by Stewart Parvin, with a Rachel Trevor Morgan straw hat trimmed with silk roses, an ensamble first worn on Easter Sunday 2014.

 

But the Oscar for Royal Recycling this time went to the Princess Royal, who attended the event in a cream suit with burnt orange silk trim worn an incredible 28 years ago (you read that right, 28!) to Trooping the Colour in 1987 - oh, and she accessorized with the exact same brooch as well!

2015 v. 1987

The Countess of Wessex, on the other hand, opted for a white Emilio Pucci dress and a pair of L.K. Bennett 'Harley' heels in beige (with thanks to Anna from My Small Obsessions, more info on the Countess' outfit on her blog here).

 

The cutting of the cake provided some fab photo opportunities:

 

 

Link to the British Monarchy Storify story here.

Daily Mail article on the garden party here and on the AGM here.