The Royal Baby - Are You Interested?

Following on from my post about British Citizenship, which caused quite a flurry on two Facebook Groups, Finnish People Living in London and Britanniansuomalaiset (Finns in Britain), I thought I'd share my thoughts the Royals and the most exciting and talked about Royal event about to happen in the UK.

You may know that one of my guilty pleasures is to follow the lives of the Royals, both here in Britain and in Sweden. (We don't have a Royal family in Finland, thank goodness).

I don't go overboard with this nonsense (which it is, after all, nonsense), but I do like to see what the Royals are wearing, read what they are getting up to, and most of all, watch the weddings, which we've had quite a good crop of recently. The Swedish Crown Princess Victoria married in 2010, followed by Kate and William in 2011, and the second Swedish Princess Madeleine got wed to the British-born financier Chris O'Neil earlier this summer. To me this is just a bit of fun, or escapism. I don't wish to make a political statement with my guilty pleasure, nor do I wish to say (or for once, think) too much about the usefulness, or not, of the Royals. To me they're just like a real life soap opera. I know this is wrong on so many levels, but there we go, I told you it's my guilty pleasure.

Picture by www.hellomagazine.com

I also think that Britain really comes into its own with the various Royal events. The Queen's Diamond Jubilee celebrations last year, (together with the Olympics of course) were a highlight in the calendar and made the country generally feel great. There was a huge sense of community and positive feeling during whole of the summer.

As you can see I'm not dressed quite as patriotically as others were at Buckingham Palace last year.

The crowds outside Buckingham Palace during last summer's Diamond Jubilee

And now in 2013, to top it all, there's going to be a Royal baby. The due date was yesterday, so you can imagine that the press as well as Twitter and Facebook are all a flutter.

Photo by www.mirror.co.uk

What do you think about all this? Are you a Royal watcher like myself, slightly embarrassed about the fact that I enjoy the spectacle of weddings, births and funerals so much?

Or are you a confirmed Republican, who believes the Royals are just one of society's parasites?  

A date with a Swedish Prince (well, almost)

Prince Carl Philip with MD of Svensk Form, Ewa Kumlin. 

The Swedish Ambassador, Ms Nicola Clase, has opened up her London residence to showcase Swedish modern design during the current London Design Festival. I pricked my ears when I heard Prince Carl Philip of Sweden was going to be in attendance. The Prince has a particular interest in design, and a dab hand himself having recently launched a series of porcelain bowls with Gustavsbergs. I'd never seen a Swedish royal up close, and as you know I've got a bit of soft spot for them, so wild horses couldn't have kept me away from the Design For Everybody event yesterday (Friday 21st September 2012). Although, with a bad back I was forced to downgrade my attendance to a 'dash & photo & chat' with just a few of the designers there.

The Swedes really are a clever bunch. Out of the ten or so showcased products I was particularly impressed with a smart looking and effective hearing aid, called Domino and designed by Shift Design. The designer, Carl Hampf told me that Domino both protects the ear from noise (handy for the tube) as well as increases hearing. The sound is more defined with the help of digital processing. I can really see this product taking off, it comes in several colours, has modern tactile design, and is incredibly light.

Carl Hampf with Prince Carl Philip

Another product which caught my eye was an old-fashioned raincoat which reminded me of a yellow Nokia cagoule I had growing up in Tampere. The company, Stutterheim, which makes this luscious looking raincoat has a factory in Sweden where production takes place 'by hand, day by day'. I am now in love with the Arholma; its simple design, combined with practicality and great colour scheme really appealed to me. Sadly, with a price tag of £435 I might have to save up for my handmade raincoat.

John Laster with Arholma in yellow.

These Brogue slippers by Docksta Shoes, designed by one of Sweden's foremost designers, Mats Theselius, were the first item at the Design For Everybody event which caught my eye. They don't look it, but these slippers are incredibly light, while still very smart. As Mats says, 'If someone knocks on your door (say a Prince, ed), it's nice to feel somewhat dressed.'

Mats Theselius with Brogues

Finally, over buffet lunch (which the Prince tucked into just like any other commoner…) I was admiring the colourful lampshades. I was told later they were left over from last year's Swedish Design event. Apparently the Ambassador liked them so much, she decided to keep them. Nice work!

Design For Everybody is open to the public on Saturday 22nd September 1pm–4pm.  Fika and informal sofa talks with the designers and producers. (Fika is the Swedish word for an informal coffee break) Finn Petrén, Mats Theselius, Carl Hampf, Fredrik Lundqvist, Johan Gawell and Alexander Stutterheim will be interviewed individually by Ewa Kumlin, MD Svensk Form. Exact schedule www.svenskform.se    

Royal Wedding Fever in London

I admit to being a bit of a confused Republican. I believe in democracy yet I love the romanticism of a Royal Wedding. I went totally gaga over the Swedish Princess Victoria's nuptials last year and have been looking forward to tomorrow's grand occasion here in London.

Unfortunately I'll be working in the book shop in the afternoon so may miss the kiss on the balcony (I know!), but before that my nose will be firmly glued to our TV screen at home, while stuffing myself with fairy cakes Daughter has promised to bake.

For reasons I now really cannot remember, my dear colleague, the super PR woman of the shop, Danny, and I promised to wear hats and proper wedding outfits to mark the day. Now I cannot find anything suitable to wear.

While I'm panicking about dresses, shoes, hats and fascinators, Daughter is getting more and more excited about tomorrow's events so we set off to get some Royal memorabilia. I took her to Selfridges where we found some rather tasteful things:

KK Outlet bone china plate

Emma Bridgewater 'For William and Kate' mug

But Daughter wanted something 'with their faces on it', so we went to a little less upmarket shop and got these:

Two Kate and Wills flags from a tourist shop on Oxford Street

And then tried to hide them for the bus ride home.

I think I might have given birth to another confused Republican...

A confession

The wardrobe of Princess Victoria of Sweden on a recent visit to Paris - photo from www.svenskdam.se

I have an addiction.

No, it's not champagne (though it could be; just as well it makes me ill at times and is so bloody expensive...)

It's not booze in general; I seem to have some little switch somewhere that stops me from drinking to oblivion all the time.

It's not any other drug; I'm simply too old and foolish for that.

It's not food, though again it could be.

It's not shopping (although I was on first name terms with Net-a-Porter delivery man while living in the sticks and had his mobile phone number. Also don't ask/tell Husband).

It's not gambling, although a few weekends ago in a weak moment after a few glasses of champagne and surrounded by the most beautiful paintings I promised to learn bridge. (OK, I may have a problem with champagne)

No, my addiction is Svensk Damtidning, a Swedish gossip magazine. The style of the magazine is that of Hello if Hello was written by a passive aggressive matron with nothing better to do than keep on eye out for the Swedish Royal Family and other associated major and minor Swedish celebs. The opinionated insinuations are so bad they're good. And addictive. The magazine is hand delivered to me by a good friend...Yes, it's a bad addiction.

Take a look, I dare you not to Google translate the pages.

The princess kisses a frog and gets a prince

I was glued to my screen for hours yesterday watching live streaming from Stockholm where Princess Victoria married his commoner fiancé, Daniel Westling, or His Royal Highness Prince Daniel, as he's

now to be known.

This story seems like a modern fairytale indeed. The unhappy, anorexic Princess meets a humble country-bumpkin fitness trainer and hey presto, they fall in love. The King (above with Victoria) disapproves, but true love (and a few years of frog-training under the guardianship of experienced courtiers) conquers.

Yes, well...

The ceremony did seem like a fairytale. Victoria wore a simple white dress with a 4-metre long train, lace veil and the same crown which her mother wore 34 years ago when she married King Carl Gustav. The Crown Princess looked stunning.

There were several performances in the church, here the couple are listening to Björn Skifs and Agnes Carlsson, winner of Swedish Pop Idol competition in 2005, singing a duet.

King Carl Gustav and Queen Silvia on their wedding day 19 June 1976. Mother and daughter could not look more alike?

After the ceremony the couple were taken in a horse-drawn carriage through the streets of Stockholm, with two secret police (SAPO) officers running either side of them. Those of you who are Stieg Larsson fans know how risky this can be...Some of the streets were lined with volunteers who the Swedish TV presenter let it slip would later receive a surprise medal for their efforts.

At Djurgården, one of the islands which make up Stockholm, the couple climbed onboard a barge, Vasaorden, which was rowed through the Stockholm harbour to Kungliga Slotted, The Royal Castle, situated close to the Storkyrkan where they were married just an hour before. The wedding reception attended by some 550 other European Royals and guests continued inside, but without TV cameras.

When I logged on at about half past one yesterday, I had no idea the wedding ceremony was just about to start, nor that I could watch it live on SVT (on an annoyingly slow connection), nor that it would keep me glued onto my screen for hours.

I wrote about the fascination I have for this event before, about the nostalgia I have for Sweden and Stockholm in particular. I've always felt that this city was where I really grew up from a child to a young woman. Watching the wedding yesterday brought back all the memories of that time. And of course there was the important Royal spotting and dress evaluation to be done in which daughter and son's girlfriend briefly helped me. And of course there was the city itself.

The weather could not have been kinder to the Stockholm Tourist Bureau. It had been overcast until the moment when the Princess and the Prince stepped onboard their gilded vessel. But as soon as they were afloat, the golden rays of the midsummer sun glistened off the water which dripped from the synchronised rowers' ores, off the Princess's crown, and off the Baltic sea. It was a magical scene indeed.

Royal Wedding Bells

On the same day as her parents married, on the 19th of June, Swedish Crown Princess Victoria is due to marry her former personal trainer, Daniel.

Now I'm not Swedish - even if I'm led to believe there's some blue and yellow blood in me  - but I'm still quite interested in the forthcoming Swedish Royal Wedding. This is quite unlike me, so hear me out.

I'm also not alone in getting caught up in all the Royal excitement. Even the UK media is taking notice. Amongst the lousy news of ministerial resignations, pointless killings,  public service cuts and government deficits, who can resist a Royal Wedding? Last weekend there was a story about the Swedish young Royals in one of the Sunday papers and in this week's Grazia there's an article about the upcoming nuptials.

Normally I am pretty ignorant, and/or not interested in any Royals (particularly not the British ones), but the thing is, I remember so well the wedding of Victoria's farther, King Carl Gustav and Queen Silvia in 1976.

I was then a teenager and had just moved back to Finland from three years in Stockholm where the courtship between Silvia and the bachelor Prince was always in the papers. I watched the wedding live on TV; I think most of Sweden as well as Finland did. The story of how the future Queen met her Prince was such a fairytale. Silvia, who was born in Germany, was a Olympic hostess at the Munich Summer Games in 1972, where she met the then Crown Prince. (So both father and daughter fell for sporty types.) She was beautiful, dark-haired and though well-bred ( I think she has some royal blood in her - these things seemed very important in those days), she was a foreigner. The thought of the King of Sweden marrying a foreigner seemed so novel, even if we knew the European royals often married other royals from abroad. And somehow Silvia to us, or to me at least, seemed 'normal'. She was simply a foreign commoner who by some incredible good fortune happened to bump into a Prince and fall in love...Aaah.

And the Crown Prince had been quite a bachelor, with pictures and stories of his various girlfriends being branded about daily in the newspapers and the gossip papers. For it to be a German ordinary girl to tame her seemed a dream come true.

I also remember when the first born Royal was a girl, Victoria, and the debate started about whether she should be allowed to be Queen. Then in 1979 Sweden unanimously changed its constitution to allow the Princess to ascend to the throne, even though she had a younger brother. This alone convinced me what a progressive and thoroughly fair country Sweden was, and since I had as yet not met my Englishman I vowed to move back to Sweden as soon as I finished my studies in Helsinki. Well, you know what happened there if you've been reading my How I came to be in England -tale.

So here they are, the happy couple. I will abstain from making any rude comments about Daniel; he's had quite a bad press in Sweden because of his ancestry. Or lack of. But in these modern times, who the hell cares who marries a Royal anyway? At least the Princess will keep herself fit now she has a truly full-time personal trainer on hand. (That was not meant to be rude...)

Putting away my Royalist cap now and readjusting my radical Republican one....