The wedding between Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden and her long-time boyfriend, gym owner Daniel Westling was the event of the year in the Nordic countries.
In Finland, people have always been great admirers of the Swedish royalty, and here the atmosphere was almost euphoric. After having belonged to Sweden for more than 600 years, we still seem to feel entitled to a part of the glamour surrounding the Swedish royal family. In many homes the wedding was celebrated in grand style in front of the television with family and friends. What a show it was, performed with a lot of regal style, but with a warm-heartedness typical of the Swedes. In Sweden alone the wedding was watched on TV by 3 million people, in Finland by more than one million. About 2,500 journalists were present.
C.P. Victoria met Daniel Westling when she started working out at his gym in Stockholm in 2000. “Daniel and I had a very beautiful and grounded friendship. We were very good friends before, and it was a friendship that grew and became love,” she revealed.
On the eve of the wedding, the couple were treated to a star-studded gala evening attended by a huge audience, among them Queen Margrethe and Prince Henrik of Denmark with Crown Prince Frederik and Princess Mary, King Harald and Queen Sonja of Norway with Crown Prince Haakon and Princess Mette Marit, Queen Sophia of Spain, Crown Prince Felipe, Princess Letizia and Infantas Elena and Christina.
The wedding ceremony had around 1,100 guests. Victoria walked down the aisle with her father, King Carl XVI Gustaf, handing her over to Daniel, who looked just as nervous as expected.. There has been much debate over this custom, critics saying that handing over the bride from father to groom is a symbol of the woman being the father’s property and then becoming the groom’s property.
The royal court defended the handing over with the statement: “the King conveys the heir to the throne and hands her over to a man who has been accepted.” A compromise was reached, and the handing-over was done half-way down the aisle. Victoria wore the same diadem that her mother Silvia wore at her wedding.
After the ceremony Daniel Westling was made Prince Daniel, Duke of Västergötland, an honour last bestowed upon a commoner in the Middle Ages. The newlywed then passed through a gauntlet of crossed swords, stepping into a horse-drawn carriage and waving to hundreds of thousands of citizens lining the streets on their 7 km procession to Stockholm harbour, where they boarded the barge Vasaorden.
At the banquet attended by heads of state from all over the world, dignitaries and other VIPs, King Carl Gustaf and Daniel’s father held moving speeches to the bride and groom.
Prince Daniel’s speech to Victoria was a roaring start to royal life. He gave a confident, yet emotional speech, without notes, and switching from Swedish to English. This is really remarkable, considering the VIP audience and millions of television viewers. Experts have called his address “a rhetoric knockout.” The Swedes have not seen much of Daniel so far. Now they got to know him a bit. The speech was an answer to the question ‘can he do it?’ Now I don’t think anyone doubts that he can.
Rumour has it that the honeymooning couple has been spotted somewhere in French Polynesia.