Royal Birthday of the Week: July 15

Royal Birthday of the Week: July 15

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Crown Princess Victoria turned 37 yesterday and was joined by the rest of the Swedish royal family for their traditional celebrations at Solliden Palace, Öland.

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Happy birthday Victoria! Accompanied by the King and Queen, Prince Daniel, and Princess Estelle, the birthday girl started out by greeting crowds dressed elegantly in white with a cardigan, but the fashion "news" belonged to WEE ESTELLE and her WEE PONYTAIL:

Princess Estelle was wearing a dress previously seen on Princess Madeleine in 1984. pic.twitter.com/s5OFKwbGAU
— Scandinavian Royals. (@crownprincely) July 14, 2014

That's right, they did it again - another family dress pulled out and given a new life. Love it.

Later, the crew (minus Estelle) was joined by Prince Carl Philip, Sofia Hellqvist, Princess Madeleine, and Chris O'Neill for the annual Victoriadagen concert. As always, Victoria and Queen Silvia wore traditional dress (and they are the only two that do, for this event).

And they promptly got drenched. The concert's been rained on in the past, so everyone comes prepared to model the finest in plastic rain gear. You'd think they could ask for a canopy or something if they really wanted to, but nope - they just embrace the opportunity to laugh at each other as they get trapped inside their ponchos. (And I kinda love that about them. Right?!)

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For the concert and some video from earlier, click here.

Photos: Luca Teuchmann/WireImage via Getty Images, and SVT video

Princess Leonore's Christening: Open Post and Information

Princess Leonore's Christening: Open Post and Information

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Hello, and a happy surprise weekend post to you.

Sweden's Princess Leonore, daughter of Princess Madeleine and Christopher O'Neill and second grandchild of King Carl Gustaf and Queen Silvia, will be christened on Sunday, June 8.

Several of you have requested an open post for comments if you want to watch live, so here you go. I will also include some information about the event here and we'll have a look at the fashion on Monday morning in our regular post.

Time: 12:00 PM (noon), local Swedish time. That's 6 AM EST. The SVT broadcast is supposed to begin at 11:15 AM local.

Live stream link from SVT:

CLICK HERE

The broadcast should remain available online after the event, at least for a limited time.

The christening will take place at the chapel at Drottningholm Palace. No foreign royal guests are expected. Leonore will have six godparents: Crown Princess Victoria (sister of Madeleine), Miss Louise Gottlieb (friend of Madeleine), Mr. Patrick Sommerlath (cousin of Madeleine, on her mother's side), Mrs. Tatjana d’Abo (half-sister of Chris), Count Ernst Abensperg und Traun (brother-in-law of Chris), and Miss Alice Bamford (friend of Chris).

Princess Leonore will wear the Bernadotte christening gown, first used in 1906 and most recently used for Princess Estelle's christening. Madeleine of course wore this gown when she was christened.

National Day was on Friday and Leonore got in the spirit, helping her mother and father open the palace dressed in a wee national costume. Dangerous levels of cuteness going on in Sweden right now, is what I'm telling you.

National dress for everybody! (Except the men. They never play along on National Day.) You can see video of the palace opening here, a gallery with Leonore here, and the whole National Day concert (including a carriage ride featuring Estelle) here.

And there you go! Enjoy the christening, and feel free to post about the christening and National Day here if you like.

Photos: Expressen video and SVT video and Kate Gabor/Kungahuset

Royal Family Outfits of the Day: May 19

Royal Family Outfits of the Day: May 19

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The Norwegian royal family (the King and Queen, Crown Prince and Crown Princess, Princess Ingrid Alexandra, and Princess Astrid) continued celebrations for the 200th anniversary of the constitution with a visit to the Norwegian Parliament.

And we have another candidate for Mette-Marit's best of the year! This is one well-chosen coat, the detailing calling to mind the trim of the bunad national dress (though it is actually Valentino, from the Fall 2012 Ready-to-Wear collection, as seen on the runway above right). And no one does these simple hats better than M-M. Special recognition also goes to Ingrid Alexandra, though. She's wearing a heart pendant which was a gift from her grandmother, Queen Sonja, when she was born. A sweet gesture, a family connection, and a jewel all in one.

Click here for more photos from the Storinget Flickr, or here from Paris Match.

Also, the 17th of May has passed - and that means National Day in Norway, and that means the actual bunad outfits come out to play! Doesn't get much better than that.

Oh, but it gets a little bit better: a bonus royal sighting! The Swedish and Danish royal couples joined in for part of the fun, since this was a special event.

Photos: NRK.no/Style.com and Håkon Mosvold Larsen/NTB scanpix/Stortinget