Swedes Attend Opening of Parliament

  September 15, 2015 at 5:49 pm by

The Swedish Royal Family attended a number of events today to mark the opening of the 2015/2016 parliamentary session.

King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia led their children and their spouses first at a church service at Stockholm Cathedral. The theme of the service was the refugee crisis that is currently impacting Europe.

They then travelled via carriage to the Riksdag, the King and Queen were joined in the first carriage by Princess Madeleine, who came from London to attend, while the Crown Princess Couple and Prince Carl Philip and Princess Sofia were in the second.

Once at the Riksdag, the Speaker of Parliament Urban Ahlin and the Prime Minister Stefan Löfven greeted the royal family, before all headed inside for the King’s speech, in which he also touched on the refugee crisis and how it is impacting Sweden. King Carl Gustaf also spoke of how the world has changed since the end of World War II, and pondered “how should we prepare our children and grandchildren for a future world that we do not know so much about?” 

All the royal ladies followed the black-and-white clothing tradition started by Queen Silvia in the 1970s, which harks back to the traditional Swedish court dress that was previously worn by women at important events. The Queen and Crown Princess Victoria went for black with white accent combinations, while Princess Madeleine and Princess Sofia were almost twins in very similar white blazers with black trim.

Later in the evening, the Bernadottes were present at the Royal Opera for a performance of the ballet Raymonda that was also attended by all the members of parliament.

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