Last week, Sweden’s King Carl XVI Gustaf celebrated his 80th birthday. Sweden’s royal house decided to throw a huge party and invite people from all of Europe’s royal houses. The Swedish royal family was in attendance, of course, including Crown Princess Victoria, Prince Carl Philip and Princess Madeleine, all of whom attended with their spouses. Victoria and Daniel even brought their daughter Princess Estella. There were high-profile royals and politicians in attendance from Spain, Denmark, the Netherlands, Finland, Iceland, Belgium, Thailand, Luxembourg, Serbia, Bavaria, Romania and on and on. People Magazine had a breakdown of who’s who in all of the official portraits.
Well, in case you can’t see where I’m going with this, I’ll spell it out – no one from the British royal family went to this major celebration for the king of Sweden. King Charles and Camilla were wrapping up their US state visit, so it makes sense that they didn’t go. But Buckingham Palace didn’t send ANYONE. Not the Prince and Princess of Wales, not the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh (Edward and Sophie), not even the Gloucesters, not even Princess Anne, not even… well, the list is pretty sparse these days. In the before-times, Edward and Sophie would have been sent out for a Scandinavian event. During QEII’s time, she probably would have sent her heir to the celebration of a European KING. Unfortunately, Charles’ heir is a lazy bum.
Well, the Swedes were actually pissed that the Windsors completely snubbed the events. One Swedish outlet pointed out that the Swedish royals came out for Queen Elizabeth’s funeral, and the other European houses sent representatives to Charles’ coronation too. While the Swedes understood that Charles and Camilla were on a state visit, they can’t understand why the palace didn’t send anyone to represent the family. Svensk Damtidning’s editor-in-chief Johan T Lindwall was “outraged” by the snub, and according to a Google translation, he called the snub “cheeky and nonchalant.”
Photos courtesy of Cover Images and Instagram.
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- Members of the British royal family during a reception at Buckingham Palace in London, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II’s birth Featuring: (Left to right) The Duchess of Gloucester, the Duke of Gloucester, the Duke of Kent, the Princess of Wales, the Prince of Wales, King Charles III, Queen Camilla, the Princess Royal, the Duke of Edinburgh, Princess Alexandra and the Duchess of Edinburgh at Buckingham Palace in London, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II’s birth Where: London, United Kingdom When: 21 Apr 2026 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- Gala dinner at the Royal Palace, as part of the 80th birthday celebrations of the Swedish King at the Royal Palace Featuring: Crown Princess Victoria, Prince Daniel, Princess Estelleden Where: Stockholm, Sweden When: 30 Apr 2026 Credit: Mischa Schoemaker/Dutch Press Photo/Cover Images **NOT AVAILABLE FOR PUBLICATION IN THE NETHERLANDS OR FRANCE**
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- Gala dinner at the Royal Palace, as part of the 80th birthday celebrations of the Swedish King at the Royal Palace Featuring: Princess Madeleine, Chris O’Neill, Grand Duke Henriden Where: Stockholm, Sweden When: 30 Apr 2026 Credit: Mischa Schoemaker/Dutch Press Photo/Cover Images **NOT AVAILABLE FOR PUBLICATION IN THE NETHERLANDS OR FRANCE**
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- Gala dinner at the Royal Palace, as part of the 80th birthday celebrations of the Swedish King at the Royal Palace Featuring: King Carl Gustaf, Queen Silviaden Where: Stockholm, Sweden When: 30 Apr 2026 Credit: Mischa Schoemaker/Dutch Press Photo/Cover Images **NOT AVAILABLE FOR PUBLICATION IN THE NETHERLANDS OR FRANCE**
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- Gala dinner at the Royal Palace, as part of the 80th birthday celebrations of the Swedish King at the Royal Palace Featuring: Prince Carl Philip, Princess Sofia Where: Stockholm, Sweden When: 30 Apr 2026 Credit: Mischa Schoemaker/Dutch Press Photo/Cover Images **NOT AVAILABLE FOR PUBLICATION IN THE NETHERLANDS OR FRANCE**
I mean, I get why sending Global Statespeople Willy and Kate would have completely overshadowed Charles’ visit. Not the bogus statespeople part, but the “they left the house and Kate wore something!” part.
But the Windsors could have sent Sophie and Edward. The Swedes wouldn’t have felt snubbed, and the international press would have done what it always does and completely ignored Sophie and Edward.
Sophie and Edward went to Crown Princess Victoria and Daniel’s wedding, so it’s not as if they wouldn’t know anyone there. Also, the British Royal Family is related to the Swedish Royal Family. Carl Gustaf is in the line of succession. Granted, he’s far down the line, but still.
The Norwegian royals are in the top 100 iirc, the Swedes around the 180-200 mark. Danes are in there too. Dutch royals are down in the 800s.
Carl Gustav descends from Queen Victoria in two ways.
Victoria—Arthur—Margaret—Gustav Adolf—Carl Gustav
Victoria—Leopold—Charles Edward—Sybille—Carl Gustav
Look, the EU royal houses are messy too (epstein connections etc), but it’s always wild to me that the british royal family doesn’t make friends with the european royals, instead being totally insular and only hanging out with a few posh people in england.
perhaps it’s because they don’t speak other languages, or perhaps its an internal snobbery, but why wouldn’t elizabeth ii have sent her kids to hang out in spain or sweden for a summer with the other crown princes? or have them over to england? or why didn’t charles do that for harry and william so they could have friends who could relate to similar pressures? is it because after phillip married in, they wanted to ensure england was viewed as separate from the other EU royal houses?
QEII famously said that the reason why the Commonwealth mattered was because it was the only thing that differentiated the British RF from the others, so apparently there was a sense of competition there at some point. She did have a genuine friendship with the dowager Queen of Denmark but I think that was it. Her children and grandchildren were not taught about their European royalty relations so that died with her.
And ofc we know the Waleses don’t get out of bed for less than 10,000 pounds a day (tm Linda Evangelista) so here we are. Carl Gustav who? BUT THE SCHOOL RUN
I think Beatrix was a friend as well
^Yes. She lived in an apartment at Buckingham Palace whenever she visited her son Friso in the London hospital
There was also a good relationship with the Spanish royal family – those famous pictures of Diana and Harry and William sitting on steps (I think Diana is in yellow?) are from a vacation with King Juan Carlos – I think they were at his summer palace. That kind of thing withered away though. And Felipe called QEII “Lilibet” (the only thing that really belonged to her lmao) and he and Anne seem to get along – I remember one time at a state dinner or something Anne went into this super deep curtsy and he laughed at her and helped her up.
But yeah the BRF does seem to isolate itself and think its a step above the other European royal families. And we really see that with W&K. Remember the Jordan wedding when no one talked to Kate? She and William just kind of stood there while everyone else was being super social.
Speaking of European royal houses and Epstein… it sure looks like CP Hakkon is there with his parents, sans Mette-Marit in the group photo.
Let’s give M-M a break for now – she is waiting for a lung transplant and is doing very little work for very valid reasons. She has admitted to making mistakes with Epstein which is more than Andrew and Fergie have done. All sort of issues with her son as well which don’t reflect at all well on her, but I believe ( my opinion only) that her health is what kept her away from this.
M-M’s not waiting for a lung transplant. Around when the emails with Epstein came out, and while her eldest son was on trial for dozens of assaults? With convenient timing, her doctors said they were considering such a thing in the future IF her condition worsened.
She didn’t admit to making mistakes. She was given the questions ahead of time and still talked around things, blamed others, acted like a victim, and pretended it was all not that important. The Norwegian people and press appear more angry with her now than before.
At least six of her handful of patronages have dumped her.
And her disgusting son is still awaiting sentencing – while claiming HE’S really the victim.
Yep, MM did not attend with no reason provided. If you want to be generous MM’s health wasn’t up to the event but I can’t help wondering if she wasn’t welcome
Diana & Charles brought the kids to Spain in the summer–well, a couple of times, at least. They stayed with the royals at their summer palace.
I’m sure somebody from the BRF was invited to this shindig–if C&C weren’t available, then Billy Boy & Katiekins should have gone. But they’re on vacay, or there’s the school run, can’t remember which; oh, and something something cancer.
She needs to rest up for Wimbledon.
I can’t believe how tall Estelle is now!
The Brits couldn’t send the Wailses because you know Scooter was sleeping off a bender somewhere and Keen was filming her next nature video.
I totally mistook Estelle for Victoria when the pictures first turned up on Instagram. She’s growing up so fast!
Villa were playing Saturday, he surely couldn’t miss that?
Villa played Sunday. Lost to the Spurs. HAHA!!!! They’ve barely won a match all season but beat Villa lol. COYS!
Estelle might already be at her full height, I certainly stopped growing by the time I was 14
I suspect the Keens wouldn’t go because the last time they attended a royal wedding they embarrassed themselves. The fact that Edward and Sophie didn’t go is odd. They were always the ones who went if Charles didn’t go. I noticed Haakon went alone. I figured he would take his daughter.
Wales is embarrassing, you never know what he’ll come up with, but you can be sure that as usual, they’ll get into some awkward situation… Kate will loudly announce that she’s going to the toilet, or she’ll do the usual trick and show off her bare buttocks, and Will will look at his wife with contempt and then park himself at the bar.
Ingrid is back in Australia at uni.
It is surprising edward and Sophie didn’t go.
STONKING TIARA ALERT. Also love the “family photo” in the ballroom contrasted with the sad Windsor version 🤣🤣🤣
😁 Oh, I noticed! The Swedes wore some magnificent pieces!!
And her earrings, the drops are like 30 karats each. Aside from being one of, if not the, largest tiaras still worn is also one of the oldest, made in 1829
Search for the scandinavian royal jewels documentary on YouTube. It shows up, gets deleted, shows up again.
There’s a fun segment with Silvia talking about a tiara that packs flat for travel. How she had to get permission to take one particular tiara out of the country. She wanted to do so to share it – queen to queen – during a state visit.
Huh. So they were actually annoyed and called it a snub. Yikes. I woulda been like well they’re not that interesting anyways so what does it matter. But apparently it was seen as an affront. Makes you wonder why Sophie and Edward couldn’t go together. Something up with them? Cuz Sophie didn’t do Easter either. Are they still mad about the wood farm situation?
This is something Will and Kate should have done, tbh. But maybe the European royals make the Windsors feel insecure. They all seem much more educated than the BRF. I don’t know what they’d have to talk about.
I’ve often thought that. I think some is just that they’re lazy, but when Kate was doing a lot with now Queen Mary a few years ago I got the impression that there was a little bit of intimidation there.
Even the kids of these other Royal houses outshine them as far as accomplishments and they can’t utilize their titles and roles for impressing another literal Crown Prince and Princess so actual results is all that they have. Which explains why they don’t go anywhere.
In which alternate universe did kathy do a lot with Mary?
Bill & Kathy went to Denmark once 13-14 years ago for a UNICEF thing. Kate mumbled through ‘shine a light, shine a light’ PR talk about hunger. Refused to taste the peanut paste which led to speculation she was expecting. Which she wasn’t.
iirc she’s met with Mary once since then. Ditto other royal houses. Once with Willem-Alexander that I remember to look at a painting (wearing Angelina Jolie cosplay). Once with Haakon and Mette-Marit. Once with Guillaume and Steph of Lux.
@isisrose a few years ago Mary visited and they did some engagements together then afterwards iirc for her birthday keenery they shaded Mary, Meghan, Charlene and Letizia to big up her lazy ass.
@IrisRose there was a short period in about 2022-2023 where they did ( a lot for her) a few engagements in England and Denmark. I’m thinking about her sliding down the kiddie slide. These collaborations ended very quickly and I imagined because it was because she was seen as a lightweight.
Lol, love the dueling family photos.
It’s wryly amusing to see that not only do the British royals consider themselves to be superior to non-white royalty, they hold themselves to be superior over even the other European royals. Little England still believes they are better than everyone else!
So, heads up that William’s eventual low key coronation might be really really low key — what with all the empty seats. European royalty will be politely “busy” that day with domestic duties and washing their hair.
A disgrace that they did not send anyone..
Monaco wasnt represented either btw, do they usuay turn up to this?
And notice that Haakon is fying solo
I think at William’s coronation they’re going to have to save 30 pews for the population of Mustique, and 20 for his mates on the Villa forums.
Don’t forget the handful of Middletons in the front pew!
The European royals are probably secretly glad not to have to deal with any Windsors but yes this comes across as a massive snub from a diplomacy perspective
From what I can see of it I LOVE Sofias dress.
Yet another overly expensive item from the trashy Epstein-connected wannabee. She has the fourth highest expenditure of any royal lady – and she was never meant to be a working royal. She and her greasy husband need to take the hint and sideline themselves.
It is surprising they sent no one, especially because so many other royal houses (and former royal houses) showed up. The Danish reigning couple plus Margrethe. Lux reigning couple and Henri. King Crop Top of Thailand and his latest consort. Sophie of Leichtenstein and two of her adult children. Deposed Yugoslavian royals and maybe the ex-royals of Romania too.
Greeks didn’t show up and they’ll show up at the opening of an envelope. One of their sons was injured recently, that could be why. Learned recently they were handed Greek citizenship in 2024. They were required to dump any use of titles or ex-titles as part of the agreement. They are ‘de Grece’ as a surname and nothing else. Pavlos de Grece, Marie-Chantal de Grece, etc.
That’s basically how the Hohenzollern have done it for decades. Just made “Prinz/Prinzessin von Preussen” part of the surname.
Except the Greeks aren’t allowed that to sneak that bit in. We’ll see if they abide by it.
You mean to tell me Marie Chantal gave up calling herself a Crown Princess?? I am shocked. She’s always traded on that big time (so has her daughter).
Amazing, right?
The name is suspect. A professor filed a lawsuit, claiming the name implies aristocracy or royalty and is anti democratic. IMO he’s correct.
Last week the court said he doesn’t have standing to bring the case and threw it out.
Charles gave the most important speech of his tenure as king, possibly of his life last week. Simply put I think Charles wanted all eyeballs on his ‘historic moment’ speaking against dictators and autocracy. If last week had been a normal one Sophie and Edward could attend but in this case Sophie and Edward were showing fealty to Charles and watching it all go down. Probably taking notes and getting ready to give Charles some kind of hero’s welcome to him when he’s back and rested up, they know where their bread is buttered.
I doubt Charles moved the needle against Trump. What I really wonder is if they discussed what to do with Ghislaine, a woman who has sizeable blackmail against T and Andrew.
The party was the day after the state visit so it shouldn’t have over shadowed anything
Yes, but then it was Manhattan and then to Bermuda. That man does not want to be overshadowed.
@Truthiness
It’s actually quite pathetic that this “most important speech of his (Charles’) royal term” is a copy of Harry’s speech from Ukraine.
Hi Black Elderberry, I love your name!
Charles was very loudly telling Congress face-to-face to use their checks and balances. On a wider variety of issues than Ukraine, like speaking out for interfaith support and against christian nationalism, climate, the Middle East. Both Charles and Harry coordinated with Britain’s Foreign Office so they’re going to reinforce some of the same issues. That said I’m only a Sussex fan, I’d love to see the monarchy abolished!
My God, Will couldn’t go to a freaking party? Because he was not the birthday boy, he felt “overshadowed?” He could at least have gotten drunk, which is one of his favorite pastimes.
Every time commenters excuse Camila’s fashion because of her age I think of how Silvia is still bringing her A game despite being 81 and Queen for 50+ years. That red dress isn’t modern or ground breaking but it’s more glamorous then anything the BRF wears. Also, for those unfamiliar both Camilla and Kate would be the youngest of their generation had either attended
Yes and no.
Camilla is older than Maria Teresa of luxembourgh, grand duchess until last year
Kate is older than the current grand duchess Stephanie of luxembourgh. She was in the equivalent of Kate’s position until last year.
Normally, this sort of occasion would have been a time to send out Edward and/or Sophie – they are boring but reliably available, and also still somewhat financially dependent on the crown, so they can be moved around like pawns on a chess board and Charles wouldn’t have to worry about being overshadowed. Hmmm. I wonder if something could be up with one or both of them? Or if they might just be tired of being the Windsor family seat fillers.
Could be. Nothing in the court circular for Edward after the 23rd of April. Nothing after April 21st for sophie.
Also, this snub of the king of Sweden tells me that the Brits think they’re on the top tier of the European royals because they didn’t even bother to show up. In reality, the other European monarchs are what modern monarchs SHOULD be– modest, helpful, well-liked, not mightily expensive like the Winsdors, normal. That’s all.
I looked at the header photo and thought it was Jim Broadbent!