The Royalty Nerd

Sweden’s King Carl XVI Gustaf celebrated his Golden Jubilee, 50 years on the throne, on September 15th, 2023.

To mark the occasion, the Scandinavian royals attended a gala dinner, with the ladies decked out in full bling; it was a beautiful, sparkling night.

When I saw Queen Silvia and Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden, my first thought was that my tiara predictions were correct, but my second thought was that they were repping Sweden, loud and proud.

Do these dresses remind you of anything? The Swedish flag perhaps?

For a jubilee to celebrate the Golden jubilee of their husband and father respectfully, Queen Silvia and Crown Princess Victoria wore gowns that perfectly captured their country. With anti-monarchy sentiments always a threat to a royal family, the Queen and next in line to the throne demonstrated the unity of the monarchy.

Let’s talk about diplomatic dressing.

Diplomatic dressing can refer to using clothing as a way of conveying a message. Take for example, Queen Letizia of Spain:

Embed from Getty Images

While on a visit to the Mutua Madileña’s auditorium, Queen Letizia wore a vyshyvanka, a traditional Ukrainian embroidered blouse. This engagement took place on March 3rd, 2022, only a week after the invasion of Ukraine by Russia.

As royals are not political figures and are not meant to express political opinions or ideas, Queen Letizia used her wardrobe to convey a message of support for the people of Ukraine.

Another form of diplomatic dressing we often see is royals wearing clothing from designers from their own country.

Embed from Getty Images

Queen Máxima of the Netherlands often wears Dutch designers. For instance, she wore a Jan Taminiau gown to the wedding of Prince Carl Philip of Sweden and Sofia Hellqvist (now Princess Sofia). Wearing a Dutch designer to a foreign royal wedding was a way of showing off her country and the work of Dutch designers. We often see royals do this even at less extravagant events too!

It’s not just their own country royals like to express appreciation for. When royals tour, they often wear designers from the country or region they are visiting, wear colours according to the country’s flag, or wear jewellery from that country.

Embed from Getty Images

See here, in 2016, when the then Duchess of Cambridge was in Canada. She wore a red Preen dress and a maple leaf brooch. The colour red and the maple leaf both being part of Canada’s flag, of course. In fact, the Princess of Wales does diplomatic dressing like no other, but that’s a post for another day.

Fashion plays a major role in how we communicate with others and the world around us. We derive meaning and messages from the clothing we wear, how we wear them, and when we wear them. With royalty, fashion is not just pretty ballgowns and jewellery. It can send messages of empathy, understanding, appreciation, and unity.