The Royalty Nerd

This week, the Swedish royals were down two members as Victoria and Daniel paid an official visit to the United Kingdom. An official visit isn’t on the same level as a state visit, so there was no pomp and circumstance for this little trip, but we did see some some great fashion and fun engagements.

Day 1: November 29th

The first day of the trip started with a visit to the Stanford training area, otherwise known as STANTA where they met with Ukrainian soldiers that are being trained in the UK by Swedish soldiers.

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Afterwards, it was time for lunch at The Three Blackbirds pub in East Anglia, where they met with the owner to talk about, as I quote from the Swedish royal family’s site, ‘English pub culture’ as well as learn about the local area. They also got to pour their own drinks!

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For the morning’s events, Victoria wore a Toteme jacket and looked super cozy doing so.

In the afternoon, they visited White City Campus, part of the Imperial College. Below, Victoria and Daniel are seen pictured speaking with the President of the Imperial College while visiting the Molecular Sciences Research Hub.

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This visit had a particular focus on defence and security between Sweden and the UK. So, they also visited with NATO’s Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic, or, DIANA. The purpose of DIANA is to help with funding and technological resources from NATO to ‘deep tech and dual-use innovators’ to improve their security.

They also attended a dinner with the International Maritime Organization Council. Sweden is a candidate to become a member of the council, which is a UN agency that specializes in the safety of shipping products and the protection of the ocean from pollution created by shipping.

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In the evening, they attended a dinner hosted by Business Sweden, which helps Swedish businesses grow their international profiles, and the Swedish Embassy. The dinner took place at the National History Museum in London and the theme was sustainability, defence, and security for British and Swedish companies.

Crown Princess Victoria wore a dress from H&M, which is of course, a Swedish company!

Day 2: November 30th

Day two of the trip started with a meeting with the Swedish company Mindler to discuss the experience of establishing their business in the UK. Unless I’m completely missing something, I haven’t been able to find any photos from this part of the trip.

But that’s okay, because their next stop was to visit the Prince and Princess of Wales!

The meeting was a nice reunion for the two couples. William and Kate visited Sweden in 2018, but they definitely saw each other this past summer at the wedding of Crown Prince Hussein and Princess Rajwa of Jordan.

Victoria wore a jacket from Alice + Olivia. And while we’re at it, the Princess of Wales wore an Emilia Wickstead dress.

After the little hello, Victoria and Daniel visited Kew Gardens to learn about international projects taking place in order to promote biodiversity (I’d like to think William would be interested in this too, considering his work with Earthshot). They also planted a tree to memorialize their visit.

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The tree they planted was a Chinese Ironwood, if you were wondering!

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In the afternoon, they attended a conference for British and Swedish companies, politics, and members of the academic world at the Swedish-British Summit.

But the real fun came in the evening, at the Royal Variety Performance.

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The Royal Variety Performance is an annual event full of theatre, music, and comedy. It is attended by members of the British royal family every year, and back in the day, it was also a time for the royals to break out the jewels. Sadly, times have changed, but it’s still a beautiful, fun and fashionable evening.

For the evening Victoria wore a Toteme gown, and sat alongside the Prince and Princess of Wales.

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Day 3: December 1st

The last day of the trip saw Victoria and Daniel visit Cranfield University to attend a showcase put on by Business Sweden in order to learn about sustainable developments in transportation. Part of the visit included a discussion with academics and business leaders.

Victoria was giving a little bit Daphne from Scoobie Doo but I still love it. She wore a purple Prada coat.

Later on, they had lunch at the Swedish Ambassador’s residence with British politicians and academics to discuss the Memorandum of Understanding Regarding Life Sciences which was signed by the UK and Sweden back in 2022. The Memorandum promotes cooperation between the UK and Sweden regarding healthcare and associated research.

Afterwards, they visited the Church of Sweden to meet with Swedes living in London for some fika, or coffee!

Eyeing up those treats right there. For the afternoon events, Victoria wore a Victoria Beckham dress.

And that wrapped up the trip! It was jam packed with events for only three days, and while there wasn’t any sparkle we hope to see with royal visits, their attendance at the Royal Variety Performance was awesome to see. Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel of Sweden are, if I’m being honest, my favourite royal couple, so it’s always a joy seeing them out and about!