To me, every bride is a princess. Call me fixated, but every bride should feel and be treated like one every day, especially on her wedding day. The pedigree does not matter at all and so does the budget, social status, profession or wealth.
In the Western World, we fortunately live at a time when class divides have been somehow re-negotiated: the big divide between nobles and commoners has been blurred. Monarchic stability is directly linked to personal stability these days and therefore young royals are now allowed to settle down with spouses they really love. Once upon a time, for royalty, being in love was a bonus, whilst marriage more of a duty.
Still, the wedding of a princess is the very stuff fairy tales are made of and we all, more or less, look at it with curiosity, if not scrutinise for inspiration and exercising a certain sense of envy. It is perceived as an historic moment and every aspect of the event is considered, talked bout and sticks in our minds as a reference.
You can imagine my anguish, when I discovered that images of the Royal Wedding in Sweden were trickling through the internet in drips and drabs and much with delay, last Saturday. No world-wide broadcast, as expected, due to a copyright dispute. In my opinion, this was a wasted opportunity to show the world a wonderful performance of style and grace, carried out with aplomb and simplicity. Yes, simplicity. I do not recall having seen anything over the top about the ceremony and public appearance in Stockholm. Have you?
Princess Victoria looked stunning and radiant. Her gown was classy, essential and bearing the whole-marks of her title, as well as historic references to her family and parents’ wedding. The Groom, Daniel, was dashingly handsome and spontaneous. They both fumbled whilst exchanging rings and seemed at ease expressing their emotions in public, even amidst all the protocol and formalities.
Are royals becoming more like us and we are becoming more like them? Perhaps we should all feel more like princes and princesses in our own lives too, because we already live lifestyles that exceed those of monarchs in past centuries, given the advances in technology, medicine and at socio/economic level. You do not need to look very hard to see that this is true and, perhaps, your wedding day was/is going to be not that dissimilar to that of Victoria & Daniel, after all.
We wish Victoria Crown Princess of Sweden well and send our congratulations to Daniel, Duke of Västergötland, who were married on Saturday 19th June 2010 in Stockholm.
Photo credits: Getty Images
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