The extended Swedish Royal Family pulled out majority of their collection of tiaras for this wedding. Let’s start with the two tiara surprises, worn by the King’s eldest sisters, Princess Birgitta and Princess Margaretha. Princess Margaretha, Mrs. Ambler (in purple) wore the Baden Fringe Tiara, a tiara thought to be reserved for Crown Princesses and one we normally associate with Princess Victoria (see here and here for more information on this tiara). I thought it was a great tiara on her and fit especially well with her colour and style of hair.
Princess Birgitta of Hohenzollern Sigmaringen wore what the Swedish Monarchy website called “Princess Sibylla’s Tiara”, a tiara we know as the Connaught Diamond Tiara (for great background information on this tiara, see here or here). Princess Madeleine wore this tiara for her sister’s wedding three years ago and it was a tiara many guessed she would choose for her own wedding today. It’s another spiky tiara that looked well enough on Birgitta. I just wished they would have removed the dark velvet ribbon wrapped around its base and replaced it with something closer to her hair colour.
Princess Désirée, Baroness Silfverschiöld wore the Cut Steel Tiara. This is one of the more unusual tiaras in the Swedish cache of jewels and to be honest, not one of my favourites. Princess Désirée, however, wore it very well today with her glittering gold dress and volumous hair, which balanced out the top feathery plume of the tiara. If it’s got to be worn, this is how to wear it.
Princess Christina, Mrs. Magnuson wore the Six Button Tiara. I’m not a fan of the Swedish Button Tiaras in general but Christina’s hair colour and style provided a soft backdrop for this tiara and kept the diamond buttons from appearing as disjointed as they usually do. I thought she looked quite lovely.
Countess Gunnila Bernadotte of Wisborg (widow of the King’s uncle Prince Carl Johan of Sweden) wore her usual rather unusual tiara. To me, it looks like a diamond and pearl brooch stuck on a metal headband that thankfully, is hidden in her curled grey hair. She wore this same tiara to Crown Princess Victoria’s wedding in 2010. I initially thought that Countess Marianne Bernadotte of Wisborg (widow of the King’s uncle Prince Sigvard of Sweden)was wearing the Napoleonic Amethyst Tiara (she’s on the right below) but this one looks different. Does anyone know the identity and history of this tiara?
Mrs. Désirée von Bohlen und Halbach, daughter of Princess Brigitta (named after her sister Princess Désirée) wore the Pearl Circlet Tiara. Like the Six Button and Amethyst Tiaras above, this one is a little flat. I suppose it is a good choice for a more distant relative and I can not imagine Désirée has many other tiaras at her disposal so it likely was her only choice. A small tiara is always better than no tiara (hear that Princess Charlene of Monaco?!?!).
Countess Alice Victoria Trolle-Wachtmeister (Swedish Mistress of the Robes and former lady-in-waiting to Queen Silvia) topped her turquoise gown with a diamond floral tiara.
Embed from Getty Images
Embed from Getty Images
Photos from Getty as indicated
Royal Hats 
It’s so nice to see some older royal ladies for a change. I like the purple dress and coat altho she needed some lipstick or makeup to liven herself up. Brigitta’s pink dress looks like an old rag of a nightgown. I can’t believe she thought it was OK to wear that in public.
The brown base on Princess Brigitta’s tiara is just terrible.
Princess Birgitta’s outfit in general is pretty terrible. Not even a pretty tiara could save that droopy dress.
I really like Countess Alice’s dress. A lot of times older women wear colors that wash them off but this teal blue is so beautiful. Compare this to that horrible pink nightgown Princess Brigitta is wearing.
The Princess in the gold dress looks STUNNING.
It seems Marianne’s tiara was wrongly identified
Thanks, Jelsta. As soon as I saw this photograph I knew it was not the Amethyst Tiara. Do you have any idea which one it is?
Sorry, I don’t
Yeah! WE have an ID! For Victoria’s wedding, she was wearing the Order of the Vasa (green bow/ribbon with the white Maltese cross ‘headed’ by the Swedish crown the cross is suspended by). She does not appear to be wearing that for 6-8-13.
That huge, long yellow gold neck chain with round ‘head’ pendent she is wearing at both Victoria’s wedding as well as today’s wedding is the H. M. The King’s Medal awarded her by King Gustaf.
A little more on Alice Victoria Trolle-Wachtmeister. My Swedish I don’t have anyone to speak with now so it’s rusty but I still read it quite well. Alice is now in more of an honorarium role as Mistress of the Robes (due to her advanced age). She has that as a royal house staff title but was for years, head of Queen Silvia’s house hold. That’s what the words ‘former statsfru’ in the short blurb on Wiickipedia means. I assume along the way she was confired a countess as well but don’t know anything in particular on that. So as head of house, she once was far more powerful in the royal house than her job title of Mistress of the Robes she holds today would make one think of.
I am wondering if her red striped sash is maybe a ‘retired’ Swedish sash indicating her position in the Swedish Women’s Voluntary Defense Service (rikslottachef).
Princess Margaretha in the Baden Fringe and Princess Christina in the Six Button were the two I liked the most. The Baden Fringe is a lovely tiara, and the fact that it can look so good on so many different hair styles shows its versatility. The button tiaras are not my favourites at all; but I think I’ve never seen the Six Button worn to better effect than here.
Alice Victoria Trolle-Wachtmeister (née Tornérhielm; born 9 May 1926) is the Swedish Mistress of the Robes, a countess and a former statsfru. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Trolle-Wachtmeister
Alice Trolle- Wachtmeister.
I think she is/was chief lady in waiting for Queen Silvia. I have no idea why she’s wearing a danish order sash though.
Thanks so much, Bella! Interesting that she would be wearing a Danish order sash. The mystery continues…
I am wondering if her red striped sash is maybe a ‘retired’ (or often no occasion for it to be worn in royal formal occasion) Swedish sash indicating her position in the Swedish Women’s Voluntary Defense Service (rikslottachef)? That might make more sense than a foreign royal sash. However, I cannot tell from Victoria’s 2010 wedding day photos of Alice what her other 2 medals are she is sporting – possibly one of those is attached to her sash – but would be odd for her to wear the sash today and not it’s possible paired medal. The rikslottachef still to me looks like a candidate of where/what her sash might have come from/indicates.
I agree – the photo of Gunilla Bernadotte walking escorted with Countess Marianne toward the top of your photos here is the correct Gunilla, the 2nd wife of Count Carl Johan Bernadotte, Count of Wisborg who passed 2012. Her deceased husband lost his title when he married for the 1st time because he married a Swede commoner. Later, the Grand Duchess of Luxembourg, Swedish through her own family, bestowed the title of Count of Wisborg on the man who had been known as Mr. Bernadotte. He had 2 adopted children tho I am not sure if they were adopted via his 1st or 2nd marriage or a combo. The press has once again IDed the same mystery lady wrong as they did from Victoria’s wedding. Not sure who the ‘other’ single lady is. The long tall wrongly IDed lady is a mystery. Maybe we can track her down via her tiara. She might show up in some of the royal wedding photos from Mary and Frederik of Denmark or the Norg wedding photos or through some of the photos from Prince Haakon & Mette-Marit’s wedding. Her sash looks to be Norg or maybe from Denmark to me. I would need to look up more ‘sash’ info — mostly know the protocol of which sash to wear (if you have more than 1) for a formal royal affair (for those who stick to that protocol that is).
Silly me – of course Alice became a countess when she married Count of Wisborg – or if they were already married when he was given his title then they both became Count and Countess of Wisborg at the same time.