As with other recent Swedish christenings, today’s baptism of Prince Alexander was an family-centric affair. Queen Silvia debuted her third ‘grand-baby christening colour’ (she wore pink for the christenings of Princess Estelle and Prince Oscar and blue for the christenings of Princess Leonore and Prince Nicolas) along with a new hat.
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Previously Worn: This hat is new
Crown Princess Victoria topped her coral pink Elie Saab dress with a custom bowed headband made of the same lace. Any more use of lace on the headpiece would have been complete overkill but… this headpiece left me wanting more. I think this is another case where a neural straw percher could have done a lot to lift this all-lace ensemble and provide some much needed textural contrast.
While this headpiece fell completely flat for me, my heart was warmed by the matched hues of Victoria and Estelle’s frocks. So very sweet.
Previously Worn: This headpiece is new
Princess Madeleine topped her blue floral Erdem dress with a stylised double bow headpiece in navy and sky blue. The pointed shape of the bows saves the bow from saccharine cutesey-ness (barely) and the piece works well with Madeleine’s chignon hairstyle. I’m not a great fan of the piece but at an event that saw almost no real hats, it held its own.
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Previously Worn: This headpiece is new
Inquisitive young Princess Leonore sported a white double hair bow.
Royal Hats 
I really like Silvia’s whole getup. The different shades of purple are great (no matchy-matchy here) and the flowered hat is straight up cute.
Oh Victoria… nice idea for the dress but the length is all wrong and that hairband belongs in elementary school.
Love Madeleine’s dress but not feeling the weird hair bow.
I like the idea of Silvia’s hat, but I think the additional flowers on her jacket make it too much. Also, what is up with the three shades of purple? One too many in my opinion.
The coral pink is a great color for Victoria, but that stretchable headband does not belong! This dress had much potential, and the headband ruins it for me. Madeleine looks nice, but again, as a hat person, I find this headpiece more than disappointing.
Overall, Sofia’s mother Marie’s ensemble is my favorite of the day (after Sofia herself). Sofia’s sisters did not surprise me with their choices.
I agree that this was much more low-key and that Sofia’s choice of headwear pioneered a path for the others, but I still find the lack of real hats so far disturbing. (P.S. Mette-Marit would fit right in with this crowd!)
The Swedish royal ladies have long had a fondness for hair bows. These headbands are along the same lines. I’d prefer a proper hat, but I admire the effort that went into each one. Everyone looked lovely and happy, and that’s the main thing.
I actually don’t mind the headband theme Sweden seems to have going. It is better than the fascinators, in my opinion, which are really headbands masquerading as hats. Sofia’s seems a play on a tiara and I like the follow through on Victoria’s color theme, though I don’t think the headband needed the bow on top. I really love the hairpiece Madeline is wearing with her chignon….very classy. Silvia’s dress just seems too busy with the flowers on the jacket and while I love the retro style of the hat she might as well have gone all in and had it cover more of her head like the styles from a previous decade. The children are adorable and it is refreshing to see them behaving just as children do. I also love the small child size chairs.
The colour of Queen Silvia’s outfit looks great on her. At first I didn’t care for the flowers on the jacket, but they’re growing on me. Don’t care for the ribbons and headbands but the dresses are pretty and all those young children. They’ll have fun growing up at get-togethers.
It’s fun to see Queen Silvia in a flowered number after HatQueen’s recent posts of Queen Elizabeth’s vintage looks. Fortunately, this one is more subtle!
I’m disappointed, too, since this family hatted up so well for the previous christenings. Are headbands replacing fascinators, or is Swedish RF following Mette-Marit’s (bad) example?
I think everyone followed Princess Sofia’s lead here. She has not worn many full on hats yet (there’s plenty of time for her to develop into this) and since this was a fairly informal christening, informal headpieces weren’t all that surprising. Don’t worry- when the Swedish royals need to bring their millinery ‘A’ game, they usually do!
As usual, you put things into perspective, HatQueen!
It looked that way to me as well–a large 3 dimensional hairband, since it did not cover the back of her head. I guess everyone got the “no real hats, hair ornamentation only” memo!
Did you noticed that the queen had no had but only an headband? So disappointing!
it pains me to say I agree, not one stood out or was flattering, very disappointed
I totally agree Queen Silvia wins hands down for me – and I love it! The colour, design etc. it’s perfect on her.
I can’t see any resemblance between Sofia and her sisters at all – isn’t it funny!
For that matter, no one seems to resemble the parents, either! I sincerely hope this lack of real hats doesn’t mark a sad end to hat-wearing in Sweden.
I was disappointed by the lack of hats as well. Re fascinators, I don’t understand the appeal of fancy hairbands on anyone over the age of ten! Ah well, at least there were many pretty dresses and it was fun to watch those cute kids being kids!