Swedish royal wedding table reflects history

According to Swedish tradition, the wedding often ended with a grand dancing party to midnight or even early morning. Swedish Crown Princess (32) and 36 year old Prince Daniel Westling's wedding party ended finally about 6 am on Sunday when the last group of guests left the royal castle in Stockholm.

Wedding cake weighs 250 kilogram

The white four-leaf clover-shaped wedding cake is 330 cm high, and is made up of 11 tiers. A 125 cm daquise base (a soft almond meringue made from almond flour) is topped with chocolate crisp, followed by a fragilité base (a soft almond meringue made from almond paste).

On top of this is a champagne mousse with a wild strawberry curd centre. This is followed by a layer of wild strawberry compote. Champagne mousse and daquise base are then layered, finishing off with champagne mousse.

95 percent of the ingredients are ecological.

Table setting represents every generation of the Bernadotte dynasty
According to the court information, every reigning generation of the Bernadotte dynasty is represented in the choice of silver, porcelain and glass used for the table setting of the table of honour and the main table in the Hall of State. The table silver has been chosen so that the banquet begins and ends with the first and last generations, from King Karl XIV Johan and Queen Désirée to the current King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia.

Gustav III's Sèvres porcelain

The final generations of Holstein-Gottorp are also represented, through King Gustav III's Sèvres porcelain and through the candelabras commissioned by King Gustav IV Adolf which stand on each of the round tables (not on the top table).

The Brazilian silver service

The table silver — in other words, the decorative silverware — comes from the Brazilian silver service, which belonged to Princess Amalie of Leuchtenberg. She was the sister of the future Swedish Queen Josefina, and the silver service was a gift from her.

The Geatish service

The table will also be adorned with four silver-mounted crystal vases from the Geatish silver service. This service was commissioned by Crown Prince Oscar (the future King Oscar I) from Adolf Zethelius and Johan Petter Grönvall. Zethelius made the pieces in 1827. Grönvall added to the service in the 1830s, and Gustaf Möllenborg made additional pieces in the 1840s.

Flower baskets

The flower baskets used for the wedding table setting are from the pieces made by Zethelius in 1827. The architectural inspiration from the neo-Gothic style of the time is particularly clear. Certain parts are reminiscent of miniature Gothic pavilions.

Wedding gift

All the glassware was given to The King and Queen on the occasion of their wedding in 1976 by the Riksdag and the Government. In other words, this was the Swedish people's wedding gift to the couple. The Crown Princess Couple received a similar gift at their first pre-wedding reception: 1,000 Orrefors glasses designed by Erika Lagerbielke.

Silver plates

All guests' place settings will include silver chargers. The chargers used at the top table were commissioned by King Karl XIV Johan, the first king of the Bernadotte dynasty or Jean Bernadotte from France while the others date back to the late 18th century and were probably commissioned by King Adolf Fredrik and Queen Lovisa Ulrika and by King Gustav III.

The first course

The porcelain is from the State service. The plates have gold-edged rims and are decorated with small national coats of arms. The first pieces from the service were commissioned in France in the 1850s. Additional pieces were then commissioned in Sweden on various occasions up until the 20th century. Both Rörstrand and Gustavsberg have been suppliers. I just lives by Rörstrand street, a huge porcelain ruin still stands there as a historic evidence.

The cutlery was commissioned by Queen Désirée, the first Bernadotte queen. They feature the monogram EBD (Eugenia Bernhardina Desideria), and are gold-plated. They were made in Stockholm around 1830-40.

The fish course

The porcelain was made by Königliche Porzellan-Manufaktur (KPM) in Berlin, probably in the 1760s. KPM was an important porcelain manufacturer, founded in 1761 at the initiative of Frederick the Great of Prussia, the brother of Queen Lovisa Ulrika, and is still in business today.

The plates have wavy rims decorated in gold, with a pattern of multicolored flowers. The service was bought by King Oskar II in 1886, so the pieces were already antiques at the time.

The cutlery is the well-known Swedish design Olga. The forks are Swedish, and were made in the mid-1800s, while the knives in the same design were commissioned by King Gustaf VI Adolf in the 1950s.

The meat course

The porcelain is from a service commissioned by King Gustaf V in 1910. The plates are white with gilt lattice-work rims, with medallions featuring the monograms of King Gustaf V and Queen Victoria and the lesser national coat of arms.

The cutlery was commissioned by Queen Josefina, who was the daughter of the Napoleon's step son and the design is called Prince Albert.

Dessert

The guests at the table of honour and some of those seated at the long table will eat from plates from the great Sèvres service. This was a gift from Louis XVI of France to the future King Gustav III on his visit to Paris in 1771, when Gustav was still crown prince. Other guests at the top table will eat from copies of this service, commissioned by King Karl XV when he was crown prince.

King Fredrik Adolf, who came on the same visit, also received a Sèvres service. The manufacturer's archive documents list them as a single service, and the various pieces are recorded in great detail.

The Sèvres service

Sèvres is the most famous of all French porcelain manufacturers. The factory was founded in Vincennes in 1740, before moving to Sèvres in 1756. The company enjoyed the patronage of both King Louis XV and Madame de Pompadour from the very start, and in 1759 Sèvres became a royal supplier.
King Gustav III received a Sèvres service on his visit to France in 1784.

Since the 1950s, this service has only been used on three occasions: when Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom visited in 1956, for the French state visit of 2000, and for The King and Queen's wedding luncheon in 1976, when larger pieces from the service adorned the table. On that occasion, the plates were from a different service.

The cutlery was commissioned by King Karl XIV Johan. The original pieces were produced in France, with several subsequent commissions having been produced in Stockholm. The monogram, which is in relief, is cast into the cutlery. The design is unusually opulent, and the cutlery is gold plated.

The table linen

The table linen consists of tablecloths and napkins that are more than a hundred years old, woven from damask.

The tablecloths for all the Hall of State's tables have an area of 441 m², the tablecloths for the Halls of the Orders of Chivalry have an area of 107 m², and the napkins in the Hall of State and the Halls of the Orders of Chivalry have an area of 402 m². This gives a total area of 950 m², which is almost a hectare.

The whole of the table of honour and 21 of the 38 round tables in the Hall of State will be spread with the Union Linen. This was woven in 1891, in Lille in France.

All 582 napkins are from the Union Linen. In 1891, there were 999 napkins. 119 years later, 919 of these are still in use.

Extremely old linen can be kept and used for so many years thanks to careful treatment. All royal linen is looked after by the Linen Chamber, the department that washes, irons, mangles and stores the valuable damask and the other linens.

Damask is mangled according to old traditions. The process consists of 18 stages, from stain removal and laundering to folding, mangling and rolling.

The tablecloths and napkins are stored in a cool storeroom for at least three months before being used again, so that the fibers can rest and return to their correct form.

Used flowers and grass become souvenir


The decoration of flowers in front door of the cathedral (Photo by Xuefei Chen)
Early Sunday morning, a lot of people waiting outside the Cathedral and the castle to pick up some flowers left from the wedding decoration.

According to Swedish Daily report that a guest from Switzerland took a piece of the 2000 square meters grass mattress laid in front of the castle to plant in her own garden at home.

The young couple breaks the tradition to speak up

Swedish Princess Victoria and her newly wed husband Prince Daniel Westling set a new tradition by speaking up to the public and the guests.

According to tradition, the bride and bridegroom don't say anything, just silently accept the blessings and good wishes from friends and family members.

But Victoria expressed her thanks to the public in the balcony of the castle and Prince Westling spoke at the banquet.

This is considered by an influence of modern princes and princesses in neighboring countries Norway and Denmark, who made speeches during the wedding.

The Boat Gothenburg leaves

The Gothenburg Boat (photo by Xuefei Chen)
The replica of Boat Gothenburg left Stockholm with 8 gunshots to thank for the grand wedding ceremony. It came to Stockholm from Gothenburg early last week with the bride and bridegroom and the King and the Queen.

Now it is heading to Denmark with Foreign Minister Carl Bildt and four other ministers and about 1,000 people aboard.

The boat has been to China's Guangzhou and Shanghai in 2006 concluding its global cruise after being rebuilt on the basis of the one staying 260 years under the sea.

China's art troupe from Guangzhou came to give performance at the concert held by the parliament and government for the wedding on Friday evening.

By Xuefei Chen, People's Daily Online correspondent in Stockholm, chenxuefei7@hotmail.com