Victoria's maternity fashion: daywear, part two

Part two now of Victoria's maternity day wear (you can read part one here) and we start with her trip to Peru and Colombia where we got lots of bright colours and eye catching jackets.

October 19th, Lima, Peru

For the first appearances of the tour, including a meeting with Peruvian President, Ollanta Humala, Victoria chose a red shift dress with a raised waist and mid length sleeves. The jaunty jewellery was a nice addition and this was a striking look to start the tour.

October 20th, Lima, Peru

There was another eye catching dress on display on day two when the Crown Princess chose a geometric print design with full sleeves for a series of engagements including a tour of Lima's historic centre. It was another victory for Victoria.

October 21st, Cartagena, Colombia

The royal couple then moved on to Colombia and for a visit to Cartagena, Crown Princess Victoria chose a fabulous black dress with floral print scattered across the body. It was a look worth repeating over and over again.

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October 22nd, Bogota, Colombia
For day four of her tour, Victoria returned to regal purple as she met Colombian President, Juan Manuel Santos Calderon, on her first day in the country's capital, Bogota. The purple shift worn for Nicolas' christening was teamed with purple coat and pretty, delicate gold jewellery to make this another standout look. Rather lovely.

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October 23rd, Bogota, Colombia For the final day of her South American tour, Crown Princess Victoria chose a black and white print dress with a bolero length white jacket fastened with a neat bow just above her bump. This is one of my absolute favourite Victoria maternity looks - super chic but with the added twist of black shoes and white bag to really mix it up. Fabulous.

November 2nd, Royal Palace, Stockholm We got a hint of a rather nice red top from Victoria on her next day appearance. She was sitting down, admittedly, so we didn't get to see how the rest of the outfit panned out but the colour and cut of this one was an eye catcher. She was attending a briefing ahead of the Tunisian State Visit to Sweden - you can see her great gala gown from that trip on the evening maternity looks post.

November 3rd, Uppsala University Is it me or has Victoria been wearing a lot of blue during this pregnancy? One of her first baby blue outfits came in November, when she was around four to five months pregnant (scan time everyone, just saying), and she attended the Dag Hammerskjold lecture at Uppsala University wearing a gorgeous blue dress with baby blue coat and blue scarf. That's a lot of blue.

November 4th, Royal Palace, Stockholm There was more blue on display (I"ll stop now) when Victoria joined her parents, husband and brother to welcome the President of Tunisia as he started his State Visit to Sweden. We got a glimpse of a pale blue dress with a fabulous cornflower coat over the top and a sweet little matching fascinator. Very appropriate and very nice indeed.

November 5th, City Hall, Stockholm Want to see the red dress from Lima again? OK, here you go. Victoria wore it again for a lunch for the President of Tunisia and it looked just as good second time round.

November 6th, Royal Palace, Stockholm That rather lovely spotty frock first seen in Luxembourg was brought out of the royal wardrobe again as Victoria and Daniel said farewell to the Tunisian delegation at the end of the State Visit. This dress just gets better and better. A firm favourite all round.

November 10th, Stockholm Victoria has made a point of royal recycling during this pregnancy and for a visit to a WWF lecture she rewore the red and grey geometric print dress from her South American visit. It looked just as lovely, one month on from its last appearance.

November 17th, Royal Palace, Stockholm Another favourite frock made an appearance for a meeting with the Swedish Justice and Migration Minister that Victoria attended with her father at the Royal Palace. The black and white print dress worn in Bogota was teamed with a longer, black jacket this time round. It's a more serious take on the same look and while not as striking as the white jacket combo, it's still a winner.

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November 18th, Varmland The blue outfit from earlier in the month was out of the Royal Wardrobe again for a visit to Varmland with Prince Daniel. And just to carry on the theme, Victoria's husband chose a blue suit, shirt and tie for this visit. That's a lot of blue. Again.

November 27th, Royal Palace, Stockholm The King and the Crown Princess gave an audience for honorary consuls as November came to an end and Victoria chose a simple but elegant shift dress for the occasion. It was chic and classic and another style hit for this queen of maternity fashion.

Victoria's maternity fashion: the first few months

We've got just weeks, if not days, to wait until Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden becomes a mum for the second time. We've already checked out the sparkling evening looks from the last few months so now it's time to have a look back at some of the daytime maternity outfits Victoria has chosen since she announced her pregnancy in September last year. This is all about the day outfits and there have been some stunners.

September 7th, Stockholm

Just days after announcing baby number two was on the way, Victoria and her husband Prince Daniel, joined a workshop on entrepreneurship led by Stanford's Professor Tina Seelig. Victoria chose a Sixties style black dress with white trim which was on trend and rather fabulous. Just a super chic look.

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September 10th, Gothenburg

There was more of an Eighties feel about the top chosen by Victoria for a visit to Gothenburg a few days later. The black and white print with a bold red line across it was teamed with simple black trousers for a relaxed look as she and Daniel carried out engagements in the city

September 14th, Grand Hotel, Stockholm
Victoria and Daniel attended the Franco-Swedish Business Forum on a sunny autumn day with the mama to be picking a purple shift dress we've seen before for her latest appearance. The gold necklace to match the button details on the dress was a great touch.

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September 15th, Swedish Parliament, Stockholm
Black and white is always the order of the day for the annual visit to Sweden's Parliament for its official opening. Victoria chose a black dress with white trimmed black jacket and neat little black and white trim for her hair - another winner from the Crown Princess.

September 16th, Stockholm And suddenly we have a bump. There had been hints of Victoria's great expectations up until now but, as many women find, one day bump just makes its presence known. And when Victoria attended the 20th anniversary of the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance in Stockholm baby number two was very definitely making its presence felt. The Crown Princess chose a black dress with green jacket - a simple outfit but she looked stunning.

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September 17th, Stockholm Victoria had two engagements this day - an audience with Iraqi President Saleem al-Jaboori and then the opening of an exhibition about Folke Bernadotte and she went pastel for the occasion. There was a white shift dress with tweed jacket with rough edging and some rather nice snakeskin shows. A summery look as autumn began to make itself felt.

September 22nd, Royal Palace, Stockholm This marked the debut of a pink coat that would become a popular choice for Victoria in her second pregnancy. She wore it for an audience for over 100 astronauts and space experts (yes, you read that right) at the Royal Palace which she hosted alongside her dad, King Carl XVI Gustaf. It's bright, it's shiny and it works with everything. Not my favourite maternity look on Victoria but still stylish.

September 23rd, Royal Palace, Stockholm We only got a glimpse of this one as Victoria joined dad again as they took part in a Foreign Affairs Committee at the Royal Palace. Is it brown or is it black? My money is on black and all we can see is the scoop neck top but it's smart all the same.

September 24th, Vanersborg Victoria joined King Carl XVI Gustaf to visit a centre for asylum seekers and a school looking after children waiting for visas. For these engagements, Victoria chose a navy blue dress with button details and pleated skirt.

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October 11th, Royal Palace, Stockholm For one of the biggest events of the royal year, Crown Princess Victoria went for royal purple. The christening of her nephew, Prince Nicolas Paul Gustaf, saw Victoria choose a purple shift dress with mid length sleeves and a colour co-ordinated hat. Very regal.

October 13th, Grand Hotel, Stockholm A few days later, Victoria presented awards in an eye catching black, grey and white mix jacket. It's made even more chic by the shorter length and pretty texturing around the bottom. 

October 14th, Solna For the annual meeting of the WWF, Victoria chose a really pretty geometric pattern dress in grey. It has a shirt collar effect and strappy black belt and is really rather lovely.

That's part one of Victoria's maternity day wear - more soon starting with the outfits chosen for her visit to Peru and Colombia. And there is a lot more on the Swedish Royals from the past week on this special page.

New royal stamps for Sweden

You'll have to wait until March to get your hands on them but there are three rather lovely new royal stamps about to hit the post offices of Sweden. The special editions celebrate a birthday and a wedding anniversary and they are really very nice indeed.

A king and his heirs - King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden with Crown Princess Victoria and Princess Estelle on a new stamp to be released in March 2016

The stamps are being released to mark the 70th birthday of Carl XVI Gustaf (30th April in case you wanted to buy a card) and the 40th wedding anniversary of Sweden's King and Queen (19th June). They will come out just days after the 40th anniversary of the announcement of the engagement of Carl XVI Gustaf and Silvia which made headlines around the world on March 12th 1976.

Three beautiful portraits, taken by Anna-Lena Ahlstrom, will feature on the new stamps

The Queen of Sweden, marking her Ruby Jubilee this year, is shown in white with gold jewellery while her husband, approaching this big birthday, wears a blue suit and blue and gold tie, paying tribute to the colours of his country's flag.

King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden on a new special stamp

The stamps, released on March 17th, can be used for internal mail in Sweden. The rest of us will just have to keep them in the scrap book and enjoy more special royal pictures.

Photos PostNord

Estelle's birthday pics through the years

OK, she's only four but Princess Estelle of Sweden already has a pretty impressive album of birthday photos to her name. And 2016 has added another image to the history books for us all to enjoy. To mark her fourth birthday here is a look back at how Estelle of Sweden has celebrated.

February 23rd 2016, Estelle at four with mum and dad and waiting to meet a new brother or sister
(photo credit: (photo Kate Gabor/ The Royal Court Sweden)

Snow kiddins, she's three - Estelle took to her skis to mark her birthday in 2015
((photo Kate Gabor/ The Royal Court Sweden)

Now we are two - Sweden's future queen blows out her candles in February 2014 as Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel look on

(photo Kate Gabor/ The Royal Court Sweden)

Just a small slice - Estelle enjoys a cake in one of her first birthday photos from 2013.
(photo Kate Gabor/ The Royal Court Sweden)

OK, it's not a birthday portrait but it's an official photo of a major celebration that took place soon after Estelle arrived and the photos of her christening show a very happy mum and dad and a super alert and super cute baby with a super exciting future ahead of her. Happy Birthday, Estelle.

(photo Bruno Ehrs / The Royal Court Sweden)

And you can read more about the past week for Sweden's royals on this special page.

Princess Estelle at four

It's the moment we've been waiting for, an already established royal highlight of the year. February 23rd is Princess Estelle's birthday which means official photos which means a big chance to say 'ah' and 'wow'. And this year's pictures are every bit as cute as the ones that have come before. Here is Estelle of Sweden at four.

Estelle of Sweden turns four in another portrait for the history books 

(photo Kate Gabor/ kungahuset.se)

There are two photos, both taken at the Haga Palace where Estelle lives, and they show a little girl growing up fast. In her solo picture she perches on a chair in front of gilt trimmed doors. And then there is the family photo.

Mum, dad and daughter marking a very special birthday

Estelle stands on the chair holding her parents hands while mum and dad appear to have colour co-ordinated with their little girl. Estelle is wearing a cream dress with green piping and Crown Princess Victoria wears white while Prince Daniel has a green shirt for the occasion. And in the background is a hint of Victoria's baby bump. Which is a reminder that in a few weeks' time we will have more cute Estelle photos as she welcomes a baby brother or sister into her royal nursery.But for today it's all about this little princes who marks a special birthday with special photos. Time to say 'ah'.

A fairytale princess makes dreams come true

It was like a fairytale. A beautiful princess in her perfect dress and sparkling with jewels appeared in a palace and sat down to tea. But this was no story book. Princess Madeleine of Sweden threw open the doors of her royal home today to treat seriously ill children to an afternoon of pure magic.

Princess Madeleine of Sweden hosts a very special party for some very special children

(photo Kate Gabor/ kungahuset.se)

Madeleine is the patron of Min Stora Dag, My Big Day, an organisation which organises exciting and extraordinary activities for children with serious illnesses. A group of twelve children, aged between 5 and 8, had been invited along to be princes and princesses for the day at a special party in the Royal Palace. They knew a real princess would be there but they didn't know she'd be dressed like a fairytale come true. It was a really special moment on a really special day.

Victoria's Maternity Fashion: the evening dresses

Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden is about to welcome her second baby and with the arrival imminent now is a good time to look back at some of the marvellous maternity outfits chosen by this queen in waiting as she awaits her new child. We first saw Victoria after the announcement of her pregnancy at an evening event where she sparkled in silver. So here's a run down of the gala gowns she's worn as she expects her baby prince or princess.

 September 4th, Royal Palace, Stockholm

The announcement of Victoria's second pregnancy was hot off the presses when she joined her parents, husband, brother and sister in law for a special dinner honouring Swedish people who have made a significant contribution to society. All eyes were always going to be on Victoria for this one but the sparkling silver column dress she chose to wear for the event wowed and then some

September 21st, Stockholm

Crown Princess Victoria chose a simple but stylish black silk sheath dress with textured patterning for an evening engagement with the Swedish Brain Foundation of which she is patron. The dress, with cap sleeves and accessorised with statemetn gold jewellery, was worn for the presentation of one of the Foundation's annual prizes and proved a winner for this royal mama to be

November 4th, Royal Palace, Stockholm

It was full gala mode for Victoria as November got under way as she joined her family at a State Banquet for the President of Tunisia and his wife who were making a State Visit to Sweden. Victoria chose an empire line navy dress with sheer patterned overlay and diamonds aplenty for this evening out

November 7th, Berwald Hall, Stockholm

Victoria and Daniel attended a special concert, Playing for Life, held as a benefit for refugees. For this appearance Victoria rewore her black sheath dress last seen a month earlier but added a textured evening coat with bow embellishment and stuck with her gold accessories.

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December 10th, Concert Hall, Stockholm

For one of the biggest gala events of the year, the Nobel Prize Ceremony, Crown Princess Victoria went very regal in purple. Again, this gala gown was empire line and like her State Banquet dress it had a sheer overlay which added detailing at the neck and across the arms. Add in a stunner of a tiara and some really rather lovely jewels and you have a winner of a wow of a look every day of the week

December 11th, Royal Palace, Stockholm

There was more glitter the following day when Victoria joined the rest of the Royal Family for the traditional banquet offered by the King at the Royal Palace for the Nobel Laureates. For this gala gown, Victoria went for sparkling navy sequins in a fitted dress that looked sensational and sparkled just as much as her tiara. Oh, and there was a mini train too. Just perfect.

December 20th, Stock Exchange, Stockholm

December was all about diamonds for Victoria and with just days to go until Christmas she joined her family at the ceremonial meeting of the Swedish Academy. Black and white was the order of the day and the Crown Princess of Sweden chose an empire line black velvet evening down and put sparking diamond clips in her hair to do monochrome, royal style. Stunning.

February 3rd, Royal Palace, Stockholm

For the first official dinner of 2016, Victoria chose silver. The dress was loose fitting, not surprising as the royal mummy to be was at that point about six weeks away from her official due date, and the textured material was draped across the shoulders to give a fluid feel to the gala gown. Sparkling and pretty and perhaps the most low key of all Victoria's maternity evening looks.

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February 10th, City Hall, Stockholm

In what is probably her last evening appearance before the birth of her second child, Victoria presented the Global Change Award at a ceremony at Stockholm City Hall and chose her edgiest maternity look yet. The navy dress with contrasting materials was a winner all the way from the column shape to the lace sleeves to the sweeping length to the on trend hair that topped it all off. Crown Princess Victoria's evening maternity looks have been stunners and given us plenty of dresses we can only hope will be trimmed and tucked a little bit so they can be reworn once her baby bump is a babe in arms and mama is back to work.

And you can read more about the past week for Sweden's royals on this special page.

Leonore turns two

At the moment she is the youngest princess in Sweden although of course all that might change in the coming months as she welcomes two new cousins. But today is all about Leonore Lilian Maria who turns two on February 20th. Are there official photos? Of course there are official photos and of course they are really rather cute.

Princess Leonore of Sweden in an official photo to mark her second birthday on February 20th 2016

While the Swedish Royal Household shared an image of the princess, it was her proud mum, Madeleine, who shared more of the official snaps by adding them to her official Facebook page where she said 'time flies' before wishing 'our beautiful and sweet daughter' happy birthday.

Leonore blows out her candles as she celebrates her second birthday

Leonore was born in New York on February 20th 2014 although along with mum and dad, Princess Madeleine and Chris O'Neill, she has since moved to London for his work. In June 2015 she became a big sister when Prince Nicolas was born just days after the wedding of her uncle, Prince Carl Philip. 

Leonore Lilian Maria turns two

Leonore was fifth in line to the throne at the time of her birth and her names were announced, as is traditional, by King Carl XVI Gustaf at a cabinet meeting. Her grandfather gave her the title of Duchess of Gotland at the time of her birth. 

A princess takes tea - Leonore gets ready to party as she turns two

She has remained in fifth spot in the line of succession but by the end of April she will have dropped to seventh as her two new cousins overtake her. But while they will star in lots of photos this year, right now it's all about Leonore as Sweden's little princess turns two.

Photos: Brigitte Grenfeldt, Swedish Royal Household, Princess Madeleine Facebook page

And you can read more about the past week for Sweden's royals on this special page.

Baby bumps and Bernadottes

Her family is about to welcome a new member to the history of the Bernadottes and as Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden prepares for the birth of her second baby, she has visited the library that bears the name of her dynasty.

Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden during her tour of the Bernadotte Library

(photo Sveriges Kungahuset Instagram)

The House of Bernadotte has ruled since 1818, its name carried by Sweden's reigning house across three centuries. When Crown Princess Victoria married Daniel Westling in 2010 he added Bernadotte to his own name ensuring the family tradition was cemented. So it's perhaps appropriate that as a new baby Bernadotte is about to appear, mama headed off to look at the family's history.

Holding history in her hands - Victoria of Sweden looks at her family's past as she gets ready to welcome a new chapter in its future

The Bernadotte Library contains books that have belonged to generations of Swedish kings and queens with over 100,000 tomes stacked on its shelves. There is also a huge image and photo archive and its contents are housed in wood panelled rooms. Crown Princess Victoria heard about some of its ongoing projects as well as flicking through the pages of her family history. As a queen in waiting, she can expect to add her own mark to this special place.

Crown Princess Victoria during her tour of the Bernadotte Library

We don't know exactly when the visit took place, only that it was sometime in mid February.  And with no other engagements planned for the moment, the last time we see Victoria before she welcomes a new member of the Bernadotte dynasty might be in the heart of the history that her family is about to add to.


And you can read more about the past week for Sweden's royals on this special page.