Royal Flashback of the Day: January 13

King Harald will be joined by his fellow Nordic sovereigns for the upcoming celebrations of his Silver Jubilee, but a much bigger royal group gathered in 2007 to celebrate his 70th birthday. European royals packed the palace for a couple days of snowy celebrations in February that year, including one tiara-packed gala evening. They even posed for group photos all done up. This is a) the best, and b) the topic of two flashbacks this week.

Let me ask you a question: if I told you one of these ladies was going to wear every last bit of the leftover New Year's confetti, which one would you have guessed?

The crown princely guests in attendance: Belgium, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and the Netherlands
Photo: Bjørn Sigurdsøn, DKH

Pregnant then-Princess Máxima was downright sedate in green, sporting the Antique Pearl Tiara and what I consider to be one of the all-time great examples of how to wear a tiara with your hair down.

Pregnant Crown Princess Mary (was there something in the water in 2007?) is my favorite of the bunch, but I'm always a sucker for that ubiquitous red velvet dress in its original maternity mode. She wore her Wedding Tiara and her pearl and diamond wedding earrings.

Crown Princess Mette-Marit wore one of my favorite takes on her standard evening gown. The sleeve length works nicely with the square neckline, and I love the salmon skirt with the red of her Order of St. Olav sash and her royal family order. As usual, she selected her Diamond Daisy Tiara.

Crown Princess Victoria managed to combine purple and the Baden Fringe Tiara into...well, a look I don't love. Huh. A first for me, I'm sure.

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(Heeeey, Duchess of Gloucester! We'll chat about other guests later.)

AND THEN THERE WAS MATHILDE.

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(Don't worry, Philippe didn't ditch his wife for fear of getting confetti on his white tie; all the guests walked with mixed partners.)

Talk about your dresses made for twirling, amirite? You know I adore when people go big for the big events, and this Natan gown has a spirit with which I cannot argue. (Also, I really need to know if this dress made it through the night with all that confetti intact or if a few ended up sprinkled like calling cards in her wake: MATHILDE WAS HERE.)

Coming up later in the week: part two, including sovereigns, other guests, and more fun from this night.