Royal Flashback of the Day: Princess Madeleine's Wedding Dress (Plus, National Day in Sweden)

I think it's time for a little flashback to a perfectly summery royal wedding gown, complete with new views courtesy of some lovely readers that visited Sweden's recent royal wedding exhibition! But first, we have business to attend to, and that business is national dress.

Photos: Erika Gerdemark, The Royal Court, Sweden

Sweden celebrated National Day on June 6, so the royal family did what they do and got fully into the Sweden spirit. First up: Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel released new photos of Princess Estelle and Prince Oscar, a little tradition of theirs that's full of awwws.

A post shared by Svensk Damtidning (@svenskdamtidning) on Jun 6, 2017 at 11:39am PDT

Second: The adults get in on the fun, with the ladies donning their national costumes to attend an outdoor concert. This is our designated annual time to wonder whyyyyy don't the men play along (not even wee Oscar, did you notice that?) and whyyyyy don't all the ladies wear the same old-timey shoes Silvia and Victoria wear? I think the best answer to both is probably something like this: *shrug*.

Feeling properly yellow and blue now? Good. Let us turn to one of the things that the Swedish royal family does best: fabulous summer royal weddings. (They also put on a great wedding exhibition, and we have today some photos of Madeleine's wedding gown courtesy of Mrs. Diamond and Janet, with many thanks!)

By Bengt Nyman - Flickr: IMG_2748, CC BY 2.0

Princess Madeleine married Chris O'Neill in the Royal Chapel at the Royal Palace in Stockholm on June 8, 2013. At the time, I wrote that her gown was a perfect choice for a summer wedding, if not necessarily a memorable choice. I was wrong; it has stuck in the memory, but not really because of the gown itself.

Video: The walk down the aisle

It's that entrance. Accompanied by a choir of children singing a wedding march while her train and veil sweep effortlessly over the chapel floor? Please. In the past four years, it has zoomed up my list of best royal wedding entrances.

Courtesy of Janet

My love of that entrance casts the gown in a new light; a new light where the gown fits the fresh, floral summer theme of the wedding to a T. The wedding press release described her Valentino haute couture gown like so: “The wedding dress is made from pleated silk organza with appliquéd ivory-coloured Chantilly lace. The upper section of the bodice is lace with a deep-cut back. Narrow vertical pleats open up from the accentuated waist, above the wide skirt, which ends with a four-metre-long train. The veil is also silk organza, and is edged with tulle scatted with point d'esprit dots and small Chantilly lace orange blossom.”

Courtesy of Janet

It feels even more light and summer-appropriate in these glimpses of the dress on display, don't you think?

Courtesy of Mrs Diamond

Madeleine's dress was quickly lumped into the Just Another Valentino Dust Ruffle category for many of you at the time of the wedding. I'd be lying if I said I hadn't done the same, to a certain extent. The close ups prove that there's actually a lot more going on here.

Courtesy of Mrs Diamond

 You can see how the lace ended up floating along, and how delicious that lace really is.

Courtesy of Mrs Diamond

And the pleats! These really didn't stand out in the pictures or video from the big day.

Courtesy of Janet

Oh, we mustn't forget the shoes. The Oscar de la Renta shoes are ivory white organdy with woven point d'esprit dots, which is an unexpected bit of whimsy on a serious shoe. Goes with the whole thing, no?

Yes, I think I'm coming around on this one. Are you? Or were you already there?