The new plans for the end of Victoria Day, i.e. Princess Victoria’s birthday, are met with absolute incomprehension by the Swedish people. Now the court is trying to calm things down and is revealing more exciting details about the traditional festival.
There was great joy when it was announced at the beginning of March 2022 that the Victoria Days, i.e. Princess Victoria’s 45th birthday on July 14, 2022, could again be properly celebrated on Öland. In the meantime, more and more details about the process are leaking out – exciting but also unpleasant ones, to which there was outrage in Sweden. Now the Swedish court steps in and takes a stand.
Princess Victoria: Is her birthday party degenerating into an establishment event?
Princess Victoria’s traditional birthday party in Borgholm on the Baltic Sea island of Öland was attended by thousands of onlookers before the corona pandemic. Since 1996, well-known artists have been performing at the “Solliden Sessions” near the summer residence of the royal family in honor of Victoria – organized by the local sports club Borgholm. It was always a nice celebration of the Swedish people with the royal family.
But like last year, the 2022 Victoria Concert will be canceled as a public celebration on the sports field in Borgholm. Instead, the organizer Leroy Media plans to hold the concert in the courtyard of the ruins of Borgholm Castle with only a VIP audience, as the newspaper “Ölandsbladet” was able to reveal on April 6, 2022.
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Ilko Corkovic, councilor of Borgholm, criticized the approach, arguing that the Swedish people are shutting themselves out: “It feels like an event for the establishment, for a small clique of selected people.”
Swedish court: Royal family does not decide on the venue of the Victoria Days
In an interview with “Ölandsbladet” on April 13, Margareta Thorgren, head of information at the farm, tried to smooth things over. She first stressed that the royal family had no say in choosing the venue.
But Thorgren found it understandable for several reasons that the choice fell on the ruins of Borgholm Castle and not on the sports field, which would have offered significantly more space for concert visitors: “All the sports fields look the same. The castle ruins offer a fantastic backdrop and are an incredible cool place to do the concert. And the royal family thinks the castle ruins are beautiful.” She looks better on television and thus strengthens the Öland brand.
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However, the court also regrets that the ruins should not accommodate the 4,500 spectators that could be accommodated there. After all, the concert this year should not only take place in front of a small, dining VIP audience, as was the case in 2021 due to the pandemic.
Victoria Days should be visited by more people again in the future
However, the part would be pushed into the background in 2022 and “a few hundred” additional tickets would be released, explains Thorgren, who hopes that “as many people as possible will be able to visit the concert again” in the years to come.
That would also be in the interest of the birthday boy and the king. “That’s how Victoria Day was born and I think that’s how the Crown Princess and the King see it too. That [das Fest] should be rooted in the people is very important,” explains Margareta Thorgren, emphasizing that July 14 is “a public festival on Öland” where “everyone has the opportunity [sollte]to buy concert tickets.”
New exciting plans for Victoria’s birthday revealed
Finally, the manager of the farm information reveals some news about the Victoria Day on July 14th: The whole day on Öland should be dedicated to celebrations, streets and squares of Borgholm should be filled with people. “We are planning a parade. The crown princess and the prince drive slowly through Borgholm in a horse-drawn carriage, from Solliden past the beach to Storgatan (a square, editor’s note) up and then to Borgholm Castle,” says Thorgren. Everyone should have the opportunity to congratulate the Crown Princess.
The start of the official celebrations, which traditionally take place on July 14 in front of the royal summer residence Solliden, will also look different, Thorgren reveals: “It won’t be the same as it used to be, there will be an evolution.” How exactly this “evolution” should look like has not yet been determined.
Sources used: Dana Press, olandsbladet.se