I was saddened by Prince Carl Philip’s engagement to Miss Hellqvist. It obviously has been on the cards for some time, but to see it confirmed caused nothing more than a sigh of disappointment. It has been a tad hard on an old fashioned chap like me to cope with some of the royal marriages of the last decade or so. But, really, there have been no major disasters, the marriages seem happy and successful, and the various monarchies roll on pretty much as normal. The glamour and intricacies of European royalty as an international family continue to fascinate me. I still wistfully imagine how different things might be if, in the late 1990s, Queen Elizabeth II had got on the blower to King Carl XVI Gustaf to start negotiations for the marriage treaty of Prince William and Princess Madeleine. But, along with court trains, fans and ostrich feathers (three, of course), the age of suitable, equal royal marriages has gone. No amount of melancholy longing for a gracious past, and indignant disapproval of a vulgar present, will change the reality of European monarchy in the twenty-first century.
So what makes Miss Hellqvist so unsuitable? Well, that is pretty obvious. But is she
really any more
déclassé than some of the other women who are now popping on a tiara, slipping on an ancient order, and carrying out a full schedule of public engagements? In Nancy Mitford’s classic novel
Love in a Cold Climate, the young and beautiful Lady Polly Montdore announced her engagement to the old and not so beautiful Boy Dugdale. Boy also happened to be her uncle, still grieving the recent loss of his wife, and Polly’s aunt, Lady Patricia. So what would be the consequences of this awful marriage, with Lady Patricia not yet cold in her grave? According to Davey Warbeck there would be no consequences, as people “have no memory about this sort of thing, and after all, there’s nothing to forget except bad taste.”
But, unfortunately for Miss Hellqvist, forgetting her past life, spent in a world of bad taste, will be easier said than done (particularly as examples will constantly come back to haunt her). But maybe, in a few years, her good works and deeds, and decorum as a Swedish princess, will help put her poor, youthful choices into some sort of perspective. She is off to a good start with
Project Playground, and her discreet behaviour in recent years. In fact, I cannot help but feel a grudging admiration for her courage in entering what will be a difficult public life. I guess only time will tell if she has what it takes to weather the ridicule that, no doubt, will come her way. This engagement still gives me no pleasure, but as the King has given his approval, there’s not much to be done about it now. So good luck to them, they are going to need it.
P.S. Did they really make a balcony appearance? I thought they were on a terrace, heading back into the palace, and it was just the balustrades that made it look like a balcony.
