Hofdame Bits and Bobs
Belgium · Denmark · Luxembourg · Norway

Hofdame Bits and Bobs

The Handbag

Housekeeping Note: This is a very long Bits today, to make up for the fact we have a short week due to the U.S. Thanksgiving celebrations on Thursday. Designer Diaries will resume again on December 2nd. There will be no other post this Thursday, but there will be a Friday Fun post as usual. There is also a “blow off the doors” State Visit this week, starting Wednesday, so for those non-U.S. readers, there will be plenty to talk about!

Another week, another State Visit. I can’t tell you how fun it is to type those words. Look for an Open Post on Wednesday and join in on the much-anticipated fun around the Spanish to Sweden State Visit. Tiaras! Gowns! Fancy menus. And….well, did we mention tiaras?

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The Duke of Cambridge visited Microsoft, The Duchess of Cornwall flew back from Egypt and straight to Ascot, and the Queen held a face-to-face audience in a very autumnal dress. See it all here.

Handbag Instagram

Catch up on the doings of Crown Princess Mette-Marit on our Instagram site, where LiL covers much of what we don’t discuss here during the week!

https://www.instagram.com/p/CWdf-xwpVAt/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Norway Queen-in-Training

We had a lot of excitement around here about the Princess of Orange last week, but another QiT has been making a splash. In what might be her first solo appearance (someone correct me if I’m wrong), Princess Ingrid-Alexandra visited the Hunter Troop on Rena. The visit was the Armed Forces’ gift for Princess Ingrid Alexandra’s confirmation. She watched demonstrations, took a guided tour, and jumped from a jumping tower to simulate a parachute jump. The last she did with a great deal of gusto and the enthusiasm of youth (I was feeling a bit queasy just looking at the photos!)

Sweden Queens-in-Training

The Crown Princess and Princess Estelle attended a theatrical production – Estelle is vibrant in red and ready for the Christmas season.

Luxembourg

The Hereditary Grand Duke and Duchess attended the opening of the 3rd biennial “De Mains De Maitres”. Stephanie is the president of the association, and after viewing the works of the artisans, she made a speech in support of their efforts. Oh, do I suspect this top is Natan? I do. Do I have confirmation? No, I don’t.

The Grand Duchess was also out and about. She received the medal of “Protector Regio” del Cuerpo de la Nobleza del Principado de Asturias (Nobility Corps of the Principality of Asturias). “The Grand Duchess was awarded this medal by the Knights and Dames of this body to honor the close ties that HRH has with the Kingdom of Spain.

She also filmed an upcoming television special.

Denmark

From Queens-in-Training to Classic Princesses: Princess Benedikte doing some early Christmas shopping at the Church of Sweden Gustafskyrkan in Copenhagen. “The church’s annual Christmas bazaar sells Swedish Christmas delicacies, decorations and “elves” in all shapes and sizes. The Christmas Bazaar, which is Copenhagen’s oldest and which always takes place the last weekend before Advent, was opened yesterday – true to tradition – by Princess Benedikte.”

Belgium

We have another couple of entries for our colorful Tils files. She visited the Sint Franciscus residential care centre in Vinkt as part of the read-aloud week. She read from a book to an audience of both elderly and young people, and to say she was visible in her Natan ensemble is an understatement. I do love Tils in a royal lady pantsuit, though.

The Queen (and King!) visited the Spadel company, to celebrate its one hundred year anniversary. The Queen chose a wrap dress from Meer Couture which is both colorful and attractive. As always, see ModekoninginMathilde for more details on her visits.

The Netherlands

Queen Maxima visited the former broadcasting station Radio Kootwijk for the Prince Bernhard Cultural Foundation award. She is wearing her Valentino cape over her Johanna Ortiz dress. The slight color mismatch between the cape, handbag, and boots is making me a little twitchy, although I hope it’s just a trick of the light.

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Royal Adjacents

We’re brooming a few random things in here that Baguettes might find interesting. Princess Alessandra of Hanover is a new brand ambassador for one of our favorite jewelers, and there was a Jan Taminiau design in the wild on the Duchess of Huescar!

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Do you have any royal news? We’ll be here all week with an open door!