Kate in Mulberry Coat for Sweden Arrival & Your Royal Tour Guide

UPDATE 5PM ET: Kate and William have arrived in Stockholm, and the Duchess was wearing her pink coat by Mulberry. Elias Giertz of Sweden’s Expressen (The Express) newspaper, reported the news on Twitter. 

The story with exclusive photos is here. Following is a portion of the story as translated into English by Google, explaining why the Cambridges are not staying at Sweden’s Royal Palace: 

They then drove in a small cardigan to the Diplomat city at Östermalm in Stockholm, where British ambassador David Cairns has his official residence. 

Letting the duchess live there was not an easy decision for the court. Normally, the king usually allows foreign guests like the royal family to live at the Stockholm Palace’s guest house. 

“Renovations of the façade at Stockholm Castle are currently underway. This means that you can not live or stay in there. As it seems now, there is no possibility to live in the guest house.

Richard Palmer of The Express tweeted that “The Cambridges were not leaving until after Prince George and Princess Charlotte finished school and nursery today.” 

Some readers may recall there wasn’t a photo op expected for the arrival; we return to Elias Giertz on Twitter.   

If we are able to license photos I will do a separate post, but at this juncture, I don’t believe there will be photos available.   

TUESDAY’S ITINERARY:

• Kate & William begin their tour with a stop at Vasaparken, an outdoor ice-skating venue in the center of Stockholm.
• The couple then travels to the Royal Palace for a luncheon hosted by King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia. 15 additional members of Sweden’s royal court will attend the luncheon, including Crown Princess Victoria and her husband Prince Daniel. UPDATE: Prince Carl Philip & Princess Sofia are in South Africa and will not be taking part in any of the activities, nor will Princess Madeleine and her husband, Christopher O’Neill; Madeleine is expecting her third child in March and limiting her travel.    
• 2:45pm/8:45ET After lunch, Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel will join the Duke and Duchess for a “walk through the picturesque cobbled streets of Stockholm” as they head to the Nobel Museum.  They will meet members of the public in Stortorget Square, and once at the museum, they will meet Nobel Laureates and hear from the Museum’s curator. 
• The next stop is Ark Des, Sweden’s national center for architecture and design.
• The day’s official events wrap up with a black-tie dinner at the British Ambassador’s residence; guests will include members of the Swedish Royal Family, Prime Minister Stefan Löfve, as well as actors Alicia Vikander and Stellan Skarsgård. (One FYI, the dinner is not formal enough to require tiaras, but we expect to see evening gowns.)  

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TOUR UPDATES

Here are a few updates on the coming week’s activities. With news trickling out on Twitter and other sites, I will continue to update the post throughout the day as warranted. One reminder: George and Charlotte are not accompanying their parents on this tour.  

In a Telegraph story yesterday Hannah Furness wrote about the many purposes of the tour: 

It is also their chance to make new friends.

As the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge embark on their tour of Sweden and Norway this week, they will aim not just to perform their formal public duties, but finally forge personal relationships with some of their closest European counterparts.

Below, Prince Daniel, Princess Estelle, Crown Princess Victoria, and Prince Oscar in early December.  

TIME ZONE:

• Any timings we have that are posted will show events in a format of local time/ET. Stockholm and Oslo are both on GMT +1. That is 1 hour ahead of London and 6 hours ahead of New York. (Noon in Stockholm/Oslo is 11am in London and 6am in NYC.)
• To check on the time in Stockholm click here. For the time in Oslo, click here. 

NATIONAL INFO:

• Sweden’s national flag is blue with a gold or yellow Nordic Cross. I would look for these colors in some of Kate’s apparel or accessories. Its flower is the Twin Flower or Linnea Borealis. 

• The Weather Channel forecast for Stockholm calls for 3-5″ of snow tonight with highs of 32℉ and 36℉ while Kate and William are visiting. 

• We won’t be seeing Prince Carl Philip or Princess Sofia at any of the events in Sweden: they are in South Africa. Nor will Princess Madeleine and her husband, Christopher O’Neill be at any of the functions; Madeleine is expecting her third child in March and limiting her travel.      
• 2:45pm/8:45am: The one timing we have seen published is for Stortorget Square on Tuesday when the public can see the royals as they walk to the Nobel Museum.  

NORWAY

• The Norwegian flag is red with a blue Scandinavian cross outlined in white. The national flower is Purple Heather. 

• We’ll update the weather for Oslo as we get closer to Thursday.   

SOCIAL MEDIA: 

There are loads of ways to follow the visit online, especially for those using social media. The best hashtags to search seem to be #RoyalVisitSweden and #RoyalTourSweden for the first part of the tour. Here are some links you may find helpful. 

• OFFICIAL ACCOUNTS – SWEDEN: 
  • The Swedish Royal Court website is here; the Facebook page is here and Instagram page here
  • The official Sweden website is here; the Facebook page is here, Twitter account here and Instagram page here
  • The website for Visit Sweden, the government’s official tourism agency, is here; its Facebook page here, Twitter feed here
  • The Swedish government’s official website is here
  • The British Embassy Stockholm Facebook page is here; the office of the British Ambassador to Sweden Twitter account is here; Ambassador David Cairns’s Twitter account is here  

• OFFICIAL ACCOUNTS – NORWAY
  • The Royal House of Norway official website is here; the Facebook page is here; Twitter account here and Instagram page here
  • The Norwegian government’s official website is here
  • The British Embassy Oslo Facebook page is here; the office of the British Ambassador to Norway Twitter account is here; Ambassador Sarah Gillett’s Twitter account is here  

TWITTER ACCOUNTS: (NOTE: I am certain there are additional Twitter accounts appropriate to this tour that I am unaware of or forget to include on this list. Please let me know of any suggestions you may have.)

• NEWSPAPER/MAGAZINE REPORTERS (UK)
  • Victoria Murphy, The Daily Mirror
  • Richard Palmer, The Daily Express
  • Rebecca English, The Daily Mail
  • Hannah Furness, The Telegraph 
  • Simon Perry, People & Monique Jessen at People
  • Robert Jobson, The Standard 
  • Carolyn Durand, ABC News 
  • Victoria Arbiter, CNN, CTV, CBS
  • Valentine Low, The Times
  • Joe Little, Majesty magazine
  • Danielle Stacey, The Daily Mirror 
  • Emily Andrews of The Sun and Emily Nash of Hello! are both on maternity leave and not in Sweden/Norway, but they are tweeting.
  • Patricia Treble of Write Royalty

• ROYAL PHOTOGRAPHERS
  • Mark Stewart —— Regal Eyes
  • James Whatling — JWhatling
  • Tim Rooke ——— RoyalFocus1
  • Ian Jones ———-  IJonesPhoto
  • Andrew Parsons —  ParsonsMedia
  • Stephen Lock —— StephenLock2
  • Chris Jackson —-   CJack_Getty
  • Samir Hussein —-  SamHussein
  • Mark Cuthbert —-  MarkACuthbert

• BLOGGERS FOLLOWING SWEDISH AND NORWEGIAN ROYALS:
  • Oskar Aanmoen is an author, lecturer and Royal Central European correspondent
  • Sarah Williams is the founder of The Royals and I blog and a terrific source of info on the Swedish royal family
  • HeavenQRF follows European royal fashion and is a European correspondent for Royal Central
  • Brittani Barger is a royal follower and Europe editor for Royal Central
  • Laura follows the European royals and is a whiz at identifying clothing and accessories 
  • Laura Dekkers follows the Swedish Royal family and is also a Royal Central correspondent
  • Scandinavian Royals is just as the name suggests, as is Princess Victoria style
  • British Royal Quartet follows William, Kate, Harry & Meghan and is a whiz at clothing IDs
  •  
•  MEDIA: (following are Swedish and Norwegian media accounts you may want to follow, several suggested via DM & and Twitter)
  • Elias Giertz of Sweden’s Expressen   
  • Jenny Alexandersson of Aftonbladet, also Swedish-based
  • Svensk Damtidning, a weekly Swedish magazine

We’ll see you bright and early tomorrow morning!