<i>Sweden prepares for fairytale royal wedding</i>
Crown Princess Victoria (L) and Daniel Westling talk during a gala performance at the Stockholm Concert Hall in Stockholm on Friday, at the start of the princess's nuptials this weekend. Photo: AFP
Sweden's future queen Crown Princess Victoria was set to wed her former personal trainer in one of the largest public celebrations ever organised in Stockholm.
Crown Princess Victoria, 32, will tie the knot with 36-year-old commoner Daniel Westling in an afternoon ceremony at the Stockholm Cathedral before a majestic procession through the streets of the capital, decked out in flowers and blue and yellow flags.
More than 1,200 guests, including royals from around the world like Beatrix of the Netherlands, Albert of Monaco, Jordan's King Abdullah and a slew of Scandinavian majesties have been invited to witness the exchange of vows.
The ceremony and surrounding events are "much more important than all of those ever organised" by the royal palace, its information chief Nina Eldh said.
The Swedish capital, made up of 14 islands and set in a Baltic Sea archipelago of some 24,000 islands, should prove a picturesque backdrop for the princess's big day.
After the ceremony, the couple will ride through the city centre in a horse-drawn carriage before navigating Stockholm's clear waters in the same royal barge Victoria's parents, Queen Silvia and King Carl XVI Gustaf, used on their wedding day, 34 years ago to the day.
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