Queen Silvia brings grandchildren along to festive engagement

It was a full house at the Royal Palace earlier Monday when Queen Silvia accepted the Christmas trees for the Royal Palace alongside her eight grandchildren.

In a longstanding tradition dating back to the 1960s, forestry students from the Swedish University of Agriculture in Umeå present the royals with their Christmas trees. Each year a different royal accepts the offering; this year, accompanied by all of her grandchildren permanently for the first time in years, Queen Silvia accepted the trees.

Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel’s two children, Princess Estelle and Prince Oscar; Prince Carl Philip and Princess Sofia’s three children, Prince Alexander, Prince Gabriel and Prince Julian; and Princess Madeleine and Christopher O’Neill’s three children, Princess Leonore, Prince Nicolas, and Princess Adrienne accompanied their grandmother.

It’s such a long tradition that the official name for the Christmas tree has now changed from Norwegian Spruce to Royal Fir.

Later in the day, King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia were spotted doing Christmas shopping at the Fältöversten shopping centre.