Princess Victoria wants her father to walk her to the altar

April 23rd, 2010 |

Crown Princess Victoria shocked the Swedish church with her intention of having her father, king Carl XVI Gustav, walking her till the altar, the day of her wedding.

The religious institution tells the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet that “Victoria shows old-fashioned views on gender equality”

“If Victoria wants to be the princess “of the whole nation”, she needs to rethink about her decision” writes Annika Borg, a priest in the Swedish Church, on Dagens Nyheter.

It really looks like the Crown Princess is aiming to an American influenced wedding: Hollywood movies show us often a bride being taken to the altar by her father and “given” to her future spouse. But this does not happen in Sweden. And it didn’t happen in 1976, when Queen Silvia and King got married. That day they went together to the altar.

On the contrary, the Sweden Church dislikes this type of acts, which, in this case symbolize how the woman’s body is handed over from one man to another.

“How could it be that the royal family does not have a deeper knowledge of those Swedish tradition it claims to represent?” continues Annika Borg on the pages of DN.

She confesses to be afraid that Victoria and Daniel’s wedding will create a larger trend in Sweden and destroy much of the work that Swedish priests devoted to enhancing gender equality in the church.

It is quite hard to express an opinion on these matters.

On one side, the Swedish Church is right about the importance of encouraging gender equality, inside and outside the church.

But, on the other hand, the act of a father walking his daughter to the altar, needs to re-be contextualized: princess Victoria is a modern, educated woman, who surely does not share old-fashioned visions on gender equality.

The only thing she is aiming at is a romantic wedding. And having her father walking with her till the altar probably looks like the cherry on top of the cake.