CROWN Princess Victoria and her fiance, Daniel Westling, announced their engagement on February 24, 2009. The couple met in 2002. The wedding will be held in the ancient Storkyrkan or Great Church in Stockholm, and the festivities will last for three days. On the first day, younger members of the world's royal families will gather for the celebration. On day two, the Swedish Parliament and Government will host the revelry and on day three, the actual ceremony will take place. In conjunction with the wedding,

Mr Westling will be invested with the title Prince Daniel, Duke of Vastergddand. The wedding will be held on Saturday, June 19 this year, the same date that Sweden's reigning king, Carl XVI Gustaf, married Queen Silvia in 1976.

Carl XVI Gustaf and his family

The king, Carl XVI Gustaf, is the seventh monarch of the House of Bernadotte. He was bom on April 30,1946, the fifth child and only son of Crown Prince Gustaf Adolf and Princess Sibylla of Sachsen-Coburg-Gotha. The crown prince died in an air crash in

Denmark the following year.

At the age of four, Carl Gustaf became crown prince of Sweden when his greatgrandfather Gustaf V died and was succeeded by the then 68-year-old Gustaf VI Adolf, the crown prince's grandfather. Gustaf Adolf died after serving as monarch for 23 years, and the 27-year-old crown prince became King Carl XVI Gustaf in 1973. His motto is "For Sweden—with the times."

It went click

In 1972, the crown prince met his German-Brazilian future wife, Silvia Sommerlath, who was bom in 1943 in Germany. They met in Munich during the Olympic Games, where Silvia was chief hostess. It "just went click," the royal couple noted in an interview after their engagement in 1976.

A queen in step with the times

Queen Silvia is a trained interpreter without either royal or noble origins, and is the first Swedish queen to have had a professional career. She has modernised the position of queen so that it is in step with the times and has pursued a strong commitment to social issues.

The king and queen have three children: Crown Princess Victoria Ingrid Alice Desiree, Duchess of Vastergiit-land, bom on July 14, 1977; Prince Carl Philip

Edmund, Duke ofVarmland, bom on May 13, 1979; and Princess Madeleine Therese Amelie Josephine, Duchess of Halsingland and Gastrik-land, bom on June 10,1982.

The royal family has lived at Drottningholm Palace, outside Stockholm, since 1981. Today only the royal couple and the crown princess live there.