The Swedish crown princess visited San Francisco Tuesday night to inaugurate a new Swedish consulate — and rub elbows with some of San Francisco’s political elite.

Crown Princess Victoria is the heir apparent to the Swedish throne, as the eldest child of current King Carl XVI Gustaf. The visit was meant to “broaden and develop relations with California in innovation, green transition and emerging technologies with a focus on artificial intelligence,” according to the Swedish Royal Court.

Victoria visited Sacramento earlier in the day to meet Governor Gavin Newsom and sign an official partnership agreement for climate change action, between California and Sweden, per the Chronicle. She also reportedly attended a reception with Swedes living in the Bay Area and did some sight-seeing, a la the Queen of Genovia in the Princess Diaries.

In San Francisco, she presided over the grand opening of a large Swedish Consulate General office on Market Street and the appointment of an official diplomat, a Swedish career diplomat named Anna Lekvall. As Lekvall told the Chronicle, “We have so much in common, San Francisco and Sweden … We share a lot of values and we want to work together.”

Before this, the Swedish consulate was located in a smaller office on Sansome Street run by an “honorary consul,” typically a local volunteer post.

SF Mayor London Breed and even House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi attended the opening ceremony, as British gossip rag, the Daily Mail, breathlessly covered (in case you’re interested in what everyone was wearing and what that symbolized). The City Hall dome was also lit up in the same blue color as the Swedish flag.

But the rain hampered some plans, per the Chronicle, when the City Hall steps were too slick for the royalty to walk up to Breed’s office for a meeting.

Top image: Mayor of San Francisco London Breed, Anna Lekvall, Consul General of Sweden in San Francisco, Johan Forssell, Swedish Minister for International Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade and Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden onstage during the Inaugural Reception of the New Consulate General of Sweden in San Francisco at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music on February 20, 2024 in San Francisco, California. Photo by Steve Jennings/Getty Images.

We came across this parenting doohickey while shopping at Whole Foods in SoMa. Just about lost our appetite, we did. See, this here is The Snotsucker from Sweden. Basically, as one of our less delicate friends put it, it's a nasal aspirator that turns your kid into a Capri Sun. Shudder.

Chris Dangerous (Christian Grahn), the drummer, took the stage first. With his face, but mostly his eyes (Tyra Banks would be proud), Dangerous would look at different spots in the audience and give a slightly fierce, Top Model pose which he continued throughout the night. Never have we seen a drummer actually perform; we've seen plenty play the drums, but not actually perform. Dangerous was there to perform, whether that was to hit a non-existent cymbal every few beats about two feet above him or strip halfway through the show, it was all about the performance.

Now, we can't forget the effervescent lead singer, Howlin' Pelle Almqvist (Per Almqvist), who made sure the audience knew we they were from Sweden and here to party. (Which he did quite well!) Throughout the performance, Almqvist was creating instantaneous fans by jumping into the audience and touching as many fans as he could or bringing hot girls to the stage to ask him questions. One girl asked for Dangerous' drum sticks which they happily obliged and the other asked him to marry her. Instantly, Almqvist created an entire marriage ceremony between The Hives and the concert goers - utterly hysterical but brilliant at the same time. For the last three or four songs, Almqvist requested the fans to come closer. Instantly the quasi-security-people-in-the-nasty-blue-suit-jackets had a heart attack trying to get people to sit in their assigned seats. We were suddenly pressed up against the wall between the "real" security guards and stage. We know this for sure, these Swedes know how to start a party.

Take the jump to finish reading and for more pictures of the concert...