History, Politics And Current Affairs

The royal sloop Vasaorden in Sweden is the last active royal sloop in use in Europe, and she’s been out and about fairly often in recent years. She made up part of the parade route when the King and Queen celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary a few days ago. I think it is a bit special since it’s a remnant of a time gone by, a bit of living history to see a vessel of this kind still in use.

The actual voyage starts about six minutes into this video, starting at the Royal Palace in Stockholm and ending at the Vasa museum where the voyage continues by way of horse and carriage, along the way Vasaorden is greeted by a salute by two fixed batteries as well as one ship:
https://youtu.be/3CR54olfBZ4?is=y6hH-VSCdzRckMwn

This Vasaorden is an exact replica of the original. It was inaugurated in 1923 after the original was destroyed in a fire in 1921. Much of the decorations/trim such as the crown on top was however stored elsewhere at the time and was then incorporated into this version. The original was from 1774 and was designed by famed shipwright Fredrik Henrik af Chapman.

Bit arguable about being the last one - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gloriana_(barge)

Pdf27 wrote: ↑Sat Jun 20, 2026 8:00 am Bit arguable about being the last one - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gloriana_(barge)

I’m aware of Gloriana but I think the way it has been utilized in essence makes it something else than this. Note how most of the usage examples given there are not of royals being paraded around but rather other events. Compare that to the usage of the state coaches, I can’t see one of them being used for the same type of things that Gloriana has.

In addition, I think constructing it to include inboard motors was a mistake. It detracts from the aspect of it being a rowed vessel. Again to compare to the state coaches I would not like to see one of them hitched up to a tow truck and carted around London when it needs to be transferred somewhere, just because it’s more convenient than always using horses to pull it.