Photo: Sara Friberg/Royal Court Sweden

The Christmas tree remains one of the best loved symbols of the holiday season and one royal family always receives a very special batch of branches for the occasion.

Each year, the Swedish Royal Family accepts Christmas trees from students in the forestry programme at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU).

Since the late 1960s, the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences has presented the Royal Family with the trees at the palace in the Swedish capital.

According to the Swedish Royal Court, “The ‘king fir Christmas tree’ has received its name from this tradition, it was earlier called Nordmann fir.”

The students also sell Christmas trees in the streets of the capital to raise money for their study trips.

Every year, a different member of the family who accepts the trees. Sometimes it co-incides with a year that has marked a special life event, such as in 2015 when newlywed Prince Carl Philip and Princess Sofia were on hand to receive the presents, just months after their married.

In 2017, Prince Oscar oversaw the acceptance, in the year that he turned one. His mother, Crown Princess Victoria, was there to supervise along with big sister, Princess Estelle. Estelle also made her first appearance at the tree ceremony when she was one, in 2013.

And Oscar and Estelle’s cousin, Princess Adrienne, started taking part in the tradition while still young – she helped her mother, Princess Madeleine, receive the trees in 2021 when she was three years old.