

The Sedins accept the Victoriastipendiet from Princess Victoria on the occasion of her 34th birthday.

(Photo by Paul Madej / SCANPIX)

Today Daniel and Henrik Sedin became the first ice-hockey players since Peter Forsberg in 1994 to be honoured with the "Victoriastipendiet." The award, which, roughly translates to the "Crown Princess Victoria Scholarship" (thanks to CHB for the translation) is functionally the "athlete of the year" award. It has been shared by two athletes in the same year on four different occasions since the scholarship was first awarded in 1979. Every year it is awarded on July 14th, which, is the date of Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden’s birthday.

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Today the princess turned 34 and honoured the Sedins at the Victoria Day celebrations that take place annually at the royal families summer residence, the Solliden Palace, in Bergholm – a small city on an island in the Swedish Province of Oland. According to allehanda.se the official justifications behind the Sedins’ win included their "unique" accomplishment of winning back to back scoring titles, and their charitable contributions to BC Children’s Hospital. Despite heavy-rains, crowds braved the festivities for Victoria Day, and were treated to a live performance by Swedish pop-sensation Eric Saade. Here’s the promotional poster for the concert, which, includes photos of the Sedins wearing the Tre Kroner. I pulled it off of Saade’s facebook page:





