Engagement Mania!

It's the biggest story of the year in Sweden—Crown Princess Victoria and Daniel Westling are engaged! Two Bonnier publications perked up at the news: Expressen, who got the first scoop, and the royalty-themed magazine Queen.

Expressen has a long history of royal news. In 1960, the newspaper refrained from publishing a story about Princesses Birgitta and Désirée in Marstrand on the grounds that the paper "does not write about fluff." Times change, though, and Expressen has changed with them.

Expressen photographer Jonny Graahn took the historic "Kiss" photo at the King and Silvia wedding in 1976.  That issue of Expressen sold 975,000 copies—still the record for a Swedish newspaper. Expressen also snagged the first picture of Victoria with her then-boyfriend.  It accompanied Victoria's first interview about love and revealed her relationship with Daniel Westling. And the tradition continues.

"Within a few days, we had a a three-page interview with [Prince] Carl Philip, then the news of the engagement and then the first interview with Daniel," says Thomas Mattsson, Editor-in-Chief of Expressen Digital Media. "And with the increased interest in the royal family, Expressen plans to attract both new and loyal readers."

Pressure on Expressen.se were enormous on Tuesday when scoop came, and remained high throughout the week.  At the end of the week, Expressen.se was pleased to announce an all-time high: for the first time ever, the site had over two million unique visitors. Though the engagement was a major factor, Thomas Mattsson can't just thank Victoria and Daniel.

"Both the weeks before, we had over 1.9 million visitors, which has never happened before. And we have had increased traffic since the autumn of 2008, so obviously there are more reasons."

Pamela Andersson, Editor-in-Chief of Bonnier Tidskrifter's Queen, says February 24, 2009 was a day she'll never forget.

"We had already sent the magazine to press and only had the cover left to do when I went home on Monday evening," says Pamela. "That night, I was awakened by news that the engagement between Daniel and Victoria would be announced later in the day."

Pamela quickly realized that much of the magazine had to be updated—but was it possible? She sat with the computer in bed and started working, and at 1:30am, she managed to get most of the planning done. At 7:30am, Pamela made some calls and got just the answer she wanted: "Run, do what you want, you have two days to do it!" 

It was the start of the most intensive few days in Queen's short history. In 48 hours, the editorial staff created about 22 pages.  Pamela and Queen reporter Roger Lundgren still managed to find time to make the press rounds, from the radio station Mix Megapol to The Times, as well as attending the historic press conference.  (It was actually Pamela who asked the question to which Victoria responded with the now infamous, "I said yes, yes, yes!").

"We have worked around the clock," says Pamela. "It has been crazy! And the big question, of course, was: What can we do to keep things fresh, so after three weeks we haven't already done everything?

Pamela thinks there's plenty left to discuss.  She won't reveal their plans, but coyly says, "We have looked forward and backward a little to one side."  We'll get the full answer when Queen comes out on March 19.