Social Climbing With The Royals

This year’s Nobel Prize Awarding Ceremony was held yesterday with the usual fanfare at the Stockholm Concert Hall.

Speeches were made on behalf of the recipients, summarizing their work and showering them with accolades, followed by awarding of diplomas and medals by the King of Sweden himself, Carl XVI Gustaf.  And of course the prize award of 10 million Swedish Crowns (~USD 1.5 million), that is if the award is not shared, which they should find in their bank accounts.

It is not so well-known that the diplomas and medals are especially crafted by leading Swedish and Norwegian artists and calligraphers. Except for the physiology or medicine prize, which since 1965 had had a very minimalistic look, the diplomas for other disciplines have had accompanying artworks. Here are pictures of some of this year’s awarded diplomas:

Medicine or Physiology:

Physics:

Chemistry:

Literature:

And here is this year’s special Nobel “Whatever” Prize awarded to yours truly:

 

After the awarding ceremonies, the formal banquet was held at the Stockholm City Hall. There were 1,300 invited guests, consisting of the recipients and some members of their families, foreign dignitaries, especially the ones in the educational/research sector, some past nobel luminaries, many members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, some 250 swedish university students selected via lottery and of course the royal family of Sweden.

Here I am striking a pose with them. Sorry for the Dior glasses. LOL.

Those who know are perhaps wondering where the hell is Prince Carl Philip?

Well who do you think was holding the camera?

D’oh!?!