[Denmark] Queen Margrethe II Celebrates 40 Years on The Throne - City Hall Reception

King Carl XVI Gustaf, cousin of the Queen

All photos from Zimbio

Scandinavian Royals visit Ground Zero (October 2011)

Queen Silvia of Sweden speaking Portuguese

As Queen Silvia just visited Brazil, I asked in my last post how well could she speak Portuguese. If you want to hear it, just press the play to hear her talk about Childhood and her Foundation objectives. As a native speaker myself, I can tell that she speaks it pretty well ;)

Thanks, Arthur!

Queen Silvia of Sweden travels to Brazil and meets President Dilma Rousseff

source of the photos

Queen Silvia of Sweden is traveling at the moment to her mother Alice Sommerlath's homeland: Brazil. She met Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff at the Palace of Planalto and both had a lot to talk about in terms of cooperation. They also talked about the World Childhood Foundation, founded by the Queen to come in hand to children in need. I wonder if they talked in Portuguese or not, as I do not know if the Queen is a fluent Portuguese speaker.

Did you love Stieg Larsson's Millennium Trilogy? Well, the King of Sweden himself didn't that much...

While in Poland, in an interview for Gazeta Wyborcza published Wednesday, King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia expressed surprise at great international success of the "Millennium" saga by the late Swedish author Stieg Larsson.

"I am astounded that they have had such success," said the King. "Probably because Sweden has not been associated with such world of crime as described by Larsson. I am not very happy about this. These books are rather terrifying than cheerful."

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[Sweden] King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia arrive on visit to Poland

King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia of Sweden were greeted on Wednesday by Poland's presidential couple and a military Guard of Honor at the start of a three-day visit.

Sweden's royal couple was met by President Bronislaw Komorowski and First Lady Anna Komorowska in the yard of the Presidential Palace. The military band played both anthems and then the king and the president reviewed the Guard of Honor.

Carl XI Gustaf and Komorowski held talks on co-operation within the European Union and on Eastern Partnership, a joint project of the two countries, that is aimed at helping countries to the East of the EU's frontier to adopt the union's standards in politics and economy.

Next, they both witnessed the signing of a declaration of political co-operation in areas of strategic significance between the two nations, which both border the Baltic Sea. The royal couple laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in downtown Warsaw. On Wednesday evening, Komorowski is to host a dinner for Sweden's royals. 

The royal couple will also visit the southwestern city of Wroclaw and nearby Swidnica, with its historic wooden church.

They last visited Poland in 2002.

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Royal weddings from the past - King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia (1976)

King Carl XVI Gustaf married Silvia Sommerlath, whose father was German and mother Brazilian and who had grown up in both countries. They met at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, where she was an interpreter and host. The wedding was held on June 19th, 1976 at Stockholm Cathedral in Stockholm, and the ceremony was performed by the Archbishop of Uppsala, Olof Sundby. The wedding was preceded, the evening before, by a Royal Variety Performance, where ABBA performed Dancing Queen for the very first time, as a tribute to Sweden's Queen to be. To watch the video of the wedding, click here.

[Sweden] Queen Silvia injured in New York while trying to evade photographer

Queen Silvia of Sweden was injured in New York this week while trying to escape the attentions of a photographer.

The 67-year-old royal was shopping with her youngest daughter Princess Madeleine, who lives in the city, on Monday.

During the outing, they were confronted by a Swedish photographer, who - according to the royal palace - ignored their pleas to be left alone.

"The queen chose to go out through a side door and walked quickly towards a parked car to keep away from the photographer who ran after her," the palace said in a statement. "The queen then fell and injured her foot and wrist." The photographer was a freelancer for tabloid Aftonbladet, whose editor-in-chief said the paper "deeply regretted the incident."

Silvia's schedule in New York has remained unchanged, and on Tuesday she received a prize from the Health Right International wearing a brace on her foot and walking with a cane.

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[Sweden] Poll says that Swedes want king to step down in the next ten years

Nearly two-thirds of Swedes would like to see King Carl XVI Gustaf abdicate and hand the throne over to his daughter Princess Victoria, according to a new poll published on Saturday.

Sixty-three percent of those surveyed by the Aftonbladet newspaper said they would like to see the king make way for the 33-year-old princess within the next 10 years. Only 30 percent said he should reign until his death, while the remaining seven percent did not offer an opinion.

Fifteen percent of the 1,000 respondents said the king should step down as soon as possible, 27 percent said he should go within the next five years and 21 percent within the next decade.

The poll comes after the recent publication of a tell-biography of the king which included details of his affairs with a string of younger women, including Camilla Henemark, the lead singer with the Army of Lovers pop group.

The 64-year-old king acceded to the throne in 1973 when he was just 27.

Other members of the Swedish royal family have also found themselves the target of lurid tabloid reporting in recent months, including Prince Carl Philip who has been romantically linked to a reality TV star.

Princess Madeleine, the younger daughter of King Carl and Queen Silvia, broke off her engagement with her long-time boyfriend in April after it emerged that her fiancee had had an affair with a Norwegian woman.

Her older sister Victoria, who married her former fitness instructor in the summer, is the most popular member of the royal family, according to the poll.

While 56 percent said she was their favourite royal, only eight percent nominated Carl Gustaf.

The monarchy as an institution however remains popular with 74 percent of those surveyed supporting its continuation.

article from the AFP