Currently Browsing: Official & State Visits - SRF
Good weather and an excited atmosphere all around met King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia when they stepped of the government plane at Turku airport on Tuesday morning. The events marking Märkesåret, the bicentennial of when Sweden lost Finland to Russia and the last battles on Swedish soil took place, continues. After the Royal Couple hosted President Halonen and husband Dr Pentti Arajärvi in Stockholm at the beginning of the year it was time for the Swedish Royal Couple to return the visit, destination southern Finland.
Stepping onto the runway they were met by a small welcoming delegation that included the Swedish Ambassador in Helsinki Johan Molander, Finland’s Ambassador in Stockholm Alec Aalto, the Finnish Minister for Housing Jan Vapaavuori and Turku’s Lord Mayor Mikko Pukkinen. Curious airport personnel and some nearby onlookers managed to get a quick glance of the royals before they were transported to the President of Finland’s beautiful summer residence Kultaranta outside the city. (more…)
King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia of Sweden yesterday started a four-day state visit to the republic of Italy on the invitation of their president, His Excellency Giorgio Napolitano. The theme of the visit is “research and vision for a future sustainable society” and accompanying Their Majesties is a large delegation with representatives from 21 companies from various sectors, led by the Chairman of the Confederation of. Swedish Enterprise, Signhild Arnegård Hansen. The Swedish government is represented by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Carl Bildt, who is joined by his Italian-born wife Countess Anna Maria Corazza Bildt, and the Minister for Higher Education and Research, Lars Leijonborg. (more…)
The King and Queen have arrived on their state visit Ukraine as guests of President Viktor Jusjtjenko and his wife Kateryna around noontime today. Travelling with them are the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Carl Bildt, and Minister for Justice, Beatrice Ask, who are representing the Swedish Government. Also with the Royal Couple is a Swedish business delegation led by the Chairman of The Confederation of Swedish Enterprise, Signhild Arnegård Hansen.
The visit comes in the middle of a political crisis in the republic, caused by the different views President Jusjtjenko and Prime Minister Tymosjenko had on the conflict in Georgia this past August. King Carl Gustaf is scheduled to meet both of them, though not at the same time. On the agenda on this first day, after the already covered formal welcoming ceremonies with honour guards and a private meeting with the President and his wife at the Presidential Office and bilateral meetings, is a wreath laying ceremony at the monument honouring the victims of the famine (Holodomor) of 1932-1933 and a visit to the Saint Sophia Cathedral. And of course the traditional state banquet in the evening.
The state visit lasts until Friday and among the events on the schedule is the opening of the opening of the exhibition “Ukraine-Sweden: at the Crossroads of History” which covers three centuries of mutual relations, opening of a two-day business seminar about business opportunities, meetings with the Speaker and the Prime Minister, visits to industries (aeroplane manufacturing) and attendance at a performance of the National Opera and Ballet Theater. The Queen will visit The Ukraine 3000 International Charitable Fund which works with HIV infected mothers and children of which Kateryna Jusjtjenko is Chairman.
On 2 October the Royal Couple will continue on the the counties of Cherson and Mykolajiv were they will among other things visit Gammalsvenskby were 150 descendants of Swedish farmer immigrants from the 1700’s live, and they will also visit a food industry in Alupka. The fourth day will be spent in Krim, visiting Alupka and Jalta, were visiting the Livadia Palace and a vineyard is on the agenda.
This is the first royal state visit to Ukraine, though the King visited the country in 1978 when he toured the Soviet Union. Marked during this visit is also the tricentenary of King Karl XII and kossack leader Ivan Mazepa’s alliance agreement. It was though crushed at the Battle of Poltava in 1709.
More: pictures can be viewed here, here and here.
The Royal Court – Day 1 (Swedish)
The Royal Court – Day 2 (Swedish)
The Royal Court – Day 3 (Swedish)
The King’s speech at the opening of the business seminar 1 October (English)
The King’s speech at the opening of “Ukraine-Sweden: at the Crossroads of History” 1 October (English)
The King’s speech at the return reception at the National Opera 1 October (English)
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Stockholm Junior Water Prize 2008
Crown Princess Victoria awarded the Stockholm Junior Water Prize on the evening on the day before yesterday. Read about the winner, Joyce Chai from the USA, see pictures here and here.
State visit to Ukraine announced
After having known about this state visit since early January, an announcement of the state visit of King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia to the Republic of Ukraine from 30 September to 3 October is finally published
There will be two days in Kiev followed by activities in the Cherson county and then the last stop is Krim. A Swedish business delegation, led by the Chairman of The Confederation of Swedish Enterprise, Signhild Arnegård Hansen. This is the first state visit to Ukraine.
Wednesday was the last day of Their Majesties successful three-day stay in Portugal and also the day that was reserved for experiencing the country outside of the capital region. The south-central region of Alentejo stood host and the historical city of Évora had been chosen as the main focus point of the day in a region where there’s so much to see that under one day is a drop in the ocean…
The proud mayor, José Ernesto Oliveira, welcomed King Carl Gustaf and Queen Silvia and hosted them to visit the City Hall (with a balcony appearance included), the main square of the city, the Cathedral of Évora, the Roman Temple and the Convent of Lóios. Gifts were exchanged; the Mayor presented the Royal Couple with a traditional hand made tapestry of Arraiolos (Tapetes de Arraiolos) and a cork oak umbrella (the region provides more than half of the world’s total cork production). Eager to see His Majesty were also a large group of local scouts who courted the King and Queen outside the cathedral and out into the city’s main square.
A lavish lunch was hosted by the Mayor in the beautiful Cadaval Ducal Palace, ancestral home of Diana Álvares Pereira de Melo, Duchess of Cadaval (who is to be married with Prince Charles-Philippe of Orléans, Duke of Anjou, this summer), which can be rented for special occasions. A menu of regional specialities were on the menu for the lunch and afterwards the King and Queen together with their entourage were transported to the small medieval hilltop village of Monsaraz above the river Guadiana, with stunning views over the plains of Alentejo, the Alqueva lake and all the way to Spain. Their Majesties can of course never be like ordinary tourists, but in the town they walked through the narrow quaint cobbled streets, always with the medieval castle in sight, and stepped inside to visit the Church of Our Lady of the Lagoon (Igreja de Nossa Senhora da Lagoa). Gifts were exchanged again, the Mayor presented King Carl Gustaf and Queen Silvia with some traditional pottery pieces from the small village of São Pedro do Corval and red wine from Herdade do Esporão.
The day was finnished off with a boat ride over the Alqueva Dam (Barragem de Alqueva) in the tiny village of Alqueva by the Guadiana River before the farewell ceremony ended the state visit at the Beja Air Base (Base Aérea de Beja) where Their Majesties waved goodbye.
More:: see a videoclip and a collection of pictures from the three days.
The second day of Their Majesties’ visit was another display of great hospitality from the President and his wife as well as the whole republic of Portugal. After a successful first day with a wide range of activities and a splendid state banquet at the Ajuda Palace, Tuesday commenced with another full-day agenda. The King started off by focusing on the Portuguese economy and the cooperation and exchange between Swedish and Portuguese businesses and national economies during a visit to The Portuguese Industrial Association (Associação Industrial Portuguesa). Meanwhile the Queen focused on social issues and visited Ajuda de Berço in Monsanto, an organisation providing shelter for children in need of urgent protecton, abandoned children and those who are victims of social exclusion. After a further stop at the museum of The Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian), the King and Queen were received by the Mayor of Lisbon in the City Hall, and the Prime Minister of Portugal hosted a lunch in their honour at his residence.
In the afternoon King Carl Gustaf continued on to The Electricity Museum (Museu da Electricidade), in an industrial facility transformed to a museum, where he participated in a symposium on renewable energies and environment technology. Queen Silvia on her part visited The National Center of Support to Immigrants (Centro Nacional de Apoio ao Imigrante, CNAI) together with the Swedish Minister for Migration and Asylum Policy, Tobias Billström. Their Majesties also hosted a reception for the Swedish community at the residence of the Ambassador of Sweden to Portugal in Lisbon.
In the evening King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia stood host of the traditional return arrangement, this time a full gala event in the form of a return banquet in honour of the President and First Lady of Portugal at The Pestana Palace Hotel.
The Queen wore her white Yuki dress, first premiered during the state visit to Japan in 2007, and King Edward VII’s Ruby Tiara (a wedding gift to Crown Princess Margareta of Sweden from her uncle and aunt King Edward and Queen Alexandra of the United Kingdom). Among the guests invited by Their Majesties were one of their relatives – Dom Duarte Pio, Duke of Bragança, the pretender to the Portuguese throne, and his wife Isabel, the Duchess of Bragança.
More: see pictures from the Queen’s visit to Ajuda de Berço, video of the King’s speech at the symposium, pictures from the City Hall of Lisbon, pictures of the Queen’s visit to CNAI and pictures from the return banquet.
It was an excited King and Queen who today set their feet on Portuguese soil after landing at an airport in Lisbon this forenoon. The Queen was wearing a new elegant and fiery red two-piece suit, looking like something made by the Belgian designer Eduard Vermeulen for Nathan, and a matching hat, looking like something designed by Belgian court designer Fabienne Delvigne. With everything from ten kilos of early potatoes (to be served at Their Majesties’ return dinner), suits and evening wear, jewellery, make up and night accessories in their luggage, they arrived with a delegation that includes two Swedish ministers who will carry out their own program during the three days the state visit lasts. The Portuguese media has paid great interest in Sweden and the Royal House ahead of the visit, both television companies and newspapers have reported greatly about our county as an environmentally conscious and successful country, and carried interviews with King Carl Gustaf and Queen Silvia. Their host, President Cavaco Silva, was happy to get the chance to receive the King and Queen in his country after he first met them in the beginning of the 1990’s when he accompanied the then being president of Portugal on a state visit to Sweden during his time as Prime Minister.
After the formal welcoming attributes were over the King and Queen were taken to the Hieronymites Monastery in the Belém area, a magnificent UNESCO World Heritage listed monastery that was built as an homage to the great Portuguese discoveries via the sea and the burial site of the royal house of the time. Built in the 16th century and overlooking the river Tejo, what used to be am homage to seamen and the place they came for prayer, today serves as the burial place of some of Portugal’s icons (including Vasco da Gama, whose return from India was one of the reasons the monastery was built) and a crowded toursit attraction. Their Majesties placed a wreath at the tomb of Luís Vaz de Camões, a 16th century poet considered as Portugal’s greatest.
At the Belém Palace afterwards, the official residence of the President of Portugal, the two couples posed for official photos and exchanged the traditional gifts and decorations. President Cavaco Silva presented His Majesty with the Grand Collar The Order of Infante D. Henrique and Her Majesty with the Grand Cross The Order of Infante D. Henrique. King Carl XVI Gustaf in his turn presented His Excellency the President as a Knight of the Order of the Seraphim and the First Lady as Commander Grand Cross of the Order of the Polar Star. The President gave the King a silver goblet engraved with the Portuguese coat of arms while his wife Maria gave Queen Silvia a traditional embroidered lover’s handkerchief (Lenços de Namorados) and porcelain set from Vista Alegre. His Majesty gave the President a lithography and Her Majesty gave the First Lady two pieces of Swedish crystal.
Then followed a long program of events during the afternoon, Queen Silvia’s program included a visit to The National Coach Museum, a museum founded by Queen Amélia of Portugal that displays one of the world’s greatest collections of carriages. Tonight’s a state banquet hosted by the President of Portugal and First Lady in honour of Their Majesties awaits at Ajuda Palace. Perhaps then Queen Silvia will have a real chance to practice on her Portuguese, spoken with a Brazilian accent, together with some of Portugal’s highest ranking officials.
More: see a wonderful gallery of photos on the official website of the President of Portugal, plus here, and from a Portuguese news broadcast a videoclip 1 and videoclip 2. Pictures from the state banquet can be found here and here.
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