Royal visit to Karlstad

Today King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia of Sweden visited the city of Karlstad in Värmland County, located in mid-west Sweden. As always when the Royal Couple make visits everything was meticulously planned out, the schedule laid down minute by minute, security checks carried out on streets and facilities and background checks made on people they meet. Unfortunately for the hosts and the royals the day didn’t start off as planned because the regular Skyways flight the King and Queen and their entourage were on was half an hour late.

At 9:30 the flight finally touched down on the small local Karlstad airport and host County Governor Eva Eriksson and her staff could breathe out. The Royal Couple stepped off the flight joined by the King’s Aide-de-Camp, one of the Queen’s ladies-in-waitings, the Marshal of the Realm (who comes from Värmland and was County Governor there before his assuming his royal job) and wife Carin, and the Director of the Information and Press Department at the Royal Court.

First stop on the program was the opening of the new Sweden America Centre, hosting the new facilities also of the Emigrant Registry, located in the beautiful yellow three-storey residence of the County Administrative Board and County Governor in the midst of Karlstad. Musicians entertained during the opening and afterwards the Royal Couple toured the ongoing exhibition in the centre, the so-called Värmland Gift which consists of objects given as a gift to Värmland by The American Swedish Institute in Minneapolis during the 1950’s. The King held a speech, expressing his content with the centre and wishing it good luck for the future, and also saying that it’s important to be in touch with one’s history.
- Otherwise it’s hard to feel pride over your culture. It’s important that one gives people a chance to study where they come from, and I think that those who have come to Sweden from other countries will create similar centres in the future.

Also the Queen, who came to Sweden to become the wife of the King and the country’s new Queen, said that it’s important to remember that there are parallels between the emigrants to the United States of America in the past and today’s immigration to Sweden from other countries. Her Majesty also said that although she herself had come by invitation (or rather a proposal from her husband), coming to a new country and giving up your passport – a part of a person’s identity – is a big thing. She also mentioned her late father who once left Germany and moved to Brazil, saying:
- It was very tough for him to build up his new life in Brazil, so I’m really full of admiration for all those who succeed with that achievement today.

Then followed a lunch hosted by the County Governor in her private part of the residence. Around sixty invited guests, among them representatives of foreign embassies and prominent local and regional representatives, enjoyed a menu crowned by local pike-perch. Afterwards the royal entourage continued to Karlstad University, celebrating its tenth jubilee this year. Rector Kerstin Norén and the university leadership bid welcome to a visit that started with attending a popular scientific lecture – “Everything is chemistry” – in the university’s work for local school pupils (Children’s university) from classes, 7, 8 and 9. The King and Queen, both in laboratory coats, watched the pupils and university representatives perform chemical experiments. One of the participating children said to the media:
- I have never seen the King and Queen before but they do look completely normal.

The second stop at the university was Formula Student, a student project that is building a racing car. After that they also received a presentation about an international research project about child pornography funded with EU grants. The project aims at creating a computer tool that can help the police to handle big amounts of confiscated photo- and video material on hard drives.

Last stop this afternoon in Karlstad was a visit to the recently opened grocery store All världens mat (meaning “All the world’s food” or something like that), a unique store stocking products that comes from the Middle East, the Balkans and East Asia. The staff has backgrounds in different countries and cultures and the store used the help of immigrant organisations when planning the set-up. The store is seen as a bit of an integration project and an injection for the local community in Karlstad which doesn’t have the same big diversity of foreign products that you can find in bigger cities. After a tour of the shop, both the King and Queen tasted food that the staff had cooked – for example stuffed peppers from Kosovo.

Just after four o’clock in the afternoon, the Royal Couple were on a flight back home to Stockholm.

More: pictures here, here and here (food store). Video clips here, here and here.

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