Sweden throws royal bash for king’s golden jubilee
Sweden celebrates the 50th anniversary of King Carl XVI Gustaf’s reign with pomp and circumstance on Friday and Saturday, with a gala banquet, street parties and a procession through central Stockholm.
The 77-year-old king was the world’s youngest monarch when he came to the throne aged 27 in 1973 after the death of his grandfather Gustaf VI Adolf.
The two days of festivities will be attended by foreign dignitaries as well as hundreds of thousands of people who are expected to line the capital’s streets to catch a glimpse of the king and Queen Silvia in a cortege on Saturday.
Several of the festivities will be broadcast live on television to Sweden’s 10 million inhabitants.
“It’s an intense week,” palace spokeswoman Margareta Thorgren told AFP, adding
that preparations have been underway for several years.
On Friday, a Te Deum church service will be held at the Royal
Chapel attended by the royal family, other Nordic royals and heads of state, as well as Swedish political leaders, followed by a gala banquet hosted by the king at the palace.
The highlight of the celebrations will be Saturday’s afternoon cortege, when the royal couple will wave to the public from a horse-drawn carriage escorted by 3,000 troops from the army, navy and air force and military bands.
The final leg of the procession will see the royal couple being rowed across the water in the royal barge to the steps below the palace in the Old Town.
That will be followed by an outdoor concert nearby featuring several popular Swedish acts.
As afternoon heads into evening, the city centre will transform into a giant public dance floor, with DJs playing everything from boogie woogie to Cuban salsa, rock’n’roll, disco and Swedish hits, and food trucks serving food and drinks.