The Danish royal couple have arrived in Sweden for their first state visit. The Swedish television station SVT broadcast the arrival of King Frederik X (55) and Queen Mary (52) in Stockholm live on Monday. While the Danish royals arrived near Stockholm Palace in a gold-plated rowing boat together with the Swedish Crown Princess Victoria (46) and her husband, Crown Prince Daniel (50), cannon shots could be heard. Then Sweden’s King Carl XVI. Gustaf (78) and Queen Silvia (80) receive the Danish regents.
Frederik called his visit to Sweden a good start to a new chapter. “We may be abroad here, but we feel at home,” the monarch said at a press conference shortly after his arrival at Stockholm Palace, according to the Danish news agency Ritzau. It is a Danish tradition that the new rulers’ first state visit is to one of the neighboring Scandinavian countries. Frederik followed his mother, Queen Margrethe II (84), to the throne at the beginning of the year. She surprisingly announced her abdication in her New Year’s speech.
The rest of the program for the Danish royal couple’s two-day visit includes a meeting with Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson and a gala dinner at Stockholm Palace.
