This story is from December 5, 2019

Sweden’s royals believe in keeping with the times, lead by example

When King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden gets up from his chair and stretches out his arm for a handshake while Queen Silvia, the longest-serving queen of Sweden calls you by her side and inquires, “Maybe you can explain what’s happening down there,” as she peers down from the window of their sixth floor suite and stares with wonder at a circle of women shimmying to ‘Rangilo maro dhol na’ at a wedding party, every trepidation that one may have when meeting royalty is dissolved.
Sweden’s royals believe in keeping with the times, lead by example
Sweden’s King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia pitch in with the Versova beach clean-up on Wednesday. The royals took off their jackets and donned gloves to carry a few basketfuls of plastic trash to a tractor. The king interacted with assistant municipal commissioner Vishwas Mote as well as volunteers and school students
When King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden gets up from his chair and stretches out his arm for a handshake while Queen Silvia, the longest-serving queen of Sweden calls you by her side and inquires, “Maybe you can explain what’s happening down there,” as she peers down from the window of their sixth floor suite and stares with wonder at a circle of women shimmying to ‘Rangilo maro dhol na’ at a wedding party, every trepidation that one may have when meeting royalty is dissolved.

Given how royal protocol is almost a law unto itself that extends much further than common courtesy and governs simple things like not touching the monarch to more complex rules, the Swedish Royals could be measured by their informality and the way they redefine social barriers between monarchy and the masses.
On a five-day state visit to India this week at the invitation of President Ram Nath Kovind, it was evident that the Swedish royals are leading by example. The King and Queen won hearts when they flew down to India in a commercial carrier instead of taking a private jet and then insisted on carrying their own luggage. “When we travel by private jet it’s for practical reasons and to save time... See, I have a personal motto: ‘For Sweden – keeping with the times’. I try to feel what goes on in the lives of Swedish people and behave the way modern societies are changing. I don’t want to be old fashioned and follow unnecessary traditions,” he says but is quick to remind: “I like traditions. But one can still modernise and stay in line with the changes.”
When one thinks of monarchy one almost immediately thinks of something anachronistic, belonging in history but what still makes it relevant and important in the 21st century is the establishment’s “stability and continuity if you look at monarchies in Europe. Even though I cannot talk about politics, monarchy is a symbol of objectivity,” explains the 73-year-old king of the sprawling Swedish monarchy that has been going toe-to-toe with the Brits for centuries.
On their first visit to Mumbai, the Swedish king and queen spent the day out meeting the governor, underprivileged kids and a workshop to inspire young women and girls into the world of STEM. But not before getting their hands dirty, fishing out trash at the Versova beach on Wednesday morning. “We were told about this fantastic project about the cleaning of this beach and we were very interested in meeting the man and seeing the results.

It was motivating to see school students, citizens and teachers work together and reclaim the beach,” explained King Carl who along with the Queen spent 45 minutes at the beach with Afroz Shah (lawyer turned beach crusader), cleaning and learning about circular economy in plastic trash and citizen volunteering on their first visit to Mumbai. “My daughter has partaken in similar activities and so have I with boys’ scouts in Stockholm but luckily the problem of filth is not as big there as it is here from what I saw in pictures,” said King Carl while the Queen added: “We really could see for the first time, what the sea actually does to the plastic.”
The king and queen continued to charm as they indulged in easy banter. While the King recalled his “spicy” lunch in Mumbai and said he was: “eating more and more vegetarian food these days,” the Queen flashed a mischievous smile and quipped: “I don’t know about vegetarian but you’re definitely eating more and more!”
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