Tomorrow the King and Queen of Sweden were due to embark on a four-day state visit to Botswana, but it has been announced today that Queen Silvia has had to pull out of the trip because of influenza. The state visit will thus go ahead, but King Carl Gustaf will travel on his own.
The King and Queen have been holidaying privately in France, where Queen Silvia on Sunday consulted a doctor in Paris, who recommended her to rest and not to embark on the long flight to Botswana.
This is the third time in 35 years that Queen Silvia will miss an outgoing state visit. The pregnant Queen stayed at home when King Carl Gustaf travelled to Australia in 1982 and she also missed the state visit to Poland in 1993.
King Carl Gustaf will be received by President Ian Khama, whose predecessor Festus Mogae made a state visit to Sweden in 2006.
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