It was announced today that the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall will tour the Scandinavian countries next month to mark the diamond jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II of Britain. On the invitation of the King and Queen, the British heir and his wife will be in Norway from 20 to 22 March, visiting Oslo and Bergen.
In Oslo they will lay a wreath at the National Monument at Akershus Fortress, attend a dinner at the Royal Palace and meet with the Prime Minister and representantives of youth organisations, including youngsters who survived the terrorist attack at Utøya last summer. In Bergen the British royals will attend a concert in the Håkon Hall and visit the British naval ship HMS “Liverpool”.
From Norway Prince Charles and Camilla will continue to Sweden, which they will visit from 22 to 24 March. King Carl Gustaf and Queen Silvia will host a lunch at the Palace and the guests will, as in Norway, meet young people. The Prince and the Duchess will visit the Vasa Museum and, according to Clarence House, “focus on military and commercial cooperation, the international work of a world renowned environmental research centre and education”.
On 24 March the British royals will move on to Denmark, where there will again be an official dinner hosted by Queen Margrethe and Prince Consort Henrik. Here the royal couple will attend a service at the Anglican church, meet Afghanistan veterans, visit a power station, attend a theatre workshop at Kronborg Castle in Elsinore and then move on to Jutland in order to visit a university and an organic farms.
As well as taking in some of the couple’s special interests it seems the visits will involve a ceremonial almost on par with state visits.
Prince Charles was last in Norway in May 2010. He has also attended numerous family events in Norway through the years, including the 75th birthday of King Olav in 1978, his funeral in 1991, the sixtieth birthdays of the King and Queen in 1997 and the wedding of the Crown Prince and Crown Princess in 2001. However, the Duchess of Cornwall has not visited Norway after marrying the British heir in 2005. The visit to Sweden will be the first by Prince Charles since 1969, while he was last in Denmark in December 2009.
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