Friday marks 50 years since King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden acceded to the throne. On the anniversary of his accession, the 77-year-old monarch was joined by family members and royal guests at a Te Deum service at the Royal Chapel in Stockholm.
© JONATHAN NACKSTRAND/AFP via Getty ImagesFollowing the service on Sept. 15, His Majesty and his son, Prince Carl Philip, oversaw the changing of the guard, while Queen Silvia, Crown Princess Victoria, Prince Daniel, Princess Estelle, Prince Oscar, Princess Sofia, Princess Madeleine and Christopher O’Neill watched from the palace balcony.
© JONATHAN NACKSTRAND/AFP via Getty ImagesQueen Margrethe II of Denmark, Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary of Denmark, Queen Anne-Marie of Greece, and King Harald V and Queen Sonja of Norway also attended the Golden Jubilee celebrations on Friday. In the evening, a jubilee dinner will be held at the Royal Palace.
The night before the anniversary of the Swedish King’s accession, members of the Swedish royal family and Nordic heads of state attended a performance at Drottningholm Palace Theatre in honor of His Majesty.
Crown Princess Victoria, Prince Carl Philip and Princess Madeleine’s father became the King of Sweden at the age of 27 following the death of his grandfather King Gustaf VI Adolf in 1973. King Carl XVI Gustaf’s father, Gustaf Adolf, had died over two decades earlier in a plane crash in 1947. The current King, King Carl XVI Gustaf, is Sweden’s longest-reigning monarch.
