Crown Princess Victoria will arrive in Mariehamn this evening on a two day long visit to Åland. It’s the first time Åland has received an official visit from a member of the Swedish royal family since it received autonomy in 1921.
The run up to the event has been covered in Åland’s media (which is vibrant for a population of around 25 000, with 2 daily newspapers and 2 radio channels) widely and Åland is expecting many members of the Finnish mainland’s press to cover the event. The Swedish royal family are always popular fare in Finnish tabloids and gossip magazines.
Mariehamn has also been planning for the visit by the heir to the Swedish throne, with many buildings around the main square getting a fresh lick of paint. During Thursday, when people will have a chance to meet the crown princess in the main square, drivers can expect traffic problems as parking places are closed down and roads closed.
The newspaper Nya Åland reports that royalist football fans will face a difficult decision. Crown Princess Victoria is scheduled to arrive at the main square in Mariehamn at the same time as kick-off is scheduled for IFK Mariehamn’s league match against VPS (from Vasa) – 18.30
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Thursday 15.5.08 at 0:41
Veikkausliiga Round five preview and injury update « Football in Finland
[...] list of injuries, but more worryingly the Swedish Princess Victoria is making an official visit timed to coincide with kick-off at the Wiklof Holding Arena. What kind of future head of state messes with the match day traffic like that? Aristocrats have [...]
Tuesday 21.4.09 at 22:40
Rune
Victoria is note the first royal ti visit Åland. Queen Elisabeth and prins Philip made a visit 1976 and Jordanian queen Nor visited there in 1990-s
Tuesday 21.4.09 at 22:49
Jonas
Naturally the title of the article is a “headline”. My blog entry itself makes it clear that it refers to visits by Swedish royalty in the very first paragraph. But sorry if the title is misleading!
Thanks for the interesting info on previous royal visits on Åland. Interesting that the English Queen visited – that must have been quite an event too.