With plenty of music and guests of honour from all over Northern Europe, Sweden's King Carl XVI Gustaf on Friday celebrated his golden jubilee as monarch.
After 50 years on the throne, the 77-year-old attended a ceremonial changing of the guard in Stockholm before he appeared on the palace balcony surrounded by his family.
In the evening, he planned to address his people in a televised speech before an anniversary dinner awaited him.
Carl Gustaf became King of Sweden at the age of 27 after the death of his grandfather on September 15, 1973. His being thrown into royal duties at such a young age was due to the death of his father in a plane crash in Copenhagen in 1947. Carl Gustaf was just nine months old.
The Swedish monarchy was in crisis at the time. Today, however, the royals of the Scandinavian EU country enjoy great popularity. This is in large part due also to the personality and dedication to charitable causes of Carl Gustaf's wife, Queen Silvia, 79, the first "commoner" to become Sweden's Queen.
Half German, through her father, and half Brazilian, through her mother, she made the acquaintance of the future king at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, where she was working as an intepreter.
Their three children - Crown Princess Victoria, 46, and her siblings Prince Carl Philip, 44, and Princess Madeleine, 41, - have also contributed to the public's affection for Sweden's royals.
