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MICROSOFT

Bill Gates in Sweden for high society wedding

Microsoft billionaire and philanthropist Bill Gates is in Gothenburg this weekend to attend the wedding of billionaire Charles Simonyi and Swedish socialite Lisa Persdotter.

Published: 22 November 2008 12:05 CET
Bill Gates in Sweden for high society wedding

Gates arrived in Sweden on Friday in time for the start of the three day wedding celebrations for old friend and Microsoft colleague Charles Simonyi (60) and his 28-year-old bride-to-be Lisa Persdotter.

Gates was accompanied by a bevy of beefy Danish bodyguards as he passed through Copenhagen’s Kastrup airport en route to the glitzy wedding to be held at the German church in Sweden’s second city.

“There is a bodyguard at every entrance to the church,” according to GT/Expressen’s reporter Johan T Lindvall.

The weekend will not be all champagne and canapés for the Microsoft billionaire however as he has been appointed as one of the ushers for the service which will begin at 2pm on Saturday.

With security tight, Gates, the happy couple and the other key figures in the ceremony were taken through their paces for the rehearsal on Friday afternoon.

All the details of the rehearsal were completed in time for the weekend’s festivities to begin with a reception at Gothenburg’s art museum on Friday evening. Gates arrived early and told the assembled media:

“It feels great to be here,” on being asked what it was like to be in Sweden.

The star-studded guest list is expected to include Ace of Base star Ulf Ekberg as well Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones.

Simonyi and Swedish socialite Lisa Persdotter were engaged on 08/08/08 in the romantic setting of St.Tropez in the south of France.

Simonyi, like Gates, is an active philanthropist and is known as something of a jetset billionaire.

His jetset lifestyle has not only been limited to the planet Earth and Simonyi caught the headlines last year when he spent 13 days in outer space on a trip that set him back a modest $25 million. He is preparing for his second trip into space, in 2009, that will make him the first tourist to make a return journey into the great beyond.

Charles Simonyi has been described by British scientist Richard Dawkins as “a sort of combination of International Renaissance Man, Playboy of the Scientific World, Test Pilot of the Intellect, and Space-age Orbiter of the Mind as well as of the Planet.”

Dawkins was the first to hold the chair of the Charles Simonyi Professor of the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford University, created by Simonyi in 1995.

Until he fell in love with the Swedish beauty Lisa Persdotter last autumn Simonyi had been in a 15-year-long relationship with US television personality Martha Stewart.

Persdotter is known to have come from a privileged background, has studied in Edinburgh and New York and is currently employed as an investment manager. The family have known Simonyi for a long time as they own neighbouring properties in St.Tropez.

WEATHER

Danish Ikea store shelters staff and customers overnight during snowstorm

Heavy snowfall left 31 people looking for a spare cushion at the Aalborg branch of Ikea on Wednesday as they were forced to spend the night at the store.

Published: 2 December 2021 09:11 CET
A file photo at Ikea in Aalborg, where 31 people stayed overnight during a snowstorm on December 1st 2021.
A file photo at Ikea in Aalborg, where 31 people stayed overnight during a snowstorm on December 1st 2021. Photo: Henning Bagger/Ritzau Scanpix

Anyone who has found themselves wandering the mazy aisles of an Ikea might be able to empathise with the sense of being lost in the furniture store for a seemingly indefinite time.

Such a feeling was probably more real than usual for six customers and 25 staff members who were forced to spend the night at the furniture giant’s Aalborg branch after being snowed in.

Heavy snow in North Jutland brought traffic to a standstill and halted public transport in parts of the region on Wednesday afternoon, resulting in a snow-in at Ikea.

“This is certainly a new situation for us,” Ikea Aalborg store manager Peter Elmose told local media Nordjyske, which first reported the story.

“It’s certainly not how I thought my day would end when I drove to work this morning,” Elmose added.

The 31 people gathered in the store’s restaurant area and planned to see Christmas television and football to pass the evening, the store’s manager reported to Nordjyske.

“Our kitchen staff have made sure there is hot chocolate, risalamande, pastries, soft drinks, coffee and the odd beer for us in light of the occasion. So we’ll be able to keep warm,” he said.

“We couldn’t just send them outside and lock the door behind them at our 8pm closing time. Absolutely not. So of course they’ll be staying here,” he added.

The temporary guests were given lodging in different departments of the store in view of the Covid-19 situation, Nordjyske writes.

“For us , the most important thing was to take care of each other and that everyone feels safe,” Elmose said.

At least Ikea’s stranded customers and staff had somewhere comfortable to lay their heads.

The same can unlikely be said for around 300 passengers at the city’s airport who had to stay overnight at the terminal.

The airport was forced to stop flights from 2:30pm yesterday amid worsening weather, which also prevented buses from transferring passengers to hotels.

“We have around 300 people in the terminal right now and have been giving out blankets on the assumption they will be staying here tonight,” Aalborg Airport operations manager Kim Bermann told Nordjyske.

READ ALSO: Ikea reopens in Denmark after country’s worst retail month this century

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