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PRINCE WILLIAM

Alicia Vikander: I talked to Prince William about ‘The Crown’

Swedish Hollywood star Alicia Vikander has spoken about meeting the British royals during their visit to Sweden.

Alicia Vikander: I talked to Prince William about 'The Crown'
Prince William and Alicia Vikander. Photo: Claudio Bresciani/TT

Vikander, who takes over this March as Lara Croft in the Tomb Raider franchise, was one of a small number of selected guests invited to the British Ambassador's residence to dine with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge during their official tour of Stockholm last week.

She spoke about the black-tie dinner, where she was seated between Prime Minister Stefan Löfven and Prince William, in an interview with Norwegian talkshow host Fredrik Skavlan, which aired in Sweden on Friday.

“Well, I've seen The Crown!” she joked about the Netflix series dramatizing the early years of William's grandmother Elizabeth II's reign. “It was actually the first thing my friend and I started talking about with William. Apparently he's a Game of Thrones fan, I was told.”

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Alicia Vikander with Prime Minister Stefan Löfven at the dinner. Photo: Claudio Bresciani/TT

Gothenburg-native Vikander said she did her best to keep her table manners in check:

“I was sitting there looking around me. I guessed that you were supposed to wait, but I was very hungry,” she told Skavlan, laughing. “Normally if you're more than ten people you're allowed to start eating, but nobody else did so I held back. I didn't even have a sip of water because I thought 'no, I'll just wait'.”

Fellow Swedish actor Stellan Skarsgård also attended the dinner, along with several other representatives of Sweden's culture and business worlds, Swedish royals and high-ranking members of the government.

WATCH: That time Alicia Vikander sang Swedish drinking songs on US television


Stellan Skarsgård, Catherine the Duchess of Cambridge, Ambassador David Cairns and Crown Princess Victoria. Photo: Claudio Bresciani/TT
 

WORKING IN SWEDEN

Swedish Royal Guards scrap ceremonial helmets over safety concerns

The King’s mounted Royal Guards will no longer be able to wear their iconic ceremonial helmets on parades, after the Swedish Work Environment Authority warned of serious safety concerns.

Swedish Royal Guards scrap ceremonial helmets over safety concerns

“We take the safety of our employees extremely seriously and we are going to address this immediately,” colonel Stefan Nacksten, head of the Royal Guards, wrote in a statement. 

Employed by the Armed Forces, the Royal Guards are the King’s cavalry and infantry units and are a well-known sight at ceremonies in Sweden, including at the changing of the guard at the Royal Palace of Stockholm every day in summer – a popular spectacle for Stockholmers and tourists alike.

The helmets will no longer be used by Royal Guards on horseback from July 7th, as they do not conform to safety standards for riding helmets, although guards parading on foot will still be permitted to wear them.

They are part of the 1895 parade uniforms and were last modified in 2000. The Armed Forces will now create an entirely new helmet which looks the part, but is also safe for riding.

“We’re working on finding an alternative solution as quickly as possible which meets safety requirements and can also be used during parades,” Nacksten said.

“We’ve been working long-term with this issue but now that it has been assessed [by the Swedish Work Environment Authority] we need to take measures immediately,” he added.

“This is good, and now we’re working to make sure something good comes out of this and we can get a safe riding helmet for parades in place as soon as possible.”

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