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SWEDEN AND THE UK

‘There’s never been anyone like her’: Sweden pays tribute to Queen Elizabeth

Sweden's Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson held a press conference on Thursday evening to express her condolences after the announcement that Queen Elizabeth II, who was Europe's longest reigning monarch, had died.

Published: 8 September 2022 20:19 CEST
'There's never been anyone like her': Sweden pays tribute to Queen Elizabeth
Queen Elizabeth II waves to the crowd during the Platinum Jubilee Pageant at the Buckingham Palace in London, Sunday, June 5, 2022, on the last of four days of celebrations to mark the Platinum Jubilee. Photo: Frank Augstein

“There has never been another person like Queen Elizabeth and her passing away deserves a moment of consideration,” Andersson said. “We have all been party to drastic events which have changed the world, but few have been party to so many as Elizabeth. Both I, myself, and the Swedish people want to express our condolences.”

 
Queen Elizabeth died at Balmoral, her beloved country house in Scotland, aged 96, after 70 years on the throne. 
 
In a statement, Buckingham Palace said: “The Queen died peacefully at Balmoral this afternoon. The King and the Queen Consort will remain at Balmoral this evening and will return to London tomorrow.”

In a statement, her son King Charles III said: “The death of my beloved mother Her Majesty the Queen, is a moment of the greatest sadness for me and all members of my family.

“We mourn profoundly the passing of a cherished Sovereign and a much-loved Mother. I know her loss will be deeply felt throughout the country, the Realms and the Commonwealth, and by countless people around the world.”

Elizabeth’s reign spanned he Victorian to the modern era. Her first prime minister, Winston Churchill, was born in 1874, while her last Liz Truss, was born 101 years later in 1975.

Sweden’s King Carl XVI Gustaf, who was Elizabeth II’s fourth cousin, issued a statement praising Queen Elizabeth’s “sense of duty” and “outstanding dedication”. 

“My family and I have with great sorrow received the notice that my dear relative, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, has passed away,” he said in a statement. 

“The Queen served her Nations and Commonwealth with an outstanding dedication and sense of duty,” he said. “She has been a continuous presence, not only in British society, but internationally. Throughout this time, she has been a good friend to my family and a link to our common family histories.” 

“We convey our condolences to the Queen’s family and to her people.” 

Judith Gough, the UK’s ambassador to Sweden thanked Sweden for its condolences, which she said, “bore witness to the affection and admiration which the Queen had inspired in so many.” 

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EDUCATION

Sweden’s Social Democrats call for ban on new free schools

Sweden's opposition Social Democrats have called for a total ban on the establishment of new profit-making free schools, in a sign the party may be toughening its policies on profit-making in the welfare sector.

Published: 18 April 2024 16:09 CEST
Sweden's Social Democrats call for ban on new free schools

“We want the state to slam on the emergency brakes and bring in a ban on establishing [new schools],” the party’s leader, Magdalena Andersson, said at a press conference.

“We think the Swedish people should be making the decisions on the Swedish school system, and not big school corporations whose main driver is making a profit.” 

Almost a fifth of pupils in Sweden attend one of the country’s 3,900 primary and secondary “free schools”, first introduced in the country in the early 1990s. 

Even though three quarters of the schools are run by private companies on a for-profit basis, they are 100 percent state funded, with schools given money for each pupil. 

This system has come in for criticism in recent years, with profit-making schools blamed for increasing segregation, contributing to declining educational standards and for grade inflation. 

In the run-up to the 2022 election, Andersson called for a ban on the companies being able to distribute profits to their owners in the form of dividends, calling for all profits to be reinvested in the school system.  

READ ALSO: Sweden’s pioneering for-profit ‘free schools’ under fire 

Andersson said that the new ban on establishing free schools could be achieved by extending a law banning the establishment of religious free schools, brought in while they were in power, to cover all free schools. 

“It’s possible to use that legislation as a base and so develop this new law quite rapidly,” Andersson said, adding that this law would be the first step along the way to a total ban on profit-making schools in Sweden. 

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