The King, accompanied by Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard (M) and Infrastructure and Housing Minister Andreas Carlson (KD), is on a state visit to Singapore. But Queen Silvia is not with him. The Queen fell ill with a severe cold before departure and was forced to cancel her participation.
It's always sad to get sick and have the flu or whatever you call it. It's always tough, says the King about his wife.
The state visit is the first between Sweden and Singapore, but the King has made official visits to the island nation before.
As I usually say: It's always nice to be two people, you have the opportunity to meet more people, then you can always discuss afterwards what you've experienced and compare. It broadens the whole thing.
Without the Queen, the King's program will be a bit different.
It's clear that she also had a program here. She was going to meet the First Lady, who is interested in roughly the same issues; healthcare issues, elderly care, we'll miss that a bit.
The King, however, understands that health comes first:
It takes time. You can't be out meeting other people when you don't feel well.
