The King and Queen visit Kalmar County

Industry

On their way to the Badholmen restaurant, The King and Queen spoke to Ulrica Bennesved, Regional Manager at the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise, who described the business climate in the county and how it has been affected by the pandemic.

At the Badholmen restaurant, The King and Queen were greeted by Andreas Erlandsson, Chair of Oskarshamn Municipal Executive Board. Before lunch, The King and Queen spoke with the restaurant's owner Anmol Rattan about running a business during the pandemic.

During the afternoon, The King and Queen met the following:

• Inzile, a company which develops fossil-free transport and service solutions, and whose representatives described how the pandemic has affected the industry.
• The Federation of Swedish Farmers Southeast, which described how the pandemic has affected locally produced food.
• Vimmerby's Head of Development, who spoke about how the municipality has been affected by the closure of Astrid Lindgren's World.

Post-upper secondary education

At the Nova education centre in Oskarshamn, The King and Queen learnt about the school's operations. Nova is run by Oskarshamn Municipality, and arranges post-upper secondary education in collaboration between academia, industry and the public sector. Linnaeus University's Pro-Vice-Chancellor was also present, and spoke about the university's challenges and solutions in terms of providing education during the pandemic.

Oskarshamn Arena

At Oskarshamn Arena, The King and Queen met Oskarshamn Ice Hockey Club's manager Martin Åkerberg, who presented the club's activities and explained how – like all other sports clubs in Sweden – it has had to adapt its activities in line with the restrictions introduced during the pandemic. He spoke about how cancelling training has affected young people, and the introduction of rapid testing before matches and training sessions. During their visit to the arena, The King and Queen also spoke with young ice hockey players.

The cultural industry

On their way to Kalmar, The King and Queen spoke with Örjan Molander, Director of Kalmar County Museum. He talked about the museum's work during the pandemic and the future of its operations. The King and Queen also watched extracts from the film production '12 municipalities', which the Camerata Nordica chamber orchestra had recorded during the year to reach a digital audience.

Kalmar Cathedral

The visit to Kalmar County concluded at Kalmar Cathedral, where Dean Peter Wänehag explained how the pandemic has affected everyone in society, and spoke about his hopes for the future once the pandemic is over. The King and Queen then listened to choral singing and lit candles.