King Carl XVI Gustaf has attended in the Mälar Scouts’ 90th anniversary, which took place at the corps’ scout cabin on the Swedish island of Lovön. Since childhood, the king has participated in scout activities of various kinds both in Sweden and abroad. Since 1977, the King has been honorary chairman of the World Scout Foundation.
His Majesty the King was welcomed to the cabin on September 18th 2021 by the Scouts’ chairman Ida Texell, union chairman Teo Elmfeldt, board member, Lars-Göran Gabrielsson, vice union chairman Felix Jonsson and communications manager Magnus Hasselquist. Around 400 scouts, scout leaders and officials had gathered for the celebration at the cabin.
The Mälar scouts were founded in 1931 and the first meeting took place in Ålsten’s primary school, with two leaders and seven “beginners”. From then on, the scout activities have developed and corps have been added, including the Ängby Scout Corps in 1959 and the Ängby Girl Scout Corps in 1959. Since 1995, the scouts have been located in the village of Karsviks. For activities on weekends and holidays, the scout cabin named “K2” is used, which, in 2015, replaced the old hike cabin.
Union chairman Teo Elmfeldt showed the King around the area where a number of scout activities took place. In groups, the scouts solved a number of different tasks on time. The more tasks the scouts solved, the more points they collected. The king also got a tour of the scout cabin where an exhibition of the Mälar scouts’ 90-year activities was shown.
Teo Elmfeldt then gave a speech and representatives from the Scouts, Stockholm’s scout district, Spånga scout corps, Blackeberg’s sea scout corps and the Scout corps Drakarna presented gifts to the Mälar scouts on the occasion of the anniversary. In conclusion, His Majesty the King spoke about his commitment to the scouts. Then the King “led the rocket”, which means that the participants stand in a ring and simulate a rocket launch with an increasing tempo of clapping, footsteps, jumping and shouting.
