Princess Sofia delivered a heartfelt message during the Swedish Heroes of 2020 gala awards ceremony. The gala takes place every year in Sweden to pay tribute to people across the country who have distinguished themselves for their behaviour or actions throughout the year.
This year, the princess said, healthcare workers and all those people who have been supporting the country during the ongoing pandemic are to commend.
The royal who also served as a jury member of the gala, said: “I’m so incredibly impressed.
“To me, all of you in Swedish healthcare are real heroes, and I want to thank you for everything you have done and continue to do every day.”
The princess, who joined the Royal Family in 2015 by marrying Prince Carl Philip, also highlighted how the coronavirus pandemic is taking its toll not just on key workers but on their families as well.
She said: “It is about a profession that in a pandemic like this also makes demands on their other family members, to make time to get together and have enough.
“One for all, all for one. I’m so incredibly impressed.”
In her heartfelt speech, Princess Sofia also touched upon her own experience in hospital, as the royal began to volunteer at Stockholm’s Sofiahemmet amid the first wave of coronavirus.
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She said: “During the spring and autumn, I have been able to participate and work in healthcare with simpler tasks, and it has been a unique experience that has fundamentally affected me.”
The princess completed a three-day emergency online training at Sofiahemmet University in April, a special course created in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic to support hospitals.
The royal has since volunteered there regularly, taking on shifts in the kitchen, cleaning or disinfecting instruments.
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Princess Sofia and her husband Carl Philip announced earlier this month they are to welcome a new royal baby next year.
The joyful couple said in a statement: “We are happy and look forward to welcoming our third child, a sibling to Prince Alexander and Prince Gabriel.
“A new little member of our family.”
The statement added the princess is doing well and the birth is expected to take place in the spring, between March and April.
The latest royal baby will be seventh-in-line to the Swedish throne.
This happy news came a few days after Princess Sofia and Prince Carl Philip announced they had contracted a mild bout of coronavirus.
The princess has been regularly tested since she started her volunteering work at the hospital in Stockholm.
However, it is not known how the couple contracted Covid-19.
Prince Carl Philip is the second child of Swedish King Carl XVI Gustaf, who recently spoke about his country’s handling of the pandemic.
Unlike most other countries in the EU, Sweden decided to avoid a full national lockdown and only relied on voluntary guidelines.
The monarch said: “I think we have failed. A large number have died, and that is terrible.”
More than 8,000 people died in Sweden from Covid-19 since the beginning of the pandemic.
