Swedish king 'just another mourner'

In a stirring speech, King Carl Gustaf called on Sweden’s nine million people today to draw together amid the uncertainty over the nation’s death toll in the Asian tsunami.

“We think of all our close and dear ones who, just a couple of days ago, were a natural part of our family, our friends, our classroom or our sisters and brothers, but who no longer are among us,” he said at a memorial service, with his wife, Queen Silvia, and their three children, looking on.

The ceremony was held inside Stockholm’s red-bricked city hall, the site of the annual Nobel Prize banquet, with nearly 1,100 guests, including government leaders and entertainers. The aim of the gathering was not to mourn, organisers said, but to reflect and draw strength.

“Just imagine if I, like a king in the fairy tales, could put everything right again and end this by saying that they lived happily ever after,” the king said. “But I am just another mourner.”

During the service, several musicians played songs, including ABBA co-founder Benny Anderson.

“Pain is spreading in our country, among our friends,” Prime Minister Goeran Persson said. “But at the same time, consideration is also spreading in our country. Warmth streams from person to person, between generations and cultures, over continents and across the world.”

Sweden was one of the Western countries most affected by the tsunami, with 637 people confirmed missing in Thailand, and another 1,266 unaccounted for. Fifty-two have been confirmed dead, but Persson has warned that the death toll may exceed 1,000.

“We feel small, fragile, insufficient,” he said, referring to what could be the biggest loss of life in Sweden in nearly 200 years.

Schools returned from three weeks of holiday break today to face the reality that 130 children remain missing.

“In many schools, chairs will be empty. They will never again be used by the children and youngsters who, just a couple of weeks ago, sat there with living thoughts about today, the future and life,” the king said.

“We will never know what they could have done with their lives. We will never be able to thank them for the friendship and joy they spread.”

More than 20,000 Swedes are estimated to have been in the areas struck by the tsunami, many of them children who were traumatised by what they experienced. About 20% of those missing are believed to be under the age of 18.