Posted
on December 23, 2014
Today
is the birthday of both Queen Silvia of Sweden AND Emperor Akihito of
Japan—so today is a holiday in both of those countries.
Sweden's
Queen Silvia was born in Germany on this date in 1943.
You
may think, “Germany? I thought she was queen of Sweden!”
But
before Silvia Sommerlath married King Carl XVI Gustaf, of Sweden, she
lived in Germany and in Sao Paulo, Brazil. She worked at the
Argentine Consulate in Germany, worked as a flight attendant, served
as an educational host during the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, and
served as the Deputy Head of Protocol in the Winter Olympics in
Innsbruck, Austria. She is a trained interpreter and knows six
languages. German and Portuguese are her native languages, and she
also speaks French, Spanish, English, and of course Swedish. She even
knows some Swedish Sign Language!
Quite
an accomplished queen!
Japan's
Emperor Akihito was born in Tokyo, Japan, on this date in 1933.
He
was born to be emperor; his parents were the Emperor and Empress who
ruled Japan during World War II! (Remember, Japan bombed the U.S. at
Pearl Harbor and fought bloody battles against the Allies for several
years.) During the bombing of Tokyo, Akihito and his brother, both
princes, were evacuated from the city, and when Americans occupied
the country after Japan was beaten, Akihito was tutored in the
English language and Western manners by an American librarian and
author, Elizabeth Gray Vining.
Akihito
only studied at a university briefly and never earned a degree; he
was perhaps too was busy making official visits and doing other
duties of Japanese royalty. He once said that being a Japanese royal
was like being a robot.
But
Emperor Akihito tried to bring the Imperial Family closer to the
Japanese people, and he made a historic televised appearance in 2011,
in response to the devastating earthquake and tsunami, urging his
people to not give up hope, and to help one another. They also made a
visit to refugees from the quake and tsunami. Apparently this sort of
visit, while common for leaders of some nations, was extremely rare
for Japanese royals.
Akihito
has managed to follow one of his passions, fish biology. He has done
research on fish (which means he is an ichthyologist), and he has
published scholarly papers on his research. In 2007 he earned an
honorary degree from a university.
So...what
do people do on their royal rulers' birthday?
People
in Japan can go onto the grounds of the Imperial Palace (which is
usually closed to the public); they wave tiny Japanese flags and
listen to the Emperor make a brief speech from a palace balcony.
The
posh people of Sweden get to go to their queen's gala party to
celebrate with her AND to raise money for charity. I couldn't spot
any aspect of celebration with the average Swede, but I know that the
whole greeting-the-populace-from-the-balcony thing is pretty big in
Europe, so I bet Queen Silvia squeezes in some sort of greeting.
Also
on this date:
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