The Queen of Denmark visited Espoo for a scout conference. The grandmother of Ville Nevanlinna from Espoo told the story to the family over and over again.
On Wednesday On June 18, 1969, an exceptionally valuable guest arrived in Otaniemi, Espoo.
He had come to Turku the day before. He had stayed with his friends Karin and Adolf Ehrnroothilla Twice on the island.
In Otaniemi, he was accommodated in a student cell.
It was the Queen of Denmark Ingrid.
Queen Ingrid was opposed by, among others, General Adolf Ehrnrooth and his wife, Countess Karin Ehrnrooth, who had been the Queen’s court maiden for several years.
Queen had arrived in Finland for the 20th conference of the World Association of Girl Scouts.
The opening of the conference took place in an exemplary manner at the Otaniemi Dipole, where Finnish patrol girls wore the flags of 89 countries at the flag ceremony.
The next day, Helsingin Sanomat reported that the queen wore a dark blue scout leader’s suit. HS also reported on an embarrassing event:
The upper rope of one flag came off the bar and the scout girl carrying the flag had to assemble the flag in her arms so that it would not drag on the ground.
Opening ceremony after that it was the queen’s reception. At the reception, Queen Ingrid discussed, among other things, the lady of the spouse of the founder of the scout movement Olave Baden-Powellin with.
The general manager of the Finnish Scout Girls was also present at the opening Helvi Sipilä, which later became known as the First Deputy Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations. In 1969, Sipilä served as vice-president of the World Scout Conference.
The next day, the queen traveled by water bus from Otaniemi to the shore of Matinkylä Savings Bank College, where Midsummer was celebrated. In addition to about 700 patrol girls, an entrepreneur, for example, was present Armi Ratia.
On Saturday, Queen Ingrid traveled out of Finland.
The visit sounds like a typical royal visit, but why on earth was the queen housed in a student dormitory?
Espoo resident Ville Nevanlinna contact HS Espoo delivery. Nevanlinna’s now deceased grandmother Saara Nevanlinna used to tell a story in Otaniemi’s student village over and over again.
In the 1960s, Saara Nevanlinna had been involved in scouting in management positions. Among other things, he had been elected vice-chairman of the Finnish committee planning the World Conference.
Nevanlinna’s duties had included arranging accommodation for the queen.
“As the event approached, Grandma decorated one of the student cells for the queen’s use.”
Ville Nevanlinna says her grandmother acquired modern design furniture and furnishings for the room. At least Artekia and other prestigious brands were present.
“Grandma had an eye for that. He himself had Finnish design classics. ”
When Queen Ingrid was then brought into the student room, she had stated to Sarah Nevanlinna:
“Yes, modern students live nicely.”
In 1954, Queen Ingrid of Denmark received the Finnish Silver Swan Medal of Honor for her cooperation, which was the highest medal of merit for female scouts to be awarded in Finland. Helvi Sipilä put a badge around the queen’s neck.
HS Espoo tried to find out more about where the queen stayed. The task proved challenging.
No mention of the queen was found in the archives of Aalto University, then the Helsinki University of Technology.
The only clue could be found in the correspondents:
On April 17, 1969, after a telephone conversation, information about family apartments was sent to the Information Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Admittedly, this communication may relate to another case.
Chairman of the Finnish Scout Museum With Nils Grönberg has his own guesses as to why the queen lived in the student room.
“My assumption is that Helvi Sipilä had her keys in the game and the accommodation was new. Maybe the queen also wanted to live in the same premises with her scouts, on an equal footing. ”
To the Queen accommodation in a student apartment hardly came as a surprise.
Two months earlier, two members of the World Committee had visited the arrangements and premises of the event at Otaniemi’s Dipoli.
In addition, the World Scout Office and the people who organized the event in Finland had exchanged as many as 185 letters about the arrangements.
Certainly the information about the housing arrangements had been made available to the Queen as well.
Finns scout activists had met Queen Ingrid earlier, at least in Denmark in the 1950s.
Also the queen’s daughter, the current queen Margaret II, visited the scout camp in Espoo in his youth.
Read more: Teenager Berit Sundström-Kyti cycled to watch a Danish princess camping in Tapiola’s fields – Years later she saw the princess gesturing towards an old campsite
Queen Ingrid died at the age of 90 in November 2000.
The work used was by Liisa Savunen Girl Scouts in Finland 1910-1972.
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source https://pledgetimes.com/hs-espoo-the-queen-of-denmark-thought-that-students-in-espoo-lived-in-disrepair-when-the-monarch-was-housed-in-a-1969-artek-lined-student-cabin/
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