ICYMI: the Royal Week in Europe

Birthday celebrations were a big part of Europe's royal week just gone

(photo Sveriges Kungahuset Instagram)

We're all just about over the emergency caused by the emergency all staff meeting at Buckingham Palace which led to the announcement that the Duke of Edinburgh was retiring from public life. That news dominates the royal week, and rightly so, but the ruling houses of Europe packed in plenty of other activity while Philip got ready to stand down. In case you missed it, here's a quick round up of the royal week.

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King Philippe of the Belgians welcomed Aung San Suu Kyi, First State Counsellor of Myanmar and Nobel Peace Prize winner, to the Royal Palace in Brussels for talks. Philippe headed to Lithuania later in the week for a visit while Queen Mathilde presented the annual music prize which bears her name.

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The King and Queen of Spain had a literary week with Letizia opening the International Seminar on Language and Journalism on May 3rd. The following day, Felipe and Letizia officially opened an exhibition at the University of Salamanca featuring its collection of manuscripts.

H.M. Kongen embarkerte Kongeskipet "Norge" i ettermiddag. Under embarkeringen inspiserer Kongen skipet og mannskapene. Embarkeringen markerer at "Norge" er klart for årets sesong. Foto: Sven Gj. Gjeruldsen, Det kongelige hoff #kongehuset #kongen #kongharald #kongeskipetnorge

A post shared by Det Norske Kongehus (@detnorskekongehus) on May 4, 2017 at 8:19am PDT

Crown Prince Haakon was a royal of letters, too, as he attended the annual meeting of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters. More details of next week's celebrations for the 80th birthdays of King Harald and Queen Sonja were announced with royal houses around the continent starting to confirm their attendances. Part of the party will take place on the royal yacht and King Harald boarded the Norge late in the week for an inspection, marking the start of its summer season.

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Queen Margrethe was also heading for the water this week as she boarded the Danish Royal Yacht, Danneborg, to officially start its summer sailing season. Earlier in the week, Margrethe presented new standards to two military units. Crown Prince Frederik was busy giving out awards, overseeing the Brain Prize and the Denmark Bridge Award. Crown Princess Mary presented the scholarships that bear her name while Prince Joachim attended events marking the 25th anniversary of the UN Museum in Copenhagen.

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Prince Albert II and Princess Charlene of Monaco cheered on AS Monaco in the first leg of their Champions League semi final against Juventus - the team lost 2-0. Prince Albert also visited a new exhibition at Monaco's Oceanography Museum before beginning an official visit to Slovakia.

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King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands and his family enjoyed a short holiday in Austria where they continued his 50th birthday celebrations. On his return, the King of the Netherlands along with Queen Maxima attended the National Memorial Service in Dam Square in Amsterdam where they laid a wreath.

Under besöket på NASA:s Goddard Space Flight Center provar Kungen en handske som gör det möjligt att hantera verktyg i rymden. Astronauten John Grunsfeld instruerar. Med på bilden är också delegationsledare Leif Johansson, IVAs preses. Under veckan är Kungen i USA på en internationell delegationsresa med fokus på teknik, vetenskap och näringsliv. På Kungens initiativ har Kungl. Ingenjörsvetenskapsakademien (IVA) sedan 1984 arrangerat så kallade Royal Technology Missions runtom i världen. Foto: Elin Vinger Elliot #kungahuset #nasa #iva1919

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Another birthday king, Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, headed to the US following celebrations for his 71st on April 30th. The Swedish king is paying a four day visit with the Royal Technology Mission. Queen Silvia was in Madeira where she inaugurated a new wing for elderly patients at the Princess Maria Amalia Hospital in Funchal. Some royal highlights from the week just gone, in case you missed it!