The Swedish royal couple-King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia will take part in a clean-up drive at the Versova Beach, Andheri West, and pay homage to the victims of the 26/11 Mumbai terror strikes, during their visit starting here on Wednesday.

The royal couple arrived in Delhi for a five-day visit to the country on December 2. The visit is taking place at the invitation of President Ram Nath Kovind. This is the Swedish King’s third visit to India, the earlier visits being in 1993 and 2005.

They will arrive in Mumbai tomorrow on the second leg of their ongoing visit to the country- the second visit of the Swedish royal couple  after 1993 and the first-ever to Mumbai, said Sweden’s Consul-General in Mumbai, Anna Lekvall.

“As part of the #SwedenIndiaSambandh Campaign, the Consulate-General in Mumbai and the Rise Against Hunger India (RAHI), have lit up the 5.6 km long Rajiv Gandhi Bandra Worli Sea Link from Tuesday-to-Thursday in the Swedish flag colours in honour of the royal visit,” Lekvall added.

Lekvall further added, “This time, the royal couple will aim to strengthen the existing good relations between India and Sweden and promote Swedish-Indian cooperation, address common challenges like climate change/environment, infrastructure, research, health, enhanced trade and investment in both countries, etc.”

After the beach clean-up drive, the royal couple will be the guest of Maharashtra Governor BS Koshyari who will host a lunch for them, followed by a visit to the Door Step School which provides education for underprivileged first-generation learner kids.

They will then visit the 26/11 Taj Memorial in honour of the victims of Mumbai terror strikes and in the evening the King will join a round-table with members of the families who have built Mumbai.

The royal couple will attend TEKLA, a two-day workshop to attract girls and women into the world of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics), and the Tekla and Gender Parity Dialogue session to correct the imbalance of girls and women in the tech sector.

Besides government agencies and university representatives, the royal couple is accompanied by their ministers and a high-level business delegation.

Former President Pranab Mukherjee had made a historic state visit to Sweden earlier.

Earlier, in 2016, Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven visited India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid a return visit to Sweden in 2018.