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The moving performance of the monarch in Cologne Silvia of Sweden: The dementia fate of her mother can not let go

All guests are waiting expectantly in the reception area. But only 17 minutes late is the limousine of Queen Silvia driving in front of Cologne St.

Queen Silvia of Sweden
Photo: Getty Images

Hildegardis Hospital before. Smiling, the monarch walks out. Despite the glitch that just happened: "I have to apologize. We used a fabulous GPS. But that drove us to a fake clinic. "Her wanderings through the cathedral city provide general cheerfulness. But immediately afterwards, she transmits to the theme that made her a life's work. She is here to inaugurate Germany's first dementia hospital: the "Silviahemmet" model, which integrates relatives.

In a calm voice, she tells of her very first encounter with a patient. During a visit to a nursing station near her Swedish castle Drottningholm she was introduced to an old lady. Queen Silvia asked if she lived nearby. The lady replied, "Yes, and you?" She answered in the negative and truthfully that she was working nearby in the castle. The woman was quite excited and asked, "Do you know the Crown Prince? He has such cute dark curls. "

The amazement that the lady lived in a long-gone time was as strong as the desire to correct her. Queen Silvia : "The temptation was great to get the facts right. That the Crown Prince is now more of a gray-aged 63-year-old king and married to me and has three grown children. "

This slow removal from the environment, the increasing distance from everyday life, the perseverance in a world of experience that is far behind - all these sad experiences had to make Queen Silvia herself. Her beloved mother Alice Sommerlath († 90) suffered from increasing dementia before her death.

"We had three ladies who cared for my mother." Even Queen Silvia devotedly cared for her - until her death in 1997. A family drama that she does not let go.

In her speech at the opening of the Cologne dementia ward she recalls the suffering of her mother. "We relatives are the bridge between two worlds" "I forget my life, " the old lady had said to her daughter at that time. With these words, Queen Silvia awakens her mother's drama again. "It hit me hard when I saw my mother so helpless, " confesses the monarch. There is silence for a moment. But then Queen Silvia goes on to talk about the plight of relatives, who often do not know how to deal with the change taking place in a close person.

"We dependents are the bridge between two worlds." And further: "We all have a great responsibility to bear." Queen Silvia has taken up this responsibility. Not only personally, but also publicly: In 1996 she founded the foundation "Silviahemmet" (in German: "Silviaheim"). Here, dementia patients may age in dignity, here they are assisted and their relatives. Because, as the regent says: "It is different to look after old people or to deal with people with dementia."

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