A programme broadcast to honour the victims and those affected by the Asian tsunami disaster which happened on Boxing Day - Sunday 26 December 2004 - and involved many hundreds of Swedes.

It was naturally a very solemn occasion and it was attended by the whole Swedish Royal Famil, the Swedish Prime Minister Göran Persson, the Swedish government, international politicians and diplomats as well as others directly affected by the tsunami and the general public.

King Carl Gustav held a speech were he spoke about himself loosing his father in a plane crash when he was a child. He said he wish he could be like a king from the fairy tales where he could end the story with "and so they lived happily ever after", but he said he couldn't since he is just a mourning human being just like everybody else. Other speeches were held and various touching poems were read.

Benny Andersson's Orkester opened up with Tröstevisa (Song of Solace) after a poem written by author Barbro Lindberg. BAO! also accompanied Louise Hoffsten when she was singing Have a little faith in me.

Among the other artists performing was Rickard Wolf, Maria Stellas and Robyn.

Click here to see a picture from picture agency Getty Images.

Broadcast information:
Monday 10 January 2005, LIVE, SVT1, Sweden
Clips from this broadcast were also shown on:
Nyhedern, 19:15, TV2, Denmark
Euronews, Europe
RTL Boulevard and Nos Journaal, The Netherlands
Channel 9 News, Australia

Thanks to Robin Andersson, Niklas Albinsson-Collander, Ian Cole and Pieter Wever c/o ABBAMAIL (no longer online). First four pictures c/o Pieter Wever (thank you).
YouTube link c/o inomadi100 and AP Archive