HM the King's 50th anniversary on the throne was celebrated on 16 November in Karlskrona by the Royal Academy of Military Sciences and the Royal Swedish Naval Academy.

KKrVA and KÖMS jointly held a seminar in Karlskrona on 16 November to celebrate HM the King's 50th anniversary on the throne. Prince Carl Philip also participated in the visit to Karlskrona. Hosts were KKrVA board member, former chairman Björn von Sydow, and KÖMS chairman, Rear Admiral Odd Werin.

The highly appreciated seminar, which touched on Sweden's current security and defense policy situation and our upcoming NATO accession, was moderated by Anna Wieslander, Secretary General of the Swedish National Defense Association. The speakers were General Sverker Göranson, Commander Per Edling, former Director General Björn Körlof, Major General Mats Helgesson and PhD Katarina Engberg.

After the seminar, the anniversary lunch was served at the historic Naval Officers' Fair.

The afternoon began with a visit to KÖMS library, where several unique objects from the collection were shown to the King and the Prince.

The day ended with a visit to Saab's Karlskrona shipyard, where guests got a glimpse of the new Blekinge-class submarine and insight into the surface ship designs of the future.

This seminar day was planned and carried out under the leadership of KKrVA Permanent Secretary Björn Anderson and PA Emilson from KÖMS.

The author is a former CEO of Ericsson. He is a member of KKrVA.