Originally uploaded by tonbel.
The parliament gave him a statue of his long dead mother in celebration. My friend and I (and a few hundred others) snuck out of work to pay homage to the old guy, and were rewarded with brief but solemn glimpses of the entire royal family. Well worth the cold feet, actually - though I really hope there will be rather less talk about death in my 70th birthday. Also, I doubt there'll be statues on my wishlist.
Then again, many things will have changed in 38 years' time.
