Dave Kneale / Volvo Ocean Race
Friday 3 April 2009, 21:00 GMT
The carpet may have been blue instead of red, but that did not stop Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden walking through the Volvo Ocean Race village to meet the kings of the ocean in Rio de Janeiro today.
She arrived as a guest of Ericsson Racing Team shortly before 10am and left two hours later, a prelude to Saturday's ‘Light In-Port Race' where she is scheduled to sail with Torben Grael's international crew.
In between, she watched footage in the race cinema and enquired about the cost of bags in the PUMA store.
"When will PUMA have a female crew?" she asked.
Thereafter she visited the Volvo Product Exhibition and then the Ericsson team base, where she grilled meteorologist Chris Bedford on all things weather.
Ultimately she ended up at the dock, stopping for pictures with the skippers. She stood awhile with Grael and Magnus Olsson, the two Ericsson skippers, before breaking into laughter.
"I had a crush on her and I told her that, but she's getting married," Sweden's Olsson later explained in his own imitable way.
"But she said she'd rather sail with Torben."