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Lake Geneva storm victim was friend of Swedish royals

The Local
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Lake Geneva storm victim was friend of Swedish royals
A police speedboat rescue a boat capsized after a massive storm during the Bol d'Or sailing race on Lake Geneva. Photo: AFP

A woman who drowned during a violent storm on Lake Geneva in Saturday was a friend of the Sweden's King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia, Swedish media have reported.

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Media in the Scandinavian country named the woman as 68-year-old Ann-Christine Wallenberg.

Swedish tabloid Expressen said Wallenberg had known the Swedish royals since the 1980s and had remained in closed contact with them.

The paper said the Swedish king and queen had been informed of her death.

Read also: Watch - video shows wild storm on Lake Geneva

Wallenberg drowned in Lake Geneva when her sightseeing boat sank during a storm on late Saturday afternoon that brought heavy rain, hail and gale-force winds to pars of Switzerland.

Another man on the vessel was able to swim to another boat and set off flares, Geneva police said.

Three police boats and emergency services rushed to the scene. Police divers later retrieved Wallenberg’s body. 

She was taken to hospital in Geneva by Switzerland's Rega air rescue services where she was declared dead.

Wallenberg’s younger brother Stefan Magnusson told Expressen he suspected his sister was entangled in ropes as the boat capsized.

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