An under-the-radar Washington visit for Sweden’s Queen Silvia

Queen Silvia, center, at a gala Tuesday at the Mayflower hotel. (Courtesy of Mentor Foundation USA)

With so many dignitaries traipsing (and Fiat-ing) through town this week, it was easy to overlook the visit by Sweden’s Queen Silvia, who popped into Washington for a brief and under-the-radar stay.

Usually, the city brakes for a “Her Majesty,” but thanks to Pope Francis’s high-profile selfie-ing and Chinese President Xi Jinping’s state visit, there was hardly a curtsy when Silvia,  71, showed up. On Monday, Swedish Ambassador Bjorn Lyrvall threw an intimate dinner in her honor, where guests included “Rocky IV” star Dolph Lundgren. One attendee tells us the visiting royal was “very unassuming” and personally greeted all the guests.

Tuesday, she again visited the Swedish Embassy for a session with the Mentor Foundation USA, an organization that pairs young people with volunteers, and later that night, the queen was honored at the organization’s gala at the Mayflower hotel. (No visit to IKEA, though.)