Sweden Welcomes Government Dinner-Crasher

The unexpected invitee was met with a polite welcome

Swedish government ministers bungled their invitations to an official policy summit dinner and accidentally invited a random woman — but when she showed up for the state dinner, they invited her in anyway.

Sweden's English-language news site The Local reported that Margareta Winberg, a 67-year-old retired occupational therapy assistant, was a little confused when she received an invite to a formal dinner beginning a major environmental conference.

She didn't think much of the unexpected invite, however, and went to the dinner as directed.

Winberg had been invited accidentally — in place of a former deputy prime minister, ambassador and agricultural minister who shares her name and might have had more to say about environmental policy.

But event organizers took their own error in stride and invited the random Winberg in to dine with them anyway.

"The food was nice and there were a lot of people talking and talking," she said.

Her uninvited namesake was good-natured about her omission.

"I hope my namesake had a lovely dinner. She has never attended a government dinner, and I have," the other Winberg said, The Local reported.

A spokesman for the environmental minister who hosted the event said the mix-up was "a great laugh" and that nobody seemed to mind the accidental dinner-crasher's presence at the function.

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