Inspiring Person Of The Week: Sweden's Princess Sofia Joins Hospital Workers To Help Them Fight COVID-19

No tiara? Not a problem. Besides, it's not what Sweden's Princess Sofia needs right now as she volunteers at the Sophiahemmet AB—the hospital where she is an honorary chair—to help relieve the burden on Stockholm's healthcare workers.

Face shields, nurse scrubs, and sterile gloves? That's more like it.

Princess Sofia, who is also a mother of two, joins the league of the world's elite that's taken on double duty to help their cities and countries survive the pandemic; different people have found many ways to be of service (such as the British royal family that has prepared meals for medical staff, American rockstar Jon Bon Jovi doing dishwasher duties at a charity kitchen, or Filipino fashion designers sewing PPEs and giving away face masks for free), but for this princess, she has chosen a more direct approach to battle COVID-19.

Though she won't actually be in direct contact with positive COVID-19 cases (the Sophiahemmet hospital does not allow volunteers to do so), she'll still be helping doctors and nurses out by sanitizing equipment, disinfecting and cleaning facilities, and doing kitchen work. She completed an expedited course on nursing and emergency preparedness training, too, before being beginning volunteer work. 

Her decision couldn't have been made at a better time; Sweden currently has the highest rate of infection compared to its other Scandinavian neighbors (though it is still doing much better than Europe's most hard hit nations like Italy and Spain), pushing many civilians to volunteer at medical facilities to relieve the pressure on doctors and nurses. 

Princess Sofia began her volunteer work two days ago. Just as the hospital workers who are now her temporary colleagues do, she dons the same uniform: a set of scrubs with a royal blue top and white pants. In a photo taken on her first day on the job, she styled her hair in a fuss-free ponytail and paired the outfit with white sneakers.

According to an official statement from the Swedish royal family, Princess Sofia decided to volunteer at the hospital as she wished to be more hands-on during this crisis. 

Truly, it really is a reverse Cinderella story—the princess steps out of her castle to find work amongst the townspeople, but in these trying times and in this modern world we live in, isn't a different kind of princess, and a different kind of woman altogether, what we need to see?

Photos from @sophiahemmet