Swedish Royal Couple Turned Away from German Restaurant

A red-faced restaurant owner in southern Germany admitted Sunday she had turned away Sweden's king and queen when they asked for a table after failing to recognize them.

Nadine Schellenberger of Zum Gueldenen Stern, a half-timbered inn and pub founded in the 16th century in the center of the southwestern town of Ladenburg, said the royals stopped in while she was hosting a wedding party.

"I didn't recognize them. I mean without crowns and scepters... I am just not up on royal families and I don't have time for glossy magazines," she told Agence France Presse after the incident Thursday.

"Whether you're a street sweeper or queen -- we just didn't have a table or enough manpower in the kitchen at that time and our hands were tied."

Nevertheless Schellenberger and her husband Michael plan to send a letter to King Carl XVI Gustaf and German-born Queen Silvia to apologize.

"We want to tell them that we are sorry we didn't recognize them immediately and that we weren't able to serve them but that we would be delighted to welcome them another time," she said.

Press reports said the royal couple and their entourage managed to get a pizza on the market square.