THE PRINCESS DIARIES
THE HEIR TO THE SWEDISH THRONE OPENS UP ABOUT HER STRUGGLE WITH ANXIETY
Swedish royal’s private struggle
She’s grown up in one of the most privileged families in the world and will one day be queen of her country. She’s also a mum-of two beautiful children she adores and is married to the love of her life.
But Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden has revealed that she struggles every day with the anxiety she’s had since she was a teenager.
In a TV interview to mark her 40th birthday, Victoria has opened up about her mental health issues. The oldest child of King Carl Gustaf (71) and Queen Silvia of Sweden (73) first began suffering with anxiety and also anorexia when she started taking on official royal duties while at secondary school.
She realised her problems were getting out of hand at
18, shortly before she was due to go to Sweden’s Uppsala
University.
‘ It’s not always about external problems. It can also come from within and it can happen to everyone’
Concerned about how thin she had become, her parents stepped in to help, advising her to take time off to get treatment before starting her degree.
“I wanted all the time to do and be so much more than I realistically could do or could be,” Victoria said at the time. “I needed time to sort things out and get my balance back again. I needed to get to know myself, discover where my limits were and not constantly push myself too much.”
The pressures of public life contributed to her anxiety and eating disorder but were not entirely responsible, she admits. “It’s not always about external problems. It can also come from within and it can happen to everyone, not only young girls but also boys. It takes time to overcome and it hurts very much.”
Having treatment in the US helped Victoria, who says she also felt “slow and stupid” thanks to having dyslexia.
“It was a hard period. I was lost for a long time, nothing unusual at that age. I’m grateful I got help because it is not so easy to get out of that situation when you feel very bad.”
She was able to conquer the anorexia, but admits anxiety is still something she deals with most days.
“The performance anxiety I had is still there,” she tells.
But now she has ways of dealing successfully with it.
“I’ve been given different kinds of tools and learned how to manage it.”
Victoria accepts that she is a perfectionist, but looks at it as a good thing, as it encourages her to do the best for her country.
“My whole life is for Sweden,” she explains. “It may seem pretentious, but I feel it, it’s true. I see my parents and their tireless work, and I notice with joy how they do it, with never-ending interest. I hope that I can experience the same joy at their age.”
Victoria has also spoken
about her concerns about the negative effects social media can have on children’s mental health. She says “all the perfect images that are uploaded” affect impressionable young people, putting pressure on them for “everything to be polished”.
“For me, it is important that children should be children,” she enthuses.
The downside of her royal responsibility is that she doesn’t get to spend as much time with her children, Princess Estelle (5) and Prince Oscar
(15 months), as she would like. “Unfortunately, I miss many moments of my children’s lives. But I watch them when I can, and often record their small victories and undertakings.”
And it is comforting to know that her husband Prince Daniel is a hands-on dad.
There was initially opposition to her choice of partner, both from the Swedish people and from her father, who hoped she would marry another European blue-blood. Daniel Westling (43) was Victoria’s personal trainer and for a long time not considered suitable marriage material.
His casual dress sense and thick rural accent were mocked, but when Carl Gustaf realised his daughter was determined to marry Daniel, he relented and brought in a team of courtiers to transform his future son-in-law into prince material.
Daniel was schooled in etiquette, languages and Swedish history and politics, and given an image makeover by a top PR firm. He was even taught how to eat, stand and converse with dignitaries.
The couple, who marred in 2010, have since endeared themselves to the Swedish people. “As a couple, they are almost too perfect, but he really is squeaky clean,” says one royal watcher.
Instead it is Victoria’s younger siblings who have brought touches of scandal to the family. Sister Princess Madeleine (35) called off her engagement to boyfriend Jonas Bergstrom (38) in 2010 after he allegedly cheated. She is now happily married to American banker Christopher O’Neill (43).
Brother Prince Carl Philip (38) married former topless model Sofia Hellqvist (32) in 2015 and lashed out at the media for suggesting that she was not welcomed by his parents.