Photographer ‘groped Swedish Crown Princess’ at academy event
SWEDEN’S Crown Princess Victoria was allegedly sexually harassed by Jean-claude Arnault, the French photographer at the centre of the crisis roiling the Swedish Academy.
According to the Svenska Dagbladet newspaper, three people said they witnessed Mr Arnault groping the bottom of the Crown Princess, who was 27 at the time, at an event put on by the academy, which awards the Nobel Prize for Literature.
Ebba Witt-brattström, a Swedish writer who was among those present, told The Daily Telegraph that Mr Ar- nault had approached the Crown Princess unexpectedly.
“He came lurking from behind and I saw his hand land on her neck and go downward. It was all the way down,” she said. The Crown Princess’s female Adjutant, a uniformed aide, then leapt to her rescue, Ms Witt-brattström said.
The Academy was thrown into crisis in November when 18 women came forward to say Mr Arnault had groped or harassed them. Mr Arnault is married to Katarina Frostenson, the poet, who is one of the Academy’s members.
Björn Hurtig, Mr Arnault’s lawyer, told The Telegraph: “My client most strongly denies these allegations. He claims that these malicious rumours serve a single purpose; to blacken his name and damage him.”
Margareta Thorgren, a press officer at the Swedish Royal Court, told Svenska Dagbladet: “We can’t comment on that particular information.”
She said, however, that the court supported the #Metoo movement and found the claims against Mr Arnault “frightening”.
Sweden’s King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia only attend the Christmas event at Villa Bergsgården every other year. According to Ms Witt-brattström, at their next visit in 2006, Mr Engdahl was instructed by the Swedish Court to ensure that the Crown Princess was never left alone with Mr Arnault.
Since the accusations against Mr Arnault were made, six academy members, including Ms Frostenson, have vacated their seats over the scandal. The remaining 10 members are expected to decide at their meeting next Thursday whether the institution will postpone the award of this year’s Nobel Prize for Literature to 2019.
Margareta Thorgren, the Royal Court’s press chief, said it would “neither confirm or deny” the Svenska Dagbladet story.
“What we have heard regarding this man is horrifying generally but we will not give any comment regarding this latest story that the Crown Princess has been touched,” she said.