Swedes cool about their hot-tub king
SWEDEN: The king of Sweden has insisted he will remain on the throne until his death, despite polls showing that Swedes prefer his oldest daughter, Victoria.
The reputation of Carl XVI Gustaf, 71, was tainted by a lurid biography which claimed he had a year-long affair with a woman named Camilla and was present at sex parties in a shady Stockholm club.
Victoria, who marked her 40th birthday on Friday with a parade in a horse-drawn carriage with her husband and two children, was chosen by almost half of Swedes as their favourite royal in a poll this year. Only two out of 10 opted for her father and four out of 10 thought he should abdicate.
The king, who came to the throne in 1973, did not shirk questions about his future during a rare interview with Aftonbladet, a leading Swedish newspaper.
Asked when he thought he would be ready to hand over power, he said the question was ‘‘a matter for God’’.
The royal head of communications attempted to close down the line of questioning but the king persisted. ‘‘I will ask God when I die,’’ he added.
The newspaper asked if that meant he would remain king for as long as was physically possible – an unprecedented question for a Swedish monarch. ‘‘Yes, I’ll try, I’ll try,’’ he replied.
The king’s standing in the eyes of Swedes was dented although not destroyed by a series of claims in the unauthorised book The Reluctant Monarch, which was published in 2010.
These included the king’s participation in hot-tub parties with naked women in an underground nightclub where rooms were organised for couples. The book also claimed he had an affair in the 1990s with Camilla Henemark, a Swedish-Nigerian singer with the bands Army of Lovers and Happy Hoes.
The royal famility decided not to sue over the allegations and the king gave a brief press conference in a forest after an elk hunt.
‘‘I have spoken with my family and the queen and we choose to turn the page and move forward because, as I understand, these are things that happened a long time ago,’’ he said.
The underworld gangster who was the main source of the claims was shot dead in 2014 in an apparent contract killing.
Many Swedes were forgiving of their king for behaviour that took place while he was a young man adjusting to the rigours of monarchy. – The Times