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This past Friday saw Sweden’s Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel go to the Raoul Wallenberg Square in Stockholm to commemorate International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Friday remembered the liberation of Auschwitz in 1945.
 Click here for additional photos Victoria and Daniel met with Kofi Annan, former U.N. Secretary General, who gave a speech at the ceremony. At the beginning of it, he greeted the royal couple by saying, “Your Royal Highnesses, Victoria and Daniel, and the little one”.
But there wasn’t much room for humor during the commemoration. Annan urged those in attendance not to forget the millions who died in the Holocaust. Swedish Speaker Per Westerberg said “We humans need good role models. Role models who fights evil and gives us hope and courage.”
“It was Raoul Wallenberg’s courage, ingenuity and drive that saved thousands of Hungarian Jews from death in Hitler’s gas chambers,” Westerberg added.
The Crown Princess placed a lit candle jar at the center of the square to remember both those who died and Wallenberg’s bravery.
Wallenberg was a Swedish diplomat who orchestrated the survival and rescue of thousands of Jews in Budapest during World War II. Wallenberg was captured by the Soviet Union, however, and no one knows what happened to him.
When he was asked why he risked his life to save Budapest’s Jews, he said, “I had no choice.”
Sources: AP, Epoch Times
 Click here for more of Victoria's arrival Sweden’s Crown Princess Victoria paid a visit to the Astrid Lindgren Children’s hospital in Solna Thursday. The hospital recently merged with the Children’s Hospital in Huddinge into one pediatric hospital under the organization of Karolinska University Hospital.
While Her Royal Highness met with the staff and patients of Astrid Lindgren, the media focused mainly on her ever growing baby bump. The Crown Princess is due to have her first baby in March, and will go on maternity leave possibly next week.
One member of the press presented Victoria with a knitted onesie – or jumpsuit – for her soon-to-be born baby. She graciously accepted the gift.
Victoria was all smiles during this visit. She has been looking content and relaxed during her pregnancy.
The Crown Princess has two more engagements to perform, according to Pure People. After that, she will be waiting for the arrival of her first child. In the meantime, it is expected her brother and sister – Prince Carl Philip and Princess Madeleine – will take over for her in her absence.
Sources: Expressen.tv, Pure People
While 2010 may have been a celebratory year for the Swedish royal family, 2011 has been difficult.
 Click here to view the website of the Swedish Royal Court So says Queen Silvia and her eldest child, Crown Princess Victoria. In an interview with the SVT program, Året med kungafamiljen – or, The Year with the Royal Family, the two talked about how the media reported on the scandal involving King Carl XVI Gustaf and his alleged affairs and visits to strip clubs.
“It makes a lot of pain when your parents are publicized at the brusque way that actually has occurred,” Victoria told SVT.
Following the publication of the book The Reluctant Monarch, it was widely rumored there were photographs of the King at the strip clubs. Also, there were allegations that he was linked to the Serbian mafia operating in Sweden.
“There is a media drive if I get honest. Actually, I would not go into that. It is extremely hurtful. It is a situation when you are totally powerless. There is always someone else who has the final say,” Queen Silvia said.
She went on to say, “There are some who say why don’t you deny it?. Yes, but you can not deny all every day. It’s hard. Then it is not credible either. It then depends on the writings, if I may call them so, at what level they are. Should I go down to the same level to be able to comment on that?”
There were also rumors that the Queen was on the brink of nervous breakdown due to the reports. This she denies.
“They have recently written that I am close to collapse, soon I will be depressed, soon I will have thoughts of suicide, I’ve hit the wall and so on. I see these headlines. Then let me just say that yes, I am disappointed and yes, I’m sorry. But what shall we say? It might have strengthened me.”
Crown Princess Victoria, who is expecting her first child in March, voiced her concern about the media intrusion and how it would effect her child as it grows up. She claimed the media is a lot more intense than it was while she was young, and wondered if the media will ever give her family a chance for privacy.
But at the same time, she agrees with her mother about how this family crisis effected the royal family.
“When I think back, it is also something that has strengthened us as a family.”
To view the SVT program, click here (its in Swedish).
Source: Aftonbladet
On Tuesday, most of the Swedish royal family were at the annual gathering of the Swedish Academy at the Stockholm’s Stock Exchange.
 Click here for more images Founded in 1786 by King Gustav III, the Swedish Royal Academy is a cultural institution meant to promote Swedish language and literature.
Everyone, minus Princess Madeleine, showed up for the formal gathering. Crown Princess Victoria wore a lovely black velvet dress which showed her baby bump nicely.
Her mother, Queen Silvia, recently spoke to Svensk Damtidning about her daughter’s pregnancy.
“She should take it easy and give herself more personal time,” said Silvia.
The Queen also spoke happily about the prospects of being a grandmother.
“It will be wonderful, very fun!” she said, adding that she looks forward to babysitting the future royal baby.
Crown Princess Victoria is due in March. The child, regardless of gender, will be second in line to the throne behind her.
Sources: Svensk Damtidning
Over in neighboring Sweden, the rest of the Nobel Prizes were handed out, with the Swedish royal family witnessing the event. While some may see the Nobel ceremony as a time to honor the achievements of the winners, others see it as a major a fashion event, especially for the royal women.
 Check out more photos at Daylife.com King Carl XVI Gustaf, Queen Silvia, Crown Princess Victoria, Prince Daniel and Prince Carl Philip were present for the ceremony. The Queen wore the same gown she wore to the pre-wedding events of Victoria and Daniel back in June 2010. The Crown Princess looked stunning in a deep blue sequined dress which flaunted her pregnancy. She is six months along, by the way.
Also in attendance, as guests, were the Grand Ducal couple of Luxembourg. Grand Duke Henri and Grand Duchess Maria Teresa were at the Nobel ceremony because one of the laureates was from Luxembourg.
During the event, at the Stockholm Concert Hall, King Carl Gustaf personally gave the prizes to the recipients in the areas of medicine, literature, economics, physics and chemistry. The winners were:
Medicine: Canadian Ralph Steinman, who died just three days before it was announced he won. His wife, Claudia, took home the medal in his place. The other two were Bruce Beutler of the United States and Luxembourg-born Frenchman Jules Hoffmann
Literature: Swedish poet Tomas Transtroemer
Economics: Thomas Sargent and Christopher Sims of the United States
Physics: Saul Perlmutter and Adam Riess of the United States and US-Australian Brian Schmidt
Chemistry: Daniel Shechtman of Israel
The Nobel Prize laureates take home a gold medal, a diploma, and 10 million kronor ($1.48 million dollars, 1.10 million euros), which is shared if there is more than one recipient.
After the ceremony was complete, the royal family escorted some of the winners out of the Concert Hall and led them to the banquet where 1,400 guests gathered for fine dining. The menu consisted of lobster with pickled winter vegetables and Jerusalem artichoke purée, Guinea hen with porcini mushrooms and lingonberries, poached pearl onions with parsley roots and velouté sauce Mandarin and white chocolate mousse on a cinnamon-spiced cake with raspberry marmalade and fresh raspberries.
Sources: AFP, NobelPrize.org
Since the publication of the book The Reluctant Monarch last November, speculation over King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden’s ties to the Mafia has grown. It has certainly grown louder this weekend with the release of recordings show the King and a longtime friend tried to pay off a sex club owner, who is a gangster, to retract claims that Carl Gustaf attended sex parties there.
 View more photos of the Swedish King here The recordings have lead to many in Sweden to urge the King to come clean about his Mafia ties and apologize to the country for lying about the connections.
Even Constitutional Committee chairman Peter Eriksson, MP, is calling for the truth from the royal family.
“If it does not happen, we’ll see what we do,” says Peter Eriksson told Expressen.
The recordings have the King’s friend, Anders Lettström trying to broker a deal through Daniel Webb, an associate of Mille Markovic, the nightclub owner. King Carl was looking to pay to stop the story of him attending sex clubs from continuing to swirl. He was also looking to prevent Markovic from publishing the photos of him at the clubs.
“After our meeting on Kungsholmen, I talked to the King during the evening,” Mr Lettström said, according to Aftonbladet. “Then I told him that Mille had said that he could take back what he said, and that he wanted to be paid I thought it was between one and two million Kronor.”
Previously, the King spoke to TT news agency and denied knowledge of Lettström’s ties to the Mafia.
But with those recordings coming to light, it looks like he lied to Sweden, and the royal court is helping out.
“Our comment is that we do not comment on this further. There is data that has existed for a year,” says the court’s head of information Bertil Ternert to Expressen.se on Saturday morning.
But there is no stopping the urge for the truth, with it coming from Swedish politicians.
“I think it’s a difficult situation as the King got into, even before this last one with Lettström. A prerequisite for the monarchy to remain as true today is that there is some sort of confidence in the foundation of politics, citizens and the royal family,” said MP Peter Eriksson.
 Click here for photos of Crown Princess Victoria “If it is true, it is extremely serious,” said Ulf Bjereld, professor of political science at the University of Gothenburg. ” It would show that King lied to the entire Swedish population. Then it’s a huge crisis of confidence because he is the country’s head of State and shall represent the Swedish people in all contexts.”
Some are wondering if this could lead to King Carl XVI Gustaf’s abdication.
“If it is true that Lettström spoke to the King,” said Lawyer Peter Althin, who is a member of the Republican Association. “It means that our head of state has lied to its citizens straight up the face, and this is not acceptable. The natural thing would be King, if that his friend talked to him about these contacts, realize that it is unacceptable and then should he abdicate.”
If the King abdicates, that means Crown Princess Victoria will become Queen of Sweden while either in the last stages of her first pregnancy or with a newborn child.
It is being reported that all the Swedish royals are upset with Carl Gustaf. Queen Silvia cannot forgive him and does her best to keep up appearances.
Prince Carl Philip and Princess Madeleine are doing all they can to stay out of Sweden and avoid their father. Carl Philip has been abroad either vacationing in Thailand or representing his country in South Africa as he did recently. This scandal may explain why Madeleine has been spending so much time in New York City.
Prince Daniel is reportedly doing everything he can to be supportive of his in-laws, particularly Victoria.
Sources:Telegraph (UK), Expressen
These past two days saw Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel tour the county of Västernorrland, which is in the northern part of Sweden.
 Click here for more images Their Royal Highnesses arrived in Midlanda a bit after 9am local time. After initial greetings by local officials, the two got down to business.
Their itinerary called for them to go check out the Permobil in Timrå. The Permobil is an electric wheelchair, and both Victoria and Daniel got a chance to test it out. They got a little competitive, trying to see who would go the fastest. Daniel was the winner, and was awarded a small trophy. He also said how surprised he was over how fast the Permobil is.
After that, the royals went to Mid Sweden University and Fiber Science and Communication Network in Sundsvall. Lunch followed at a restaurant called Knaust, also in Sundsvall.
When the couple exited Knaust, they were greeted by about a hundred locals who cheered for them. Crown Princess Victoria took the time to chat with some of the people.
 Check out more pics of the second day here One of the conversations she had with the crowd was a three year old girl named Madeleine Johansson. The girl asked Victoria, who is five months pregnant, what would she be naming her baby.
The Crown Princess told Madeleine she did not know yet, but the little girl asked her future Queen to name the baby Natalie, after her younger sister.
A Mini Fair at Technichus Härnösand was attended, and dinner was at the residency of the governor in Härnösand.
Tuesday morning started off with Träakademin in Kramfors. It is a furniture company, specializing in Gustavian styles. There, Victoria learned to hit a hammer on a hot iron.
“We are a modern family. I hold the bag while she grabs the hammer,” joked a smiling Prince Daniel.
Later, Victoria and Daniel went to the nearby Folke Bernadotte Academy, also in Kramfors. The Academy is an agency under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and seeks to improve the coordination of Sweden’s international peace, security-building, conflict prevention and crisis management operations.
After lunching at the Academy, the couple went back to Härnösand and stopped by Semret, a housing for unaccompanied refugee children.
The Crown Princess and Prince then held a meeting with ambassadors for women’s entrepreneurship back at the governor’s residence. They also ate dinner there again.
In the evening, Victoria and Daniel left for Stockholm.
Sources: ST.nu, Sveriges Radio, Dagbladet, ¡Hola!
At Stockholm’s royal palace Thursday, Crown Princess Victoria met with the Vice President of South Africa.
 Click here to view original photo and another at Kungahuset.se Kgalema Motlanthe is in Sweden to take part in the Seventh Binational Commission, BNC. The purpose of the BNC is to cement bilateral ties between Sweden and South Africa.
Also with Motlanthe was the South African ambassador to Sweden, Mandis Dona Marash.
Later in the day, the Vice President went on to meet with Deputy Prime Minister Jan Björklund to discuss broadening the relationship between their two countries. Representatives of senior officials of both countries met today and will meet again Friday to discuss current issues and common challenges such as the economy and trade, security, environmental and energy issues and social issues.
Also while in Sweden, Motlanthe will make a speech at Uppsala University and visit the grave of Dag Hammarskjold.
Source: Kungahuset, Regeringen
 Click here to view images of Prince Albert II A man is serving a six day sentence in Monaco for insulting the tiny principality’s ruler Prince Albert II.
The man, believed to be named Hicham from the French town of Beausoleil, entered Monaco around midnight on Tuesday, already intoxicated. He entered a bar and tried to order more drinks but was refused because of his drunk state.
Enraged, the man began to insult the people in the bar. When police were called and they began to arrest him, the man then insulted the police and also Prince Albert II.
Facing a three year sentence under Monaco’s penal code article 58 – or lese-majeste as it is commonly known – the man had his sentence reduced to six days after telling a Monegasque court that he had no recollection of that night and he held the Prince in high regard.
As ancient as the lese-majeste law sounds, according to the British newspaper, Daily Mail, it is enforced not only in Monaco, but also Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, Greece and Spain.
Thailand is perhaps most famous for its lese-majeste – French for “injured monarch” – laws. Over there, one can face up to fifteen years for insulting the Thai royals.
Source: Nice Matin, Daily Mail
Yesterday, Crown Princess Victoria inaugurated this year’s General Synod in Uppsala. The Synod is a yearly meeting for the National Church of Sweden, and it discusses issues concerning the church.
 Click here to view more photos at Svensk Damtidning Arriving in a black sedan, the Crown Princess emerged dressed in black and white from head to toe. Once again, she hid her baby bump with a jacket.
Once inside the cathedral, Victoria sat in a special chair of burgundy velvet and listened as the high ranked members of the Swedish Lutheran church opened the General Synod of 2011.
This year, the topics ranged from the vow of silence by pastors and deacons, or how to adapt the energy consumption of the church. One topic that was covered was the treatment of the Sami, Sweden’s indigenous people. Some church leaders noted that the Samis feel alienated.
“I think the alienation and isolation of the Sami is well known, and they can be a useful contribution in the work of a true entity church that promotes diversity,” said Tuulikki Koivunen, a dean in Uppsala, now a bishop.
As if to demonstrate of Samis are treated in Sweden, a Sami radio reporter tried to get a word from Victoria as she left the synod, but was pushed out of the way. Then again, the police and her bodyguards may not have known the person was a Sami.
Source: UNT.se
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