Royalty in the News » King Carl XVI Gustaf

Christmas Speeches from the Monarchs of Europe

Megan M — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 00:43:39 +0000

For Christmas Eve and Day, most of the reigning heads of state in Europe spoke to their people. They wished them a good Christmas, reflected on 2011 and talked about what to look for in the following year.

Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II’s televised message spoke mainly of the state and goodwill visits she and her family made this year. She brought up the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s visit to North America, her historic state visit to Ireland and the recent tour of Australia.

Click here to read the Queen's Speech in its entirety.

“The spirit of friendship so evident in both these nations can fill us all with hope,” Her Majesty said. “Relationships that years ago were once so strained have through sorrow and forgiveness blossomed into long term friendship. It is through this lens of history that we should view the conflicts of today, and so give us hope for tomorrow.

“Of course, family does not necessarily mean blood relatives but often a description of a community, organisation or nation. The Commonwealth is a family of 53 nations, all with a common bond, shared beliefs, mutual values and goals”

The Queen then mentioned briefly the two weddings the House of Windsor saw this year – Prince William’s and Zara Philips’.

“The importance of family has, of course, come home to Prince Philip and me personally this year with the marriages of two of our grandchildren, each in their own way a celebration of the God-given love that binds a family together.”

Finally, Queen Elizabeth touched on the need to forgive one another. “Forgiveness lies at the heart of the Christian faith. It can heal broken families, it can restore friendships and it can reconcile divided communities. It is in forgiveness that we feel the power of God’s love.”

Sweden’s King Carl XVI Gustaf spoke about this year’s state visits from Estonia and to Botswana. He also mentioned visiting Swedish troops in Afghanistan. “After one such trip, I am even more convinced that we must not give up. We must continue to problems and conflicts should be resolved. Peace and reconciliation are powerful forces that can win over hatred and violence.”

Read the King's Speech here (its in Swedish)

The King also talked about something he mentioned in his Christmas message two years ago. In it, he brought up how he and Queen Silvia wanted to open a forum to discuss children’s issues. 2011 saw the second such forum in Stockholm at the palace.

“Over 400 participants listened to representatives of various child rights issues,” His Majesty said. “It was an important day, the whole palace was filled with dedicated people who talked about how children’s rights can be strengthened in practice.”

King Carl Gustaf went on to discuss the importance of monarchy in Sweden. “My ambition is that the Royal Palace to be alive and help to tell us about our heritage and history of our country. We continuously organize exhibitions, seminars, lectures and tours of the castle. This past year we have had almost one million visitors. The royal palaces in Sweden, I would like to be open so that everyone has an opportunity to take part of our shared history.”

“Sweden is a small nation. To build a sustainable society is the importance of working across borders. That is when we reach the big goals.”

The King then ended his message with a nod to Crown Princess Victoria, who will deliver her first child next year.

King Juan Carlos of Spain’s speech was broadcasted Christmas Eve. In it, he discussed the difficulties the country has experienced with its economy and high unemployment rate.

Click here to read (in Spanish) the King's speech

“We have several years mired in a severe economic and financial crisis whose complex causes are not always easy to understand, but whose negative effects are evident to all. For many, sadly too obvious by their hardness. It is a crisis that is likely to modify call habits and economic and social behaviors,” His Majesty told his people.

“If Spain has achieved in recent decades the highest levels of progress and welfare of its history, we now recognize with humility to know what were the behaviors in which, as individuals and as a group, we could be wrong. Only after this recognition, and the best values of our society before we can begin to overcome this crisis.”

In addition, Juan Carlos touched on the distrust many Spaniards have for what he said was “some of our institutions”. Some translate this as him giving Spain his thoughts on the recent scandal involving his son-in-law, Iñaki Urdangarin.

“I also greatly concerned about the distrust that seems to be spreading in some sectors of public opinion regarding the credibility and prestige of some of our institutions. We need rigor, professionalism and exemplary in every way. Everyone, especially people with public responsibilities, we have the duty to observe appropriate behavior, exemplary behavior.

“When misconduct occurs that do not conform to the law or ethics, it is natural that society reacts. Fortunately we live in a state of law, and any objectionable act should be tried and punished under the law. Equal justice for all,” said the King.

To end his message, King Juan Carlos talked about the recent elections, his heir Prince Felipe’s efforts in representing Spain and gave his condolences to the victims of terrorism.

Over in the Netherlands, Queen Beatrix voiced her concern for stewardship of the earth and the distribution of wealth. “Our precious planet is handled carelessly and what they give us is badly distributed,” she told the Dutch people.

Click here to see video and read the speech (in Dutch)

She went on to talk about how personal gain and abusing the environment undermine the world’s sense of community. But she was optimistic.

“Everywhere people are already taking their own initiatives to a more conscious way of life. This offers hope for a new perspective. It is the youngsters who encourage us to do so today,” said the Queen.

“Entrepreneurs focus more and more responsible production and take into account the climatic effects. Many people work towards the conservation and teach children closely at the irreplaceable treasures of the earth. For the connection between agriculture and environment put many will enthusiastically. In all these possibilities, we can address each other. Old and new media information and call us to take responsibility, each at their own level. What starts in the small can grow into a new culture of concern for the future. Who wants to change the world, must simply begin with himself.”

Her Majesty also quoted Indian independence leader Mahatma Gandhi – “The earth has enough for everyone’s need but not for everyone’s greed.”

With that, Queen Beatrix wished the Dutch a happy Christmas.

Sources: British Monarchy, Kungahuset, Casa Real, De Telegraaf

NOTE: Once the English versions of the speeches are available, I will link them.

Swedish Royals Attend Academy at Stock Exchange

Megan M — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 00:08:29 +0000

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

2011 Nobel Prizes Given Out in Sweden

Megan M — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 21:12:08 +0000

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

Swedish King’s Gangster Ties Creates Crisis for Royal Family

Megan M — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 03:03:03 +0000

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

Nordic Royals Honor 9/11 Victims, Attend Centennial Ball

Megan M — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 01:57:10 +0000

The royals of Scandinavia spent some time together in New York, both in the morning and in the evening. They are in the Big Apple mainly to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Scandinavian-American Foundation.

Click here for images of the Ground Zero visit

But sadly, no visit to New York is without a visit to Ground Zero, site of the 9/11 World Trade Center attacks. Together, King Harald V and Queen Sonja of Norway, King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia of Sweden, and Denmark’s Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary went to the place where nearly 3,000 people died. With them were the Presidents of Finland and Iceland. Everyone went to the memorial and laid flowers there. All look solemn during the visit.

For the rest of the day, each royal couple went to their separate engagements. The Danish Crown Princely couple went to the BIG Architectural Studios, the Norwegian King and Queen attended an awards ceremony, while their Swedish counterparts met with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, and his wife Yoo Soon-taek at the United Nations headquarters.

Check out more photos of the gala here

In the evening, it was time to dress up for a black-tie event for the American-Scandinavian Foundation’s centennial ball. All three royal couples, plus the Presidents of Finland and Iceland, went to the Hilton Hotel for the event. Even Sweden’s Princess Madeleine, who’s been spending most of her time in New York these days, attended.

After today, Frederik and Mary will spend a few more days in New York, while the Kings and Queens of Norway and Sweden will go north to Jamestown, near Buffalo, New York Saturday, to celebrate the Norden Club’s centennial anniversary and visit the Roger Tory Peterson Institute. The Norden Club was founded in 1902 by Swedish immigrants to the area.

Source: WGRZ, The Royal Forums

Scandinavian Royals Open New York Art Exhibit

Megan M — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 00:33:16 +0000

On Thursday evening, five Scandinavian royals – and Finland’s President – opened the art exhibition, Luminous Modernism:
Scandinavian Art Comes to America 1912, at the Scandinavian House in New York.

Click here for image gallery at Daylife.com

Norway’s King Harald V and Queen Sonja, King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen of Silvia, and Crown Princess Mary were present for the inauguration. All are in New York for tomorrow’s centennial ball for the Scandinavian-American Foundation.

It was Queen Sonja who did the actual ribbon cutting.

The exhibition showcases 48 works by Nordic artists who did modernism style, such as Edvard Munch, Vilhelm Hammershøi,and Anders Zorn. It is a sort of remake of the 1912 exhibit that displayed the modernism painting style. The exhibit will be open to the public on October 25th and will run until February 11, 2012.

“During the 100 years of its existence,” said Edward P. Gallagher, President of The American-Scandinavian Foundation. “The ASF has played a leadership role in promoting American awareness of Nordic culture. In looking back at the 1912 exhibition of Scandinavian modernists, we pay tribute to our founders’ vision and to a pivotal event in the study and appreciation of Nordic art in this country.”

Source: Scandinavia House

Opening of Swedish Parliament 2011

Megan M — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 01:03:16 +0000

The House of Bernadotte came together Thursday for the annual opening of the Swedish Parliament, the Riksdagen.

View more photos here at Svensk Damtidning

In the morning, the royal family took part in a church service before the actual opening of the Riksdagen. Everyone was there, from Their Majesties to all three of their children: Crown Princess Victoria with her noticeably growing baby bump, Prince Carl Philip who was taking a day away from his agricultural studies, and Princess Madeleine, who had flown in from New York. Even Prince Daniel was there, on the very day he marked his 38th birthday.

But duties comes first for royalty. After the service, the royals sat through the first day of Sweden’s Parliament session for the political year.

The reason why the royals wear black during the opening of Riksdagen is because that color was the hue for the ladies of the court starting in the late 18th century during the reign of King Gustaf III. It is to upkeep the tradition these days for the royal women.

See more pics at Svensk Damtidning

But black is an option later in the day when an opera is performed and the royals attend. Crown Princess Victoria wore a silvery knee length dress that hid her pregnancy. But her sister, Princess Madeleine wowed many fashion followers by wearing a rather sexy gown – and yes, the color was black.

Source: Svensk Damtidning, Wikipedia

Swedish Royalty Honor Music Legends at Polar Music Prize

Megan M — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 19:25:13 +0000

Up in Stockholm Tuesday, members of the House of Bernadotte attended what is considered to be the Nobel Prize of music: the Polar Music Prize.

Click here to see more photos.

King Carl XVI Gustaf, Queen Silvia, a radiant Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel all turned up for the ceremony, in which American rock legend Patti Smith and the U.S. classical group Kronos Quartet were all being honored.

His Majesty personally gave the awards to the honorees. Patti Smith said she felt “humbled and inspired” to win the prize. But in her acceptance speech, she also told the audience to focus on the famine in East Africa.

Both Smith and the Kronos Quartet took home a prize money worth one million kroner.

After the awards were given out, both acts entertained the audience with their performances.

The Polar Music Prize began in 1989 by Stig Anderson, the manager of Swedish pop group ABBA. Former honorees include Paul McCartney, Bob Dylan and opera singer Renee Fleming. Each year, a classical act and a more mainstream act is honored.

Click here to see the arrival of Victoria and Daniel.

Source: BBC News

Swedish Royals Mark National Day

Megan M — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 11:36:22 +0000

On Monday, the whole royal family of Sweden gathered to mark the country’s National Day. June 6th is the day Sweden adopted a constitution, and although the vast majority of Swedes do not celebrate National Day is any sort, the House of Bernadotte was all smiles for those that do mark the day.

Click here to see more photos of National Day

At 10am, Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel ceremoniously opened the royal palace at the South Gate, Slottsbacken. That is when the public can get a tour of the palace.

Later at around 11am, King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia visited the town of Eslöv.

At 2pm, Victoria and Daniel handed out prizes at a citizenship ceremony at Stockholm City Hall.

At close to 6pm, the entire family – including Princess Madeleine who had just flown in from the United States – got into carriages and rode through Stockholm towards Skansen for more celebrations. The royal women dressed in traditional Swedish attire while the men wore their suits and ties.

In Skansen, a star-studded entertainment at Solliden stage included performances by Charlotte Perrelli, Magnus Carlsson, Erik Hassle, Gunilla Backman and Peter Jöback and group Timoteij and tenor Markus Pettersson. The house band was the Svante Persson orchestra.

In the evening, the royals held the reception at the royal palace.

Sources: Royal News Examiner, The Royal Forums

Poll: Most Swedes Want King to Abdicate

Megan M — Sun, 22 May 2011 18:26:06 +0000

A new poll says more than half of the Swedish people want King Carl XVI Gustaf to step down in the next ten years as more stories about his extramarital affairs and shady connections continue to circulate.

Click here for recent photos of the King

The poll, conducted by Demoskop and published in the Expressen tabloid, shows 59 percent of the people want the monarch to abdicate in favor of 33 year old Crown Princess Victoria. Only 29 percent want the King to reign till his death.

At the same time, the poll says while 73 percent have strong confidence in Victoria, only 39 percent was said about her father.

The survey was done after the television station TV4 claimed to have photos of the King at a strip club. It is reported that some of his friends tried to contact a mafia boss to negotiate with the club owner to prevent the photos becoming public.

While TV4 has yet to show the photos, the Swedish royal court is demanding that they do.

“TV4 must show what it is they are talking about. Where’s the substance? For now, as far as I can tell, there is no substance to this,” court information chief Bertil Ternert said, adding the report had put him in the “impossible situation … of being asked to react to something we have not seen.”

“There needs to be some form of justice here. You cannot just attack the royal court and the king without disclosing what the substance is,” he insisted.

The King’s popularity has plummeted since last fall when an unauthorized biography was published. In it, the book went into detail if Carl Gustaf’s womanizing and hard partying.

On April 30th, King Carl Gustaf turned 65, the age of retirement in Sweden. He has said he has no intentions of stepping down for his daughter.

Source: AFP