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 Click here for more photos at Svensk Damtidning When a crowd gathered outside the royal palace in Stockholm Monday, they were mainly there to wish King Carl XVI Gustaf a happy 66th birthday.
But the people got a big surprise when the King’s first grandchild, 2 month old Princess Estelle made her royal debut on the balcony with her parents.
Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel brought their daughter out for the public to see at the end of the celebration, making the people cheer with joy and excitement. Proud father Daniel even held his baby girl’s hand and made it wave to everyone.
Every April 30th, the birthday celebrations at the royal palace include the King meeting with the crowds who give him flowers and sing him a happy birthday, plus an Army Band playing a parade march and a gun salute.
Source: Svensk Damtidning
 See more photos of the scouting event here Their Majesties King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia of Sweden were in El Escorial, near of Madrid, Saturday for the 63rd World Scout Foundation meeting. The King is the patron of the World Scout Foundation.
Wearing casual clothes mixed with scouting material, the royal couple mingled with more than 2,000 children from 30 countries who gathered on a large lawn. The King and Queen chatted with some of the scouts in English.
Since they were in Spain, reporters were curious about what he had to say about Spain’s King Juan Carlos recent trip to Botswana where he hunted elephants.
“We all make mistakes and sometimes, the word forgiveness is very difficult to pronounce,” the Swedish monarch said.
He added, “Can you imagine if your kids, or if the Scouts have not ever made a nonsense! But when it comes to parents and family there is always the word forgiveness.”
King Carl XVI Gustaf hunts animals himself, such as deer. The venison meat sometimes winds up on the plates of royal banquets.
Source: ¡Hola!
On Tuesday, Finland’s President Sauli Niinistö and his wife, Jenni Haukio, made their state visit to neighboring Sweden. The purpose of their visit is to strengthen links between the two countries. Not that they need much strengthening – Finland and Sweden have had close, friendly relations for many years.
 View image gallery here Arriving at Arlanda airport, the Presidential couple were welcomed by Prince Daniel. They then went to the Royal Mews, where they met with Their Majesties King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia. The four couples traveled to the palace in a horse and carriage procession.
After the official welcoming ceremony at the palace, President Niinistö and First Lady Jenni Haukio went inside where they met Crown Princess Victoria. The Finnish couple and their Swedish hosts then posed for the media.
Then it was time to get down to business. Lunch was served at the palace, and afterward, Niinistö went to Swedish Parliament where he met with Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt. He later gave a speech at the Stockholm School Colleges where he talked about the subject of “Northern European Perspectives”.
While that was happening, Queen Silvia took Jenni Haukio to the the Museum of Modern Art to see the exhibition Parallel worlds of Eija-Liisa Ahtila. It was right after their visit that the place was the scene of a bomb scare. The museum has been a center of controversy over a cake in the shape of a black woman, which offended the Afro Swedes’ Association.
In the evening, there will be a state gala for the Finnish couple. The King and Queen will attend as will Prince Daniel.
For tomorrow, Sauli Niinistö and his wife will tour Swedish institutions such as Karolinska Institute, the Sweden Finnish school and Stockholm’s Finland Institute. They will return to their country at the end of the day.
Niinistö is Finland’s 12th president who came to office on March 1st.
Sources: Kungahuset, Expressen
On Thursday, Britain’s Prince Charles made his first ever official visit to Sweden. Although His Royal Highness has made numerous private trips to that country in the past, this was the first he went there on behalf of the British government. He and wife, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, are doing a Scandinavian tour to celebrate Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee.
 Click here for more photos at Daylife.com Upon arriving at Arlanda airport in Stockholm, the couple were greeted by Prince Carl Philip. It was there that the Swedish air force showed Charles and Camilla their Gripen jets, which were part of NATO’s air strikes in Libya in 2011.
Later on, the couple went to the royal palace where Queen Silvia greeted them. As Queen of Sweden of 36 years, she had long been waiting for this moment.
“It’s very nice since Prince Charles during my time, unfortunately, hasn’t had the possibility to visit earlier,” she reportedly said according to the Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet. “But we have a very close contact with the British royal family and so we’re very happy about their visit.”
At the palace, they also met with Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, who took Charles and Camilla to Fyrahuset, a major community center in Stockholm. There, they met with local youths and showed their basketball shooting skills. Unfortunately, for Prince Charles, his shots were more or less forgettable.
On Friday, Their Royal Highnesses returned to the palace, this time to lunch with the royal family – including Crown Princess Victoria who made her first public engagement since giving birth to daughter Princess Estelle one month earlier. By looking at her in her bright green dress, one would never had guessed Victoria recently had a baby.
During that lunch, Prince Charles gave a speech where he discussed the close ties between the United Kingdom and Sweden. “I need hardly say that it is the greatest pleasure to return to Sweden after what seems to have been far too long an interval and for what my staff tell me is my first official visit. On this occasion I am so pleased to be able to introduce my darling wife to your country.”
“Your Majesties, within the European Union Britain has no better partner than Sweden in promoting our shared values and goals. Together, the friendship and partnership between our two countries provides a solid foundation on which to continue to build inclusive and responsive societies, fit for purpose in the 21st century.”
After the lunch, Queen Silvia and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, visited Stockholm’s British International Primary School.
In the evening, Charles and Camilla toured Drottningholm Palace Theatre, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site. The Prince got a try at operating the theatre’s antique machinery, such as its wind and thunder machines.
Saturday will see Their Royal Highnesses head to Denmark, their final stop on their Jubilee tour.
Sources: CBS/AP, The Local, Press Association
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
The Queen of Norway debuts her artistic works at the Jacob Hansen House in Helsingborg Thursday. Attending the event was King Harald V, Crown Prince Haakon and Sweden’s Queen Silvia.
 Click here for more photos at Dagbladet.no The exhibit, “Under Great Pressure” features eight of Queen Sonja’s graphic designs. She teamed up with Kjell Nupen and Ørnulf Opdahl for this project, and created the eight designs based on the duo’s photographs of Svalbard. The Queen is among eighty artists who contributed to this project.
Her Majesty has long had an artsy side, even having a photography exhibit in 2009.
“I am proud,” said King Harald after studying his wife’s art.
Even son Crown Prince Haakon was impressed. “It is very fine work,” he said.
The purpose of this exhibition is to mark the 40th anniversary of the renowned graphic studio Ateljé Larsen. Sonja’s cooperation with Kjell Nupen and Ørnulf Opdahl is to set up an art scholarship in her name. That scholarship will be first distributed in the summer of next year.
Source: Dagbladet, Adressa
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
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