Carl XVI Gustaf
King of Sweden |
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Carl XVI Gustaf (Carl Gustaf Folke Hubertus) (born April 30, 1946), styled HM The King, is the King of Sweden. He is the only son of Prince Gustaf Adolf (1906-1947), and his wife, Princess Sibylla of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (1908-1972). He acceded to the throne on September 15, 1973, upon the death of his grandfather, King Gustav VI Adolf.
Youth and education
Carl Gustaf was the youngest of five children and the only son of Sweden's Prince Gustaf Adolf and Princess Sibylla. His father's death in an airplane crash outside Copenhagen, Denmark on January 26, 1947 left the nine-month-old Carl Gustaf second in line for the throne, behind his grandfather, Crown Prince Gustaf Adolf. When great grandfather King Gustav V of Sweden died in 1950, the four-year-old Carl Gustaf became heir apparent of Sweden.
In a speech in 2005, Carl Gustaf expressed some of his feelings about growing up without having known his father. His sister Princess Birgitta elaborated on these feelings in an interview around the same time, commenting that her mother and the strict Swedish royal court of the time didn't consider the emotional needs of the Prince Gustaf's children. In that era, she said, tragedy was seldom discussed with children. "Children’s questions were met with silence, children’s anxiety and fear with the same silence."
As a result, Carl Gustaf was seven years old before he had been told about his father's death. "It was Mother’s way of handling the situation, to handle living her life. Of course it was not good for us children. It would have been much better to be able to speak about Father’s death," continued Princess Birgitta. She said it had been difficult for the future king to come to grips with not having a father and not having the same memories of him as his older sisters.
After graduating from high school, Carl Gustaf completed two and a half years of education in the Army, Navy and Air Force. He completed his exam as Officer of the Deck in 1968. He has also completed academic studies in history, sociology, political science, financial rights and economics at the universities of Uppsala and Stockholm.
To prepare for his role as head of state, Carl Gustaf followed a broad programme of studies on the court system, social organisations and institutions, trade unions, and employers' associations. In addition, he closely studied the affairs of the Parliament, Government, and Ministry for Foreign Affairs. Carl Gustaf also spent time at the Swedish Mission to the United Nations and the Swedish International Development Agency, worked at a bank in London, the Swedish Embassy, the Swedish Chamber of Commerce in France, and at the Alfa Laval company factory in France.
Marriage and Family
The king married Silvia Sommerlath on June 19, 1976. The half German, half Brazilian daughter of a businessman, she met the then Crown Prince at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, where she was an interpreter and host. The King and Queen reside at Drottningholm Palace outside Stockholm, and use the Royal Palace of Stockholm as their workplace.
They have three children:
- HRH Princess Victoria, Crown Princess of Sweden, Duchess of Västergötland (1977- )
- HRH Prince Carl Philip, Duke of Värmland (1979-)
- HRH Princess Madeleine, Duchess of Hälsingland and Gästrikland (1982-)
Prince Carl Philip was born heir apparent. However a constitutional reform that was already under way at the time of his birth made his older sister, Victoria, the Crown Princess and heiress apparent on January 1, 1980, according to the principles of equal primogeniture.
Royal duties and personal interests
| Styles of King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden | |
|---|---|
| File:Sweden coat of arms large.png | |
| Reference style | His Majesty |
| Spoken style | Your Majesty |
| Alternative style | Sir |
The King's duties are, according to the constitution, of a representative and ceremonial nature. He pays State Visits abroad and receives those to Sweden, opens the Annual Session of the Parliament, Chairs the Special Council held during a change of Government, holds regular Information Councils with Ministers, Chairs the meetings of the Foreign Affairs Council, and receives and signs credentials of foreign ambassadors to Sweden - and signs those of Sweden to other countries. The King holds the highest ranks in the three branches of the Swedish Armed Forces.
The King is passionate about the environment, technology, agriculture, trade, and industry. In 1994, he delighted Swedes by reportedly saying, in response to the culling of baby seals in neighboring Norway, that a prime minister who couldn't take care of baby seals couldn't be very good at taking care of a country. The Norwegian response was a comment on his well known interest in elk hunting. On his initiative, an international symposium on the environment is held regularly. He is the protector of the Swedish Royal Academies, and takes active part in the proceedings of a few of them. He also is the Honorary Chairman of the World Scout Foundation, and often participates in scout activities both in Sweden and abroad.
Worldwide, Carl XVI Gustaf is probably best known as the presenter of the Nobel Prizes each year. He also hands over the Polar Music Prize.
Like many members of the royal family he has an interest in automobiles.
His alleged interest in women sometime gets the attention of the media. A US lawyer named him as one of the celebrities that visited the porn club Gold Club in Atlanta in 1996 during the Olympics.[1][2] When the news anchor Anna Lindmarker was named as one of his mistresses in a popular TV4 show, a great uproar followed. [3] On July 14, 2005 the King placed his hand a bit lower on the back side of Helena Paparizou than is socially acceptable. It happened when she performed at his daughter's birthday. According to the royal court his hand slipped. [4]
Dyslexia
For many years, it was widely rumored that the king had dyslexia. Journalists noted that he misspelled his name when signing his accession document, and in 1973, when visiting a copper mine in Falun, he misspelled his name when signing it on a rock wall. In an interview on Swedish television in 1997, however, the condition was admitted publicly when his wife addressed the issue. "When he was little, people did not pay attention to the problem," she said. "He didn't get the help he needed." She also noted that the couple's children have "a bit" of dyslexia themselves.
See also
External links
- Royal Court of Sweden - Official site
- Royal Swedish Orders - Unofficial site. Pictures of the Order of the Sword, history and recipients.