#King Gustaf v

[leonisandmurex]

GAME. SET. MATCH.

royals playing tennis

[andiatas]

Maybe I need to learn Swedish and immerse myself in all things SRF. Are they generally messy or boring?

Depends on how you define things. I would say they're boring 95% of the time, but then when there's a scandal, it's a scandal

Here are a few highlights:

In 1914, Gustaf V gave a speech to the people in which he opposed the government's politics & called for stronger Armed Forces (side note but it's a well-known fact that Gustaf was very worried about the growing tensions "on the continent" & I mean, the dude was right to be concerned). This led to a political crisis & the last political influence the monarch had was stripped. It's unclear who actually wrote the speech; some speculate it was Victoria since it was very well known that she was unhappy about the fact that she, as Queen, didn't have any real power.

In 1936, a woman named Anna wanted to file for divorce from her husband, Kurt. The reason? Her motivation was that her husband had cheated on her with King Gustaf V. This was during a time when homosexuality was illegal & divorce papers were open to the public, so even the hint that the monarch himself might engage in "homosexual acts"? Unthinkable! Long story short, the Court tried to come to an agreement with Anna & Kurt, but the couple continued to blackmail the Court for more & more money. In 1947, Kurt published a book about the "injustices" he had faced, but the majority of the copies of the book were bought by police. In 1951, after Gustaf V had died, Kurt wrote to the Chancellor of Justice to complain, upon which the Chancellor started an investigation. The investigation found that Kurt's "accusations were largely unfounded, but it was also clear that the Royal Court paid out large sums and took other measures with the apparent aim of silencing him." One year later, the Prosecutor-General charged Kurt & he was sentenced to 8 years in prison for extortion of the Royal Court. The whole thing is now nicknamed The Haijby Affair (after Kurt & Anna's last name) & has even been made into a movie.

In 1945, Prince Carl Johan asked for permission to marry the divorced journalist Kerstin Wijkman. They had met in 1939 & the prince fell head-over-heels for Kerstin, who couldn't give a sh*t about him at first. Gustaf V denied his grandson's request & the Royal Court tried to prevent the wedding from taking place by revoking Wijkmark's passport. When that didn't work, they started pressuring the US embassy, which meant that Carl Johan's cousin Folke Bernadotte was dragged into the whole thing. In the end, the two got married in 1946 & that meant that the Prince from then on was known as Carl Johan Bernadotte.

In the late 1950s, Princess Birgitta did something as controversial (for Swedish royal standards) as continuing her education with upper secondary studies. She studied at the School of Sport and Health Sciences for two years, where she met hockey & football player Sven Tumba. They denied it then, but rumours of a romance between the two swirled. However, decades later, they both wrote about the romance (which lasted for about a year) in their memoirs & Princess Birgitta was interviewed in a documentary about Tumba. Among other things, she reminisced about one time when the tabloids rang the doorbell & she had to hide in the wardrobe for about 10 minutes before Tumba had managed to chase them away.

We have Carl Gustaf's younger years... That man loved & still loves to party. This caused concern during his time as Crown Prince & then at the beginning of his time as monarch. He was seen by many as an immature womanizer of a party prince who, therefore, was unfit to rule. The Social Democrat-led government famously threatened with "We're one penstroke away from a Republic!" (which, if you ask me, was more PR than an actual threat, but then again, this was like 10-20 years before I was born, so...)

Speaking of Carl Gustaf, in 1989, he made the Norwegians angry by criticising their PM & the fact that they allowed seal hunting. He commented: "If Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland cannot take care of the seal problem, how will she be able to take care of the Norwegian people?"

Then there was the praising of Sultan Hassanal Bolikiah in 2004 during a state visit to Brunei (which to be fair, he just did his job & repeated what the Foreign Office told him to say).

In 2008, he caused a national outcry because not only did Prince Carl Philip shoot an elk during the annual royal hunt, but the monarch also decided to voice his opinion on the very sensitive topic of wolf hunting (no, seriously, it's an incredibly sensitive topic & not one to bring up during family dinners). Apart from getting in trouble with the public, Carl Gustaf also got in trouble with his patronage, WWF.

Do I even need to bring up 2010 & "Have you ever visited a strip or sex club?" which caused him to hit a record low in popularity. At least it gave us this iconic meme.

Honourary mention goes to when Prince Daniel (then only Daniel Westling) needed kidney surgery, so Crown Princess Victoria called her "brothers", Crown Prince Haakon & Crown Prince Frederik & was like "Hey, can you guys help me with a thing? Oh yeah, nothing big, just tricking all of the Nordic press so my fiancée can get surgery in peace." So, to cause a distraction, the three went on a trip to the Arctic while Daniel was admitted to the hospital. However... he was spotted by someone; a journalist called up the Court & was like, "I know, I will publish this; just give me a comment." Their ruse was up, so instead of pretending everything was fine & distracting the press so they couldn't publish about what was happening in Stockholm, Victoria spoke about how difficult it was & that she (obviously) was worried but that Haakon & Frederik were very supportive of her & a big help during that trip.

In 2013, just like in 2023, he got into trouble for "not wanting Victoria as heir". During an interview, the reporter asked if he was still upset about the constitutional change, to which he answered: "Of course. I think it's simple. A constitutional law that works retrospectively, that's weird."

In 2014, Princess Madeleine's apartment was renovated. What was supposed to cost 2.5 million SEK ended up costing 6.8 million SEK. Then, in 2018-2019 renovation works started again, which ended up costing around 5 million SEK. A wall between Madeleine's apartment & the apartment next door was going to be taken down & the family wanted a walk-in closet, a new bedroom, a bathroom & a wardrobe (different one from the named walk-in closet, so two wardrobes were on the wishlist). This ended up creating an argument between the National Property Board & the Royal Court, where the former thought Madeleine had "too high standards". The Royal Family didn't end up paying from their own pockets & this story has now become known as the time the Swedish taxpayers paid for Madeleine's walk-in closet.

If you're still reading, thank you & I hope you enjoyed all of this tea!

[onheirpodcast]

Who: King Gustaf V Role: King of Sweden Allegiance: Neutral Sweden had long had a policy of neutrality during conflicts, but this didn't mean they didn't get involved! Sweden was concerned about the threat of the Soviet Union after their invasion of Finland and Gustaf V believed Germany was the best candidate to defeat the Soviets. In 1940 fellow Scandinavian monarchies Denmark and Norway were invaded by the Germans and Gustaf and the Swedish government were at constant risk of invasion if they didn't play ball. The King therefore went to considerable effort to ensure Germany were happy, including allegedly threatening to abdicate if Germany were blocked from transporting troops through the country and writing a letter to Hitler praising him for his invasion of their common enemy the Soviet Union. However, Gustaf and other members of his family were also involved in efforts to protect Swedish Jews. This complexity is common in royal stories during the war. Facing impossible decisions, they often had to do things they morally opposed in order to protect their nation and unlike some other monarchs it appears Gustaf's actions were genuinely motivated by this desire to ensure Sweden's safety.

[theroyalsandi]

♔ Princess Of Wales June 2024 Challenge

Day 20 - Favourite photo(s)/gif(s) of Catherine with Foreign Monarchs

[21stcenturyroyals]

INCORRECT ROYAL QUOTES | 21ST CENTURY ROYALS (2000-2099) | 9x23: “Dinner party conversations”

[charlotte-of-wales]

by Clément Morin

[world-of-wales]

♚♛ EUROPEAN MONARCHS AND THEIR HEIRS ♛♚

───────────── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────────────

♔ UNITED KINGDOM┆ King Charles III → William, The Prince of Wales → Prince George of Wales

♔ SPAIN┆King Felipe VI → Princess Leonor, The Princess of Asturias

♔ BELGIUM┆ King Philippe → Princess Elisabeth, Duchess of Brabant

♔ SWEDEN ┆ King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden → Crown Princess Victoria, Duchess of Västergötland → Princess Estelle, Duchess of Östergötland

♔ DENMARK ┆ Queen Margrethe II → Crown Prince Frederik → Prince Christian

♔ NORWAY ┆ King Harald V of Norway → Crown Prince Haakon → Princess Ingrid Alexandra

♔ LUXEMBOURG ┆ Grand Duke Henri → Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume → Prince Charles

♔ NETHERLANDS┆ King Willem-Alexander → Princess Catharina-Amalia, Princess of Orange

♔ MONACO┆ Prince Albert II → Hereditary Prince Jacques, → Princess Gabriella, Countess of Carladès

[heavyarethecrowns]

[queensilvy]

The Kings, Queens, Princes, Princesses, Grand Dukes and Grand Duchesses of Europe holding hands and dancing through the hall.

[victoriademedici]

[royal-confessions]

“King Harald and Carl Gustav should step down in favour of their heirs. Especially Harald can barely fulfill his duties anymore. The tradition of abdicating in the Netherlands just makes sense to me when looking at King Harals health.” - Submitted by Anonymous

[postcard-from-the-past]

King Gustaf V of Sweden and Queen Victoria of Baden on a visit in Paris

French vintage postcard

[andiatas]

portraits of the heir over the years / the generations over the years

1946: Four generations photographed together. King Gustaf V, Crown Prince Gustaf Adolf, Hereditary Prince Gustaf Adolf & the newly born Prince Carl Gustaf.

1950: The newly ascended King Gustaf VI Adolf with Crown Prince Carl Gustaf.

1965: Official portrait of Crown Prince Carl Gustaf in connection with the opening of the Riksdag & the Crown Prince taking the oath of allegiance & loyalty.

1977: King Carl XVI Gustaf, Queen Silvia & the newly born Princess Victoria.

1995: Official portrait of Crown Princess Victoria in connection with the Crown Princess coming of age & promising her loyalty to the King & the Riksdag.

2017: The first official portrait of the three generations. King Carl XVI Gustaf, Crown Princess Victoria & Princess Estelle.

2019: The most recent four generations portrait. King Carl XVI Gustaf, Crown Princess Victoria & Princess Estelle in front of a portrait of Hereditary Prince Gustaf Adolf.

2022: The most recent official portrait of the three generations.

bonus:

the new three generations portrait to mark King Carl XVI Gustaf's Golden Jubilee

[gabriellademonaco]

Current royal family/portrait orders:

Norway: King Harald V's Royal Family Order (as worn by Queen Sonja)

Sweden: King Carl XVI Gustaf's Portrait Order (as worn by Crown Princess Victoria)

Denmark: King Frederik X's Portrait Order (as worn by Queen Mary)

UK: King Charles III's Royal Family Order (as worn by Queen Camilla)

[theroyalsandi]

The Swedish Royal Court has released official Golden Jubilee photos. The photographs were taken ahead of the Gala Dinner for King Carl Gustaf’s 50th anniversary at the Royal Palace of Stockholm | September 15, 2023

[ginandoldlace]

In the Crimson Drawing Room at Windsor Castle, Queen Elizabeth II posed with the reigning sovereigns of Europe for a unique photograph to mark her Golden Jubilee on June 17, 2002.

Seated in the front row were Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, Queen Elizabeth II, and Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands. Standing behind them were King Albert II of Belgium, King Juan Carlos of Spain, King Harald V of Norway, King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, and Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg.