Today is the day when our King, Carl\u00a0XVI Gustaf, ends his\u00a0annual elk hunt with a press conference about his prey, the days in the woods and similar\u00a0not particularly exciting\u00a0stuff. This press conference normally doesn’t attract\u00a0many journalists – understandably. But today, the King was greeted by over 60 reporters from all over Scandinavia.\u00a0 An extraordinary good hunt? A huge interest for elk hunting this year? No. It’s because of a book released today, a book that tells stories about sex, drugs, crime and wild parties – and the main man in the middle of all this is the King of Sweden.<\/p>\n
The book, entitled \u201cCarl XVI Gustaf – Den motvillige monarken\u201d (\u2018Carl XVI Gustaf – The reluctant monarch\u2019),\u00a0gives the reader an extremely rare\u00a0and detailed look into the King\u2019s private life, including details of love affairs, wild parties with Swedish models, and connections to the underworld – most of \u00a0which took place between 10-20 years ago.\u00a0It has\u00a0been written\u00a0over the last two years by a team of three investigative journalists\u00a0 and the book has sparked a debate in Sweden the past week. But not so much about the\u00a0King’s secrets and\u00a0rumoured scandals, more\u00a0about the limits of the free press and how the Swedish media have covered the Swedish royals in the past. Some people claim that the royal family are being\u00a0 treated with silk gloves and that it’s about time that we read something that hasn’t been edited by “their” people\u00a0before hand.\u00a0 Others say that this is just a step too far and even the King has a right to a private life.<\/p>\n
No one has ever written a\u00a0\u00a0biography about our King before\u00a0– something you might argue\u00a0is a little bit strange.\u00a0The publisher behind claims that the intention was never to write a “scandal book” -as its now being labelled.\u00a0The alleged\u00a0scandals unveiled during the research and the writers decided to publish it, although\u00a0the sources are mainly anonymous. People connected to the King\u00a0are scared to come forward and some claim they were\u00a0threatened\u00a0to silence back in the days – but three of the women will\u00a0do so if this goes to court, says one of the writers, Deanne Rauscher.<\/p>\n
So, what did the king say today on his very popular press conference? Well, nothing really, as you could imagine. He hadn’t had the time to read the book, but he had seen some “not so very nice\u00a0headlines”. He had discussed it with his wife and family and that it was about time that we turned the page. Then\u00a0he left – apparently to China.<\/p>\n
What’s your take on this? Is it okay to write a book like this based on anonymous sources? Do we really need to know everything about our King’s private life? Or – are we wrapping our royals in cotton wool?<\/p>\n
\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Foto: Jonas Ekstr\u00f6mer\/Sweden.se<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Today is the day when our King, Carl\u00a0XVI Gustaf, ends his\u00a0annual elk hunt with a press conference about his prey, the days in the woods and similar\u00a0not particularly exciting\u00a0stuff. This press conference normally doesn’t attract\u00a0many journalists – understandably. But today, the King was greeted by over 60 reporters from all over Scandinavia.\u00a0 An extraordinary good…<\/p>\n