From Arbetarbladet, a newspaper in Gästrikland
The Princess and the Pea
Leif Eriksson from P4 Gävleborg, is unhappy. Rightly so. Princess Madeleine has visited the county and there wasn't made any interviews. This time either.
Instead of answering questions the princess couple showed themselves to the county. It was enough. So Leif Eriksson wrote a letter to the court. A very, very good one.
The arrogance of power showed this way. Instead of answering questions, nice visits and empty smiles. The Duchess does this to her people, for the simple reason that she knows she can.
No other power institution in Sweden is as unexamined as the royal family. No other power department can avoid journalists' questions in the same way.
The royal family is a tax-funded activity. But despite this, and the fact that the royal family is a power department, perfectly reasonable questions are considered to be insolent. Like when knowledgeable and experienced SVT reporter Rolf Fredriksson made the relevant question to Victoria at the commemoration of the Holocaust on how she saw that her grandfather was a member of the Nazi party, while Folke Bernadotte organized the white buses.
A program "The Year with the Royal Family" would be unthinkable of the government. We would never accept a one-hour tribute about the great leader, Prime Minister, without any critical questions, and be content if the Prime Minister and the government's year was depicted with pictures of how Stefan Löfven jumps around outside Harpsund in the grass along with his ministers, sitting and cuddles with his wife Ulla and talks about how wonderful it is to be in love. It is unacceptable, because we live in a democracy, not a dictatorship.
If Princess Madeleine thinks that it is so insanely burdensome to answer journalists' questions, there is a very simple solution to it all. That is to renounce her privileges. If she doesn't choose to do it, then she should listen to Leif Eriksson and actually accept that privileges come with responsibilities.
It would be best, of course, if we jointly liberated royal house from the publicity they so obviously hate, by making Sweden a republic.
Prinsessan på ärten - arbetarbladet.se
Translation
This is getting to a far more bigger issue than Margareta Thorgren thought.
Margareta Thorgren to Expressen:
- Of course, we learn from the criticism, it is entirely accorcding to our information policy to be open and transparent. In this specific case in Gävle there was not promised any media meeting because it was a full program and tight on time. It is not true that the Princess has not given any interviews, there have been spontaneous interviews and she responded to questions even on Monday.
It was the Princess's visit in Gävle on Monday that broke the camel's back.
- As a publisher I have to point this out. She is part of the royal family and has duties. She is the Duchess of Hälsingland and Gästrikland and Crown Princess's husband is from the county. This means that there is a great interest for us, says Leif Eriksson.
Even other newspapers that were at the place during the visit recognize themselves in the picture.
- It was very frustrating not to be able to ask some questions and not being able to do their job, says Sofia Öhlander, a reporter for Gefle Dagblad. Patrik Åkesson, Chairman of the Royalist association, believes that the princess has the right to be reserved when journalists ask questions.
- I do not know what questions P4 Gävleborg figured to ask, but one can suspect that it is not solely focused on issues of the duchy and what she thinks is important, he says.
P4-chefens kritik – i protestbrev till hovet Nyheter Expressen
Translation
Full program and tight on time, Thorgren? A four hour visit with a lunch in 12.00, visit to Esri 14.15 and to Activity center Helges in 15.00. Thorgren's comments seem arrogant and make the situation even worse.
It also seems that the court is totally unprepared to this situation, that someone really has the courage to criticize them in an open letter.
The world has changed and people don't bow to the royal family anymore.
), and the media is all part of the job these days
