The King's opinion of the Swedish succession laws
 

Interesting article.. Surely he would have had a say at the time??

Swedish king says his son, not daughter, should take over throne
Mon Nov 24

STOCKHOLM (AFP) - Twenty-three years have passed since Sweden adopted a new Succession Act, but King Carl Gustaf XVI is still upset that his eldest child, Princess Victoria, and not his only son will become Sweden's next monarch.

The Swedish Constitution was changed in 1980, giving the eldest child of the royal couple the right to the throne, regardless of gender.

The new law stripped seven-month-old Carl Philip of the title of Crown Prince and made his elder sister Victoria, now 26, heir to the throne.

Victoria is hugely popular in Sweden and is widely viewed as a capable and worthy successor to her father, but the king nonetheless said at the weekend that he was displeased by the change in the law.

Asked by Swedish television whether he still believed the change was wrong, he said:

"Of course. It's simple. A constitutional law that works retroactively, that's odd," he said.

A spokesman for the royal family, Elisabeth Tarras-Wahlberg, stressed that the king was however very pleased with the way Victoria was carrying out her duties as crown princess.

...Well that's nice. Bordering on "sexist" maybe? I think it's the first born's right to become crown prince/princess. It shouldn't matter what gender they are. Ha, it's the King's fault anyways. The man decides the gender.

The nerve of him!

This was posted on another board earlier. I've read a few books and European Royalty and this change in Swedish law that allowed Princess Victoria to become the heir to the throne has always been a sore spot for the King of Sweden.

After reading this interview and those he has given in the past the King has nothing against women coming to the throne, well maybe he is a little sexiest, but it's more the fact that new law took effect after he and Queen Silvia had Prince Carl Philip. He feels that the new law should have taken affect for Prince Carl Philip's children and not his own. I am sure he is very proud of Princess Victoria, but he feels that his son was cheated of his rightful position.

I think if Victoria had her way, at least in the past, Prince Carl Philip would be heir and she would have been able to lead a more normal life. Prince Carl Philip on the other hand appears to be quite happy to take the back seat and not worring about being king.

The King was just voicing his opinion, but I don't think Sweden will change the law back as Princess Victoria is very popular.

That is all true. And yes Carl Philip was already around but he didn't know. So his feelings weren't hurt at that moment. Anyway, I do feel bad that a law was changed. In fact, that there was a law at all. It should have been the eldest child to begin with. However, changing for the children of the next generation might have been a better solution for all around. But I don't think Carl Philip has felt cheated.

Well I think the parliament has to discuss such a topic twice. So wasn't the law expected to be changed? So that they have changed it at that point of time just depended on the way on how to change the act of succession. And it was already clear that there would be a change!

Some people find change difficult. Maybe the King is a mcp.

The Swedish Parliament as I gather is one of the few around that is uni-cameral, that is they abolished the second (upper) house. Some could argue that its nice to have a monoploy situation, but in most cases the upper house (except for the USA (and Germany?)), is a freebie political patronage appointment thingy .... so to vote for your patron is how democratic ?

I couldn't quite comprehend the recent threads, but here is another article on it:

http://pub.tv2.no/nettavisen/english/article158322.ece

NEWS IN ENGLISH
SWEDEN:
Victoria's father does not want her as queen
Tilrettelagt av Carin Pettersson 25.11.03 10:59

It is 23 years since the constitution was changed, but Carl XVI Gustav of Sweden is still not comfortable with the law change that makes his oldest daughter the next regent of Sweden.

“It’s strange,” said Carl Gustav in an interview on Swedish television Sunday.

Prince Carl Philip was born as the Swedish Crown Prince in 1979, but the Swedish government changed the constitution in 1980, making the oldest child inherit the throne. Suddenly Victoria became the Crown princess, and Carl Philip was degraded to prince.

The King of Sweden apparently still has a hard time with accepting the change.

“I think it’s simple, a constitution that works in retroactive force is strange.”

The King of Sweden has always been against the law change. In 1980 Carl Gustav said the following, according to the paper Vestmanland:

“I would prefer that my son Carl Philip is my successor, and I’m sure that the majority of the Swedish people would prefer to have a king on the throne.”

The Swedish court was Monday very specific when it stressed that the Kings comments do not mean that he is displeased with Crown Princess Victoria or the job she does.

The statements from the King were not at all appreciated by Swedish politicians. Gudrun Schyman, the Liberal Parties former leader, said the King’s statements is another argument to why Sweden should abolish the monarchy, and she said that she thinks it is horrible if the King questions a democratic decision.

I wonder how Victoria feels about her father's view of things.

And I think Victoria will make an excellent ruler someday, perhaps even more so than Carl Philip would be. She seems so charming, outgoing, and genuine -- definitely good qualities for a future queen to have.

Does Victoria really want to be crown princess though? If not, she could step down, and her brother could take over. That would definitely make her father happy.

Hi i saw part of the article that said that King Gustave still wanted to make his son his sucessorinstead Victoria, is not the first time i heard that, i hope is no true!!
Wen :angry: :yuk:

http://www.hola.com/

p.s. I hope someone can post the full article.

Yes, that´s correct! If the law is part of the constitution ( and the act of succesion is) it has to be confirmed by two regular elections for the parliament ( today every 4 year, at that time every 3 year). Since the first election was pro the change in the constitution everybody in the modern Swedish society assumed that there should be no problem to get it past the second election as well and thats why P. Carl-Philip was Crown Prince until the election in september and hence the moral issue for the King..

I do not think that this would make her father really happy, he woud get rather large troubles I think.
I think that the swedish public would be upset and espacially the parliament would be. Actually I think a lot of MPs would suspect, that the King made her step back to cantradict their change of the law. And as the swedish socialist party wanted sweden to become a republic, at least in their former party goals, they might just replace the monarch by a president. Actually this would be the best point of time to do so, if you would like to have the citizens support. As the Swedes like Victoria and at maybe that situation they would not like their king that much.

Hi everyone. I've been reading these forums for awhile, but this is my first post. I just love this website! You guys are great.

I came across an article in "Hola" magazine with this headline: "El Rey de Suecia prefiere a su hijo como sucesor al trono en vez de la princesa Victoria" From what I can translate, is it saying that the King wants Carl Philip to take over the throne instead of Victoria? Why would he say that? Didn't he get the laws changed when Victoria and Carl Philip were babies? I think Victoria will do a wonderful job as Queen. She is intelligent, graceful, poised and elegant. Anyone have any ideas on this?

Thanks

" From what I can translate, is it saying that the King wants Carl Philip to take over the throne instead of Victoria? Why would he say that? Didn't he get the laws changed when Victoria and Carl Philip were babies? "

It's a gut feeling in him. He was rather unhappy with the Swedish parliament changing the law that would allow the first born, regardless of gender, to become the next regent. Technically, this is old news. I don't know why the press would bring it up again. He does feel that Victoria will make a great queen. Of course, she is. I'm not one to say. I'm biased on the subject of Victoria. But that being said, he just felt that his son would also being missing out on a great opportunity. The pride of fathers, I guess. A brother who is diminished by his sister. It has happened before. But I don't think Carl Philip is at all jealous of his sister. He is happy with his life now. He worries about Madeleine because he feels that she is "hunted" by the press. He is no doubt relieved about not becoming King. And no doubt, he, like millions of Swedes and other citizens of the world, know that Crown Princess Victoria will make a wonderful queen one day.