Here is an interesting article about the business sector and the royal family, April 2016:
"The Wallenberg foundations intend to support foundations / organizations whose purposes we know engage His Majesty", writes the Foundation Information Director Oscar Stege Unger in an email to Fokus.
This is not the first time the family opens the Foundation's wallets for the royal family.
At the Queen's 50th anniversary in 1993, she received "Queen Silvia's Foundation for Research and Training" as a gift from three Wallenberg foundations. The same foundations have then filled up with SEK 5 million each at Queen's 60th and 70th anniversary.
When the King turned 50 in 1996, the family foundations set up the "King Carl XVI Gustaf's Foundation for Research and Training". Also here was filled with SEK 5 million at the 60th anniversary and it is not impossible that there will be another splash now.
At the Crown Princess Victoria and Daniel Westling's banns of marriage in 2010, it was time for her to have a foundation from the Wallenberg family. SEK 10 million became the starting capital of "Crown Princess Victoria's Foundation for Scientific Research and Training".
All three above are managed by the Wallenbergs, and in its boards are representatives of the family together with their respective royals.
The threads spun through the years between the family and the royal house are many.
Already in 1972, when Gustaf VI Adolf turned 90, H.M. King's Wallenberg Fund was founded with money from family foundations. Its purpose is, according to the royal house, to promote scientific research and "teaching or study activities of countryly meaning". The Wallenberg foundations have also donated money to at least one of the royal family foundations in modern times.
But Wallenbergs are not the only ones in the business community that appeal to the royal family foundations when they are filled in.
A couple of days before Queen's 70th anniversary in December 2013 a gala was held at the Oscarsteatern in Stockholm. Lill Lindfors was the moderator and on stage were Lena Philipsson and Tomas Ledin. At the gala, the queen also received a gift: H.M. Queen Silvia's Foundation - Care about the children.
Behind it was a large part of Swedish business sector. Olof Stenhammar, founder of the securities company OMX, led the collection committee.
- I had worked for several years with another of the Queen's foundations, Mentor, who works for a drug-free society. As I traveled around the world with the queen, I saw what appreciation and attention her work gave. So when her 70th birthday approached, I asked around the court if there was something going on, and there wasn't. And given that I've carried out several major collections earlier in my life, I decided to do it one last time, says Olof Stenhammar to Fokus.
Stenhammar received a total of SEK 57 million. Among the contributors were a large number of the wealthiest people in the country (including a Wallenberg Foundation).
The King's most important foundation today also was founded on a birthday. In 2006, at the turn of 60, King Carl XVI Gustaf's Foundation for Young Leadership was created to promote leadership in the spirit of scout movement. Here too, the business community has been involved both in the board and as a donor, although the collection has taken place widely.
One might wonder why business sector is so willing to invest millions and engage in theroyal family's charity project. Of course, donors themselves say that their motive is a will to help and give back. But you can not ignore other driving forces. There are other charities that perform similar activities as the royal foundations. Why not give to them instead?
Beyond pure vanity, the opportunity to be able to socialize with the royal family, there are those who also benefit from good relations with the House of Bernadotte. As Fokus has shown earlier, the business community in general and the Wallenberg sphere have particularly benefited of the king in his business, not least in the export of fighter aircraft. The Wallenberg family has also cultivated a conscious blue-yellow profile over the years.
The royal foundations are no small, honorable side activities. In total there are about 70 foundations and funds that are linked in various ways to the royal house. Total capital amounted to around 4.4 billion kronor in 2013 and a few hundred million SEK are distributed each year.
The billions of the foundations should not be confused with the royal family's private economy. They are their own legal entities. According to Margareta Thorgren, there are no reimbursements from the foundations of the royal family members or the court's employees.
The present royal family seems genuinely interested in charity. But the foundations also offer something else. Through them, the family can act in the society in ways that are impossible for the ordinary business of the royal family.
Hovleverantörerna - Fokus
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