Newsmakers

Swedish king in strip club scandal

(Agencies)
Updated: 2011-06-07 22:06

Sweden's King Carl Gustaf pictured at the Royal Castle in Stockholm, Sweden, Monday May 30, 2011, during an exclusive interview with TT reporter Tomas Bengtsson. [Photo/Agencies]

STOCKHOLM - Did the Swedish king visit strip clubs, and why did his friend seek a gangster's help to snuff out the scandal? Those questions have the nation in a tizzy and are posing the monarchy its most serious challenge during Carl XVI Gustaf's nearly four decades on the throne.

The media, much less enthralled by the royal family than the public, is attacking the 65-year-old monarch with unprecedented fury.

One leading newspaper has even urged the king to step down. Others suggest he should go if it turns out he was lying when he denied visiting strip clubs in the US and Slovakia, claims first presented in a book published last year.

"His reputation has of course been hurt by this and he's had a difficult time defending himself," said royal commentator and writer Roger Lundgren. "But this has certainly taken on proportions that are approaching the grotesque."

At the heart of the scandal is "The Reluctant Monarch," a book released in November that for the first time put into print long-standing rumors about the private life of Carl Gustaf, who has three adult children with his German-born wife, Queen Silvia.

The book alleged that the king had a secret love affair in the 1990s and described how he and his friends frequented private night clubs in Stockholm where they were entertained by scantily clad women. It also claimed he visited exclusive strip clubs during foreign visits - in Atlanta during the 1996 Olympics and in Slovakia in 2008 - citing former employees of those establishments.

Many of the allegations are poorly sourced and critics say the book, which was presented as a biography, amounts to nothing more than a gossip magazine in hard cover.

The king's supporters say he's the victim of a malicious slander campaign fueled by republican forces who normally don't get much attention in Sweden.

Most Swedes want to preserve the constitutional monarchy even though it's widely seen as contradicting the principles of democracy and equality that underpin Swedish society. The monarchy's survival hinges to a large degree on its popularity.

"The Swedish royal court, like the Danish and Norwegian, depends on widespread trust from the public," political editor Peter Wolodarski wrote in the Stockholm daily, Dagens Nyheter. "The day people start to doubt whether the top representatives of the royal court are telling the truth, they (the royals) live dangerously."