Time for the king to stop whining about the succession to the throne

 

Lena Mellin  

 

Stop whining, king  

No one else seems to care that Carl Philip is not Crown Prince 

 

Published: Very recently  

 

This is a commenting text. Analysis and positions are the writer's. 

 

Queen Silvia and King Carl XVI Gustaf carrying then-Princess Viktoria and Crown Prince Carl Philip, in connection with Carl Philip's baptism in 1979. Photo: TT NEWS AGENCY  

 

COLUMNISTS 

 

It's time for the king to abdicate.  

 

Whining about the succession to the throne changing more than 40 years ago serves absolutely no purpose.  

 

And who says Prince Carl Philip disagrees? No one but papa the king it seems.  

 

43 years ago, the Swedish line of succession changed. It was to be inherited by the eldest child, not the eldest son. It was the fourth time in Swedish history, the previous ones in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries.  

 

The eldest of the king's children is Victoria. At the age of 2.5, she became crown princess according to the revamped, modernized constitution. Her father the king doesn't seem to mind.  

 

What is gnawing at Carl XVI Gustafs heart is instead the neglected fate of his son Carl Philip. For 233 days he was allowed to be crown prince. Then he was demoted to an ordinary simple prince with very poor prospects of becoming Sweden's monarch. In that case, it would happen when his older sister and her future child left the earthly life.  

 

- My son Prince Carl Philip was born and then suddenly they change so he gets rid of it all. It's quite strange, I think, says the king in the SVT documentary "Sveriges sista kungar".  

 

King Carl XVI Gustaf. Photo: TT NEWS AGENCY  

 

I'm sorry, the king. But the reasoning does not hold.  

 

First, constitutional amendments do not come like a bolt from the blue.  

 

First they are investigated, then they are sent for referral, checked by the legal council, become a bill.  

 

Finally, the Riksdag must vote yes, before and after an ordinary election. In this case, the election in 1979. 

 

So it is not about a "sudden" change, but one that takes several years to implement. Secondly, Carl Philip might not have had time to think too much about being the first heir to the throne. After all, he was only a little over seven months old when he went from crown prince to prince.  

 

That "he gets rid of it all" simply cannot have worried him to any greater degree unless he was exceptionally, even unnaturally, behaved as a child. 

 

However, it worried his father, who is in his fifth decade of pursuing the issue.  It is clearly time, and has been for a long time, to stop whining. Placed card lies and it will not be moved.  

 

I have no insight whatsoever into Carl Philips' life. But observations from the outside give the impression that he is satisfied. Perhaps even much happier than if he had been crown prince and lived in the heavily guarded Haga Castle.