King shouldn't speak

..at least according to political scientist Olof Ruin. 

  • The King is about to turn 65, but he has no thoughts about retirement: “It’s part of a monarch’s duty, to keep his job as long as he is in full possession of his senses,” he says in a new interview. Full name: Carl Gustaf Folke Hubertus Bernadotte. Born: April 30 1946. Parents: Crown Prince Gustaf Adolf and Princess Sibylla of Sachsen-Coburg-Gotha. Prince Gustaf Adolf died in a plane crash in Copenhagen in 1947. King Carl XVI Gustaf married Silvia Sommerlath in 1976 and they have three children: Victoria (born 1977), Carl Philip (born 1979) and Madeleine (born 1982).
  • King shouldn't speak
    The Swedish King should just shush, at least according to political scientist Olof Ruin, who in an article in daily Aftonbladet criticized the monarch for expressing his views on the political climate in Greece. In an interview with Dagens Industri, King Carl XVI Gustaf reveals that he is highly critical of Giorgos Papandreou, the embattled Greek prime minister, and the idea about a referendum (the interview was done before that was pulled back). Ruin slaps the King on the fingers for opening his mouth in this matter: “He should not talk about a referendum as a means,” he says. “He entered a discussion whether a referendum is good or not, and by doing so he crossed a line.” The King’s role is constitutional and representative—nothing more than that.

  • Should Carl XVI Gustaf keep his thoughts to himself? Political scientist Olof Ruin thinks so, and the fact remains: The role of the Swedish monarch is nothing more than constitutional and representative.