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More Swedes want king to abdicate: poll

An increasing number of Swedes want to see King Carl XVI Gustaf abdicate in favour of Crown Princess Victoria, a new poll showed.

More Swedes want king to abdicate: poll
Photo: Fred Dufour/Scanpix

According to polling firm Synovate, only 51 percent of Swedes want to see the King remain on the throne, down from 64 percent in February.

Every third wants to swap the reigning monarch for his eldest child, Crown Princess Victoria, almost double the number in the previous opinion survey.

The survey does not detail what lies behind the King’s declining popularity, but it comes at a time when he has been shrouded in controversy following the publication of an unofficial bibliography containing a slew of controversial revelations.

“A pure speculation is that it could depend on all the recent reports. I can’t rule it out,” said Synovate’s opinion analyst Niklas Källebring to the Dagens Nyheter daily.

The poll also shows that support for the monarchy in general is in decline, contradicting a Demoskop poll published on November 23rd which indicated that support had in fact increased despite the scrutiny over the King’s private life.

According to the Synovate poll 70 percent of Swedes back the monarchy, down from 74 percent in 2009 and 80 percent in 2005.

Synovate interviewed 1,011 people between November 16th-22nd on behalf of Dagens Nyheter.

Demoskop’s poll, conducted a week earlier on behalf of the Expressen daily, showed that 69 percent of Swedes wanted to see Sweden remain a constitutional monarchy, up from 63 percent when the question was last posed – just prior to the June royal wedding.

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WORKING IN SWEDEN

Swedish Royal Guards scrap ceremonial helmets over safety concerns

The King’s mounted Royal Guards will no longer be able to wear their iconic ceremonial helmets on parades, after the Swedish Work Environment Authority warned of serious safety concerns.

Swedish Royal Guards scrap ceremonial helmets over safety concerns

“We take the safety of our employees extremely seriously and we are going to address this immediately,” colonel Stefan Nacksten, head of the Royal Guards, wrote in a statement. 

Employed by the Armed Forces, the Royal Guards are the King’s cavalry and infantry units and are a well-known sight at ceremonies in Sweden, including at the changing of the guard at the Royal Palace of Stockholm every day in summer – a popular spectacle for Stockholmers and tourists alike.

The helmets will no longer be used by Royal Guards on horseback from July 7th, as they do not conform to safety standards for riding helmets, although guards parading on foot will still be permitted to wear them.

They are part of the 1895 parade uniforms and were last modified in 2000. The Armed Forces will now create an entirely new helmet which looks the part, but is also safe for riding.

“We’re working on finding an alternative solution as quickly as possible which meets safety requirements and can also be used during parades,” Nacksten said.

“We’ve been working long-term with this issue but now that it has been assessed [by the Swedish Work Environment Authority] we need to take measures immediately,” he added.

“This is good, and now we’re working to make sure something good comes out of this and we can get a safe riding helmet for parades in place as soon as possible.”

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