Terror attacks against Swedes, gang crime at home and wars in the world color the king’s annual Christmas speech.
2021 was marked by the pandemic, 2022 by the war in Ukraine and economic unrest. When King Carl Gustaf now speaks in this year’s Christmas speech, it is once again a gloomy year he looks back on.
The king remembers a boy in South Africa a long time ago with a scout shirt
– He was very proud of his nice shirt and wanted to talk about what it meant to him. He said: “When I wear it, I feel safe and at peace. Not even the toughest guys dare to walk on me.” It symbolized healthy values.
And, according to the king, good symbols may be needed when Swedes are shot dead on their way to football matches in Brussels and when the world is shaken by wars in Gaza and Ukraine, the king believes.
He says the war in Gaza is creating unrest throughout the world.
– A peaceful development feels distant – but hope must live on.
He talks about 2023 as “a dark year”.
– Here at home in Sweden, many have been affected by the ruthless gang violence. Many feel a concern about social development.
In the speech, the king also mentions the approach to the NATO defense alliance and the right as a nation to live in peace and independence.
To balance out the gloom, the recent climate agreement in Dubai is mentioned, whose promises to phase out fossil fuels “give hope and faith in the future”.
– Nature makes our country rich. We have refined the forest, the ore, the hydropower and the soil. With the new green technology, Sweden continues to reap success in harmony with nature, says the king.
King Carl Gustaf also highlights the country’s county museums, with “historical gems” and urges Swedes to give a little extra time this Christmas to an “old friend or an elderly relative”.
FACT King Carl Gustaf
Carl Gustaf Folke Hubertus was born on 30 April 1946 at Haga Castle. He succeeded his grandfather Gustaf VI Adolf on 15 September 1973.
His parents were the then Crown Prince Gustaf Adolf and Princess Sibylla of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. Prince Gustaf Adolf died in 1947 in a plane crash in Copenhagen and Princess Sibylla died in Stockholm in 1972.
The king has four older sisters, the princesses Margaretha, Birgitta, Désirée and Christina.
In 1976, he married Silvia Sommerlath from the then West German Heidelberg. Together they have three children: Crown Princess Victoria (born 1977), Prince Carl Philip (born 1979) and Princess Madeleine (born 1982).
The royal couple has nine grandchildren, of which Princess Estelle is the oldest, born in 2012.
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