Carl XVI Gustaf (Swedish Carl XVI Gustaf) - King of Sweden since September 15, 1973. An old application of the title - By the grace of God, the king of the Goths and the Wends (Swedish: Med Guds nåde, Sveriges, Götes och Vendes Konung). Before coming to the throne - the crown prince, from birth - the Duke of Emtladu (Swedish Hertig av Jämtland).
Place of Birth. Education. King Carl XVI was born on 30 April 1946 at Haga Palace, Solna, Sweden. Title from birth Prince Carl Gustaf Folke Hubertus (Swedish Carl Gustaf Folke Hubertus) is the only son of Prince Gustaf Adolf, Duke of Västerbotten, and Princess Sibylla of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. They already had four daughters, three of whom later married non-royals.
Prince Gustav Adolf died in a plane crash near Copenhagen on January 26, 1947, while his grandfather, Gustav V, and father, the future Gustav VI, were still alive. Carl was nine months old at the time. After Gustav V died and Charles' grandfather, Gustav VI Adolf, succeeded him in 1950, Charles became heir to the throne. The current king's mother, Princess Sibylla, died in 1972.
Crown Prince Carl Gustav graduated from boarding school in Sigtuna, near Stockholm, in 1966.
After that, he served for two and a half years in various military branches - in the army, air force and navy. His main focus was on the Navy, and since then he has retained a particular interest in the sea.
After military service, the crown prince studied for a year in a special educational program at Uppsala University. This program included a series of courses in history, sociology, political science, tax law, and economics. After that, the prince continued to study national economics at the university in Stockholm.
He also gained international experience by studying the work of the Swedish Permanent Mission to the UN in New York, the Swedish International Cooperation Development Agency (SIDA) in Africa, he spent time at Hambro Bank, the Swedish Embassy and the Chamber of Commerce in London.
Ascension to the throne. Assuming the throne in 1973, 27-year-old (the youngest of the Bernadotte dynasty) King Carl XVI Gustaf replaced his 90-year-old grandfather Gustav VI Adolf.
The new Swedish constitution came into force in 1974, during the reign of Carl Gustaf, and formally deprived the new king of some of the prerogatives, including the appointment of a prime minister and the status of the Supreme Commander of the country's armed forces. The king, according to the new constitution, began to perform duties only of a representative and ceremonial nature. The 1974 constitution retained the king and his formal political authority while retaining him as head of state, establishing the actual practice of establishing parliamentary government in 1917. The king officially appointed the prime minister, although in practice he was almost always the leader of the majority or coalition party in the Riksdag. In addition, bills passed by the Riksdag do not need the King's signature in order to enter into force.
He is the main representative of Sweden and makes state visits abroad, opens the annual session of the Riksdag, holds regular information meetings with the Prime Minister and the Cabinet of Ministers, chairs meetings of the Foreign Affairs Council, and also receives credentials from foreign ambassadors in Sweden. He voluntarily abstains from voting in the Swedish parliamentary elections. Under the provisions of the 1974 form of government act, which came into force on 1 January 1975, King Carl XVI Gustaf no longer holds the position of Supreme Commander, but he has kept his ranks a la luxury, as he has no military command other than his military headquarters in the palace.
All over the world, Carl XVI Gustaf is best known for hosting the Nobel Prizes annually. It also presents the Polar Music Award. King has honorary doctorates from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, the Royal Institute of Technology, the Stockholm School of Economics and Åbo University in Finland.
Hobbies. Even as a boy and an active member of the Scout organization, the prince was very interested in nature and enjoyed spending time in nature. In 1977 he became Honorary Chairman of the World Scout Organization. Very early on he took a clear environmental stance and is also president of the Swedish branch of the World Wildlife Fund.
The king loves water sports, loves scuba diving, skiing, several times he participated in the famous annual 90-kilometer ski marathon in honor of King Gustav Vasa - "Vasaloppet" (Swedish: Vasaloppet).
Family. At the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Carl met Silvia Renata Sommerlath. On June 19, 1976, he married her, thus making Silvia Queen of Sweden. The royal couple has three children: Crown Princess Victoria (b. July 14, 1977), Prince Carl-Philip (b. May 13, 1979), Princess Madeleine (b. June 10, 1982)
Prince Carl Philip was crown prince and heir to the Swedish throne from birth to 1 January 1980, but a constitutional reform in 1979 changed the succession to the throne in accordance with the principle of absolute primogeniture and made his elder sister Princess Victoria the heiress.
04/29/2021