“I, myself, want my son Carl Philip to be my successor. I am sure that the majority of the Swedish people want a king on the throne”.

King Carl Gustav XVI. (1980)

This is what King Carl Gustav told the Swedish newspaper Vestmanland when asked what he thought of the latest changes to the Swedish constitution that – retroactively! – changed the line of succession in favor of his eldest daughter Victoria (girl in the picture) and thus sparked an incredible movement that was set to change the European royal landscape forever! The Swedish king was less than amused and up to this day questions the way the decision was made. But let’s start from scratch to grasp the full meaning behind all this.

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The Line of Succession

What King Carl Gustav referred to is nothing less than the line of succession that the Swedish parliament had changed in 1979. When it comes to monarchies nothing is of more profound importance than the line of succession, because basically all mobile and immobile assets are being passed down to the next generation. Let’s break it down a little bit to illustrate this point: In Sweden inheriting the Crown basically means inheriting:

• 13 royal residences
• vast land and estates
• all crown jewels + regalia
• about $ 70 mio. in money
• beholding and bestowing royal titles
• about $ 8 mio. in annual state funds for official duties
• about $ 8 mio. annually for palace administration
• and much, much more …

But there is more! Inheriting the crown means becoming iconic. As king or queen one’s portrait will hang in every public office. The face of kings and queens will be displayed on anything ranging from stamps, coins, tea towels, postcards or plates. In chances of a longer reign, kings and queens will gain international fame and global influence for their charities and patronages. Monarchs in their own countries are nothing less than national symbols, with some of them shaping whole ages named after them (Queen Victoria or Elizabeth I.)! In short, with the Crown, the heir will inherit nothing less than the full bag of tricks!

Let’s have a look at the current line of succession in Sweden (2020) to get an overview of the way things are right now:

Types of successions

In order to understand King Carl Gustav’s dismay about the changes in the line of succession we should first get an overview over the essentially three different types of successions that there are:

1. Agnatic primogeniture = only male descendants get to inherit the throne. Custom practice for centuries!
2. Male-preference primogeniture = female only gets to inherit the throne if there is no direct male descendant. The most prominent example is Queen Elizabeth II. Her parents had two daughters and no sons, which made Elizabeth the heir to her father’s throne since she was the elder one of the sisters.
3. Absolute primogeniture = the first born child of the monarch gets to inherit the throne, regardless of gender.

As the examples and the word stem (primo-) indicates, it is always about the first-born of the monarch. The only difference and criteria is the gender of the first-born that determines who the successor will be.

The day that changed everything

Ever since 1809, Sweden has had a so-called agnatic primogeniture in place, excluding females from the line of succession. When Queen Silvia was pregnant with her first child in 1976 times had changed. Women’s right made it to the political agendas of various parties in Sweden and a growing number of people advocated for a fundamental change and to seize the spur of the time to change the constitution in favor of the absolute primogeniture.

Their voices were heard! With a narrow vote of 151 to 149 Sweden’s parliament made history in November 1979 : Sweden was to become the first monarchy in the world to introduce the absolute primogeniture according to which the first-born child of the monarch gets to inherit the throne – regardless of its gender! The new law was retroactive, meaning that Victoria’s status had changed overnight. She, and not her baby brother Carl Philip, was now her father’s successor!

Reactions

The King:

According to King Carl Gustav, the job of a monarch could only be carried out by a male. In his view, it would have been too much for a woman to cater to the needs of a family and be the head of state at the same time. Well, what is important here is to put his words into context. King Carl Gustav was born in 1946 as the youngest of five children. All his siblings were sisters. He was the long-awaited heir to the throne and this must, undoubtedly influenced him immensely. Knowing that your parents tried hard to finally have an heir is something that probably deeply shaped his mindset. Carl Gustav’s father died when Carl Gustav was only 9 months old (plane crash), which left Carl Gustav in the hands of his 64-year-old grandfather Gustav VI. Adolf who by all accounts had a very conservative and traditional view on things. Carl Gustav was raised in that spirit and thus had reservations about any female successors.

On a different – more personal note – one has to also take into account the fact that he, as a young father, had to observe how others decided on his young children’s fates. For most people this would have also been a hard pill to swallow! Victoria was born in 1977 followed by Carl Philip two years later. He and his wife Queen Silvia were never consulted about the decision! Given the profound impacts on their children’s lives one would have expected to have the king and queen involved in the decision-making process. If it all, this example pointedly indicates the constitutional roles the monarch’s children have. Like chess figures, they are being moved across the constitutional board, leaving little room for personal feelings or doubts.

Victoria:

Princess Victoria was barely two and a half years old when the new law came into effect on January 1, 1980. Over night she became the heir to the throne and her whole life had changed that day. Before the law, she was a Swedish princess with no claims to the throne and thus relatively free in her future choices. Her younger brother Prince Carl Philip was crown prince for barely six months when the Constitution was changed. He, today, dutifully represents the Swedish Crown, but has nowhere near as many duties and obligations like his elder sister.

One can only speculate how the siblings feel about that fateful decision in 1979 that had changed their lives so profoundly. But what we know is that Victoria suffered from the high expectations that were bestowed on her. In In 1998 she became painfully thin and the royal court soon announced that Victoria was suffering from anorexia. After she had graduated high school, she embarked on a – in hindsight grueling – program to prepare her for her future tasks as Queen of Sweden. She later recalled in an interview that the only thing she felt able to control was the amount of food she ate.

Media intrusion was too much in Sweden and made it impossible for Victoria to study there. She went to the US and studied at Yale for two years. With lots of help she was able to overcome that illness. But it took her many years to heal and accept the cards she was dealt with. Today, she is the most popular member of the royal family! One of the many reasons for this is down to her attitude towards her present and future role. She – at one point – fully embraced her role as designated Queen of Sweden. She once said in an interview that she was born to serve Sweden. This credo helps her to look forward and not to question what happened in the past.

Swedes:

In 1979, the new decision was widely welcomed. The majority of the Swedes (74%) deemed it about time that Sweden had adapted their Constitution. Before Carl Gustav married his charming wife Silvia Sommerlath, there were frequent calls to finally end the monarchy. The monarchy was perceived to be an outdated and dusty institution. The absolute primogeniture helped to mute those critic’s voices as this fundamental change showed that the monarchy is not as outdated and dusty as originally perceived.

In fact, the absolute primogeniture reflected nothing less than Carl Gustav’s reigning motto which is: For Sweden – with time. In short: The new law helped Sweden to transition its monarchy into the dawning 21st century. Sweden also took pride in being the first country in the world to introduce the absolute primogeniture putting Sweden on the map as one the most progressive countries in Europe regarding gender equality. The Swedish parliament sent a strong message throughout Europe and also the world, that women’s equality cannot be marginalized anymore. Looking back, one cannot fail to notice the irony that something as modern and progressive as gender equality was implemented and booted with the help of a traditional and rather conservative institution like the monarchy!

European royal families

Other European royal families watched closely the unfolding events in Sweden. It turned out, however, that the changes in Sweden were not yet relevant for most of Carl Gustav’s royal counterparts. The reason being rather simple: The royal families in Europe were not in a transitioning period like the Swedish royal family back then.

Questions about introducing the absolute primogeniture never occurred in 1952, when Queen Elizabeth II. was crowned. Like with Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands and Queen Margarethe II. of Denmark, Queen Elizabeth had no brothers that could supersede her. On top of that, all of the first-borns of the mentioned Queens were male and there was no need to discuss any constitutional changes in that regard.

In conservative Spain time was not ripe to introduce any such changes. And in neighboring Norway, King Olav was 76 years old when Sweden altered its Constitution. King Olav’s son Harald V. was all grown up by then and King Olav knew that the future of the monarchy had been secured for the time being. In Norway there was also no reason to act – yet!

Also, in Belgium the succession was secured in 1979 with no need to ruffle any feathers: King Baudouin had no children, but it was clear that Baudouin’s younger brother Albert II. would inherit the throne.

Today

40 years later, however, things look much different. All European royal families have adapted the absolute primogeniture except for Spain!

Let’ have a look:

• The Netherlands: 1983
• Norway: 1990
• Belgium: 1991
• Denmark: 2009
• United Kingdom: 2013

But Spain is not lacking behind! True, Spain still follows the male preference primogeniture. But changes had been planned when the then crown prince Felipe got married in 2004 and was expected to have children soon. When his first child Leonor was born in 2005, it was agreed in Spain to wait and see whether Felipe would have a son in the future that could supersede Leonor. But with the birth of Infanta Sófia, the king’s second daughter there was no need to act, because Sófia was not able to supersede her elder sister. As Felipe and Letizia are not expected to have more children and thus any sons in the future, Spain has postponed to modernize its succession law for the time being.

This makes sense for now, because changing the succession law is complicated as it means that the country has to change nothing less than its own constitution. This is a complex, long and also costly process as it is almost always involved with a referendum or a general election where the people get to vote on these changes. The law also has to pass all the relevant constitutional institutions before it can finally be implemented and be enforced.

Outlook

With changes in almost all constitutional monarchies in Europe towards the absolute primogeniture, the reigning monarchs of the future will all but for the United Kingdom and Denmark be female! And if Princess Charlotte of the UK and Princess Isabella of Denmark had been born before their brothers, they would have also joined the ranks of the future reigning Queens in Europe. As for Norway: Prince Haakon’s first-born Princess Ingrid Alexandra will follow him on the throne, which means that she will – due to the absolute primogeniture – become the first reigning Queen Norway has ever had!

Country	Heirs
Sweden	Crown Princess Victoria
UK	Prince Charles
Belgium	Princess Elisabeth
The Netherlands	Princess Amalia
Denmark	Crown Prince Frederick
Norway	Prince Haakon
Spain	Princess Leonor

Historic dimension

Let’s stop and take a step back for a while. What does this actually mean?

With these future Queens on the throne the quest for more gender equality in everyday life will become a lot easier. All of them will become head of state’s of their respective countries and will occupy the highest position that there is. All of them will be the flagships of their countries and will contribute immensely in forming a collective national identity. They will serve their countries year in and year out, most of them until the very last day of their lives. Thus, they will proof die-hard critics of gender equality that women are physically and mentally fit for the highest positions everywhere. They will motivate girls and women to aim for leading positions in their jobs or elsewhere. They will equally contribute in reducing prejudices against women who for so long were considered to be the weaker gender. They will propel their societies even more forward by making full use of both genders in all parts of public life.

But, these young women will also rescue their own royal houses from being abolished, because they are the living testament of modernization and progress. The European royal families have always been a reflection of their societies. Like Sweden 40 years ago, all other monarchies in Europe had to adapt to the zeitgeist in order to survive!

Has the King changed his opinion?

And what does King Carl Gustav think today of the constitutional change? In 2003 he publicly said on SVT (Swedish national TV channel) that he was glad that Victoria was the heir to the throne. In 2011, however, he let it be known through his then Head of Communications Tarras-Wahlberg, that he still questions the retroactive aspect of the law:

“The King is happy with Victoria as his heir, but he has not changed his mind on the new law of succession. His Majesty thinks it is wrong to introduce retroactive legislation and to take away [the title] from Prince Carl Philip as he was actually Crown Prince for seven months.”

Maria Tarras-Wahlberg , Head of Communications at the Royal Court (2011)

This quote sparked some discussions in Sweden with not few media outlets reading into these words that the king felt that his only son was robbed of his throne. Does the king really think so and how is his relationship to Victoria? From numerous pictures we see that the King is actually very supportive of Victoria, but one can’t help to sense a little distance between father and daughter. The king was never a smiley person and actually comes across as a rather grumpy, distanced figure. We don’t know how approachable the king is in private but what is clear is that the king was never like all the other fathers whom one could have barged in on and talk to him about what is on your mind.

For Victoria her father’s quotes above made life more difficult as it meant that she had to fight to get her father’s approval. Today, her daughter and all the other female successors have the full support of their fathers. None of them would have dared to voice the slightest doubts on having a female successor like Carl Gustav did 40 years ago. But one should not be too harsh on Carl Gustav a he was the first one to be confronted with the absolute primogeniture!

Today it is easier for all European monarchies to come to terms with the new law, because Victoria has set a marvelous example for the future! She can indeed handle both: Being a mother and fulfilling her duties as Crown princess in an impeccable and very sympathetic way. She actually has proven her father’s fears wrong that the crown would be too much for a woman to handle! Thus Victoria has not only become the toast of Sweden but the toast of Europe as the first Crown Princess in her own right who paved the way so splendidly for the next generation of Queens in Europe.

Tak Victoria!