Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden will become this Friday, September 15, fifty years after his proclamation, the second oldest monarch in Europe, after his counterpart and cousin, Queen Margaret of Denmark, who has already turned 51 in the throne. A golden jubilee for a man who was born on April 30, 1946, when his great-grandfather Gustav V reigned, who, in 1950, was succeeded by his grandfather Gustav VI Adolf. Carlos Gustavo was proclaimed crown prince when he was only four years old, since his father had died in 1947 in a plane accident at the age of 40.
Pampered during his childhood and youth by his mother, his four sisters and the rest of the royal family, Carlos Gustavo was a handsome and smiling prince. He is now a serious king and, at the same time, a complicated man; increasingly sullen, he rarely, unlike his daughter Victoria, smiles and yet, despite his many controversies, from his fondness for ladies’ bars to his recent and controversial opinions on the law of succession, his reign has never been questioned.
At 77 years old, the monarch with the least power in the world, head of a monarchy that ranges from the splendor of the Nobel Prize ceremony to Nordic austerity, will receive tribute from citizens these days in a series of events that will take place in the street and in the palaces where open days will be held.
Tomorrow, the King will receive the Government and representatives of Parliament at a reception in the royal palace, which will be followed, on Thursday, by a gala performance in the theater of Drottningholm Palace, where in addition to the royal family representatives of the Swedish politics, economy, culture and society, as well as guests from the Nordic countries. The big day will be Friday, coinciding with the exact date on which the 50 years of reign will be celebrated. The day will begin with a Te Deum in the royal chapel of Stockholm Palace and in the afternoon, a message from King Carl Gustav will be broadcast on television.
That same night, after a concert in the palace courtyard, attended by the entire royal family, a gala dinner will take place to which the heads of state of the Nordic countries are invited. Ana María de Grecia, cousin of the Swedish king, and political and civil society representatives from all the counties of Sweden will also attend.
On Saturday, as the end of the celebration, the Kings, accompanied by the rest of the royal family, will tour the streets of Stockholm in a carriage, accompanied by a horse parade of the royal regiments and military bands to later board the sloop. royal and tour the coast near the Swedish capital. In the afternoon, the Kings, their children and grandchildren will close the celebrations in a popular concert, open to the public, which will take place in Norrbro, the esplanade that opens in front of the royal palace.
On the occasion of the jubilee, the Swedish royal house has released a series of photographs in which Carlos Gustavo can be seen surrounded by his entire family: Queen Silvia, whom he married on June 19, 1976, and his children, the Crown Princess Victoria, her husband, Daniel Westling, and their children Estela and Óscar; Prince Carl Philip with his wife, Sofia Hellqvist, and his children Alejandro, Gabriel and Julián; Princess Madeleine with her husband, Chris O’Neill, and her three children Leonor, Nicolás and Adriana. An image of the king with Princess Victoria and his daughter, Princess Estela, has also been made public: the line of succession to the throne of Sweden, on which since the legendary Queen Christina, who reigned in the 17th century, there has not been a seat. women.
