Articles & Interviews
Occasionally I get the question if the royals giving interviews is something new in Sweden, or if it’s actually somewhat of a tradition and something that has been done before. My answer always is the second, maybe I wouldn’t call it a tradition, but it has been done for many years and it’s not something new to the current monarch and his family. Some people find this incredibly fascinating, especially some of this website’s readers in the UK because they are used to having Queen Elizabeth II who never in her life has given an interview, and who probably never will either. But in Sweden the culture is different, the royals communicate via giving interviews and occasionally appearing on television, and the distance between the royals and their subjects – although it exists – is not as visible and strict as in for example England. Giving interviews is a way of calming the curiosity of the society, and perhaps letting everyone know that they too are quite normal people behind those royal façades.
As Swedish is a very small language, most people cannot take part of what the royals share when they occasionally grant the media access too them. So through the years I have come to translate numerous articles and interviews given by the royals to magazines, newspapers and television programmes. On this page I aim to gather them together in a collection so that it’s easier to find them for my readers.
Interviews
- “The Countesses on the flower island” - Countess Bettina Bernadotte af Wisborg and Countess Diana Bernadotte af Wisborg - By Cecilia Hahne Hilgers - QUEEN magazine issue 3 2008
- The Queen in open-hearted interview on children - my summary of HM’s feature in Sveriges Radio’s Saturday program “Ekots lördagsintervju” on 1 November 2008
- The Queen’s 65th birthday interview - news agency TT December 2008
Articles
- Walburga Habsburg Doublas’ self-written second Queen chronicle - Queen magazine issue 2 2008
- “The King’s favourite music” - By Barbro Hultman - Svenska Dagbladet 21 November 2008