King of Sweden Carl Gustav is the successor to the Bernadotte dynasty, ruling in Sweden since the time of Napoleon. In 2016, the Swedish monarch turned 70 years old. Citizens respect and love the ruling sovereign, which is justified: the king is democratic, he can often be found on the streets of the capital, he cares about the prosperity of the country and its citizens.
Crown prince
King of Sweden Carl XVI Gustav was born on April 30, 1946. The family already had four girls, the born boy automatically became the heir to the throne. Many years should have passed before entering the rights, but his father, Gustav Adolf, died in a plane crash when the future monarch was not even one year old.
After the death of King Gustav V in 1950, the grandfather of Carl Gustav - Gustav VI Adolf, takes the Swedish throne, and the grandson becomes the heir to the throne. In connection with the new status, the family moves to the royal palace, where the four-year-old crown prince is prepared according to all the rules for future government.
Elementary education
Preparation for the monarchy way of thinking and life began with joining the scouting movement. Carl Gustav has become a scout and does not leave custody of the youth organization to the present day. The king of Sweden received the basics of education at home: the visiting teachers adequately prepared the heir for admission to the gymnasium. They did not limit themselves to only one educational institution in the family, and in 1966, at the end of two private boarding schools, the Crown Prince entered the military service.
Military training course
For two years, the king of Sweden engaged in military service in various branches of the armed forces, comprehending the structure of the army from the inside. Managed to serve in the infantry, the Air Force, but he especially liked the Navy. Interested in naval combat forces, Karl Gustav sailed on a Swedish destroyer, after which he passed exams and received an officer rank. The love of the fleet remained forever, and the monarch subsequently devoted much more time to the naval service, mastering the large ships of the fleet of his country.
For royal families, a military career and service is an indispensable attribute of education, and for any young man - passion, but a military career could not provide a modern monarch with a decent education and sufficient knowledge to govern the state. In the late 60s, Carl Gustav began to master secular sciences.
Royal Institutes
Since 1968, the future king of Sweden, under a special program, masters political and economic sciences at the University of Uppsala. Here he comprehends economics, sociology, financial law. He gained advanced knowledge of economics at Stockholm University. The academic course in the theoretical part was completed in 1969.
Karl Gustav cemented the acquired knowledge in practice while working in state administrative bodies. For greater coverage of all branches of government and state structure, a special program was drawn up for him. Within its framework, he attended meetings of the Swedish parliament, laboratories, enterprises, trade unions and public organizations, studied the work of the judicial system and the social security system of citizens.
Knowledge consolidation
For a better understanding of the work of foreign interstate relations, the future monarch devoted much time to studying the Swedish government, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the parliamentary system and gained experience in international work. He was an active participant in the work of the Swedish mission to the United Nations in the United States, devoted a lot of time to work in Africa and the UK. In England, Carl Gustav, in addition to working in international organizations, gained experience in the banking sector.
Crown and Wedding
In 1973, Gustav Adolf, king of Sweden, died. The crown prince accepted the royal mantle and became the current monarch. At the time of adoption, he was 27 years old, European dynasties had not been able to enter into their rights at this age for a long time. According to the old tradition, every monarch of Sweden should ascend the throne with a motto reflecting the meaning of his aspirations for the good of the Fatherland. Karl Gustov chose the following: “For Sweden - keeping up with the times!”
The king of Sweden met his wife as a crown prince in 1972. A fateful meeting took place at the Winter Olympics in Munich, where Sylvia Sommerlat worked as a translator and received guests in the organizing committee. According to both spouses, the meeting was a foregone conclusion from above, since they felt attraction to each other from the first meeting. Long enough to meet secretly, the wedding took place in 1976. In order for the event to happen, outdated Swedish laws had to be amended; the king himself needed to apply for permission to the parliament (Riksdag). Society did not greet the bride too joyfully: not everyone liked the lack of royal blood in the genealogy of the future queen.
Spouse
The royal wedding and the life of the royal family for Swedish citizens is always a fascinating topic of conversation. In Sweden, monarchs are loved, and a considerable merit in this is Queen Sylvia, the wife of the current monarch. She was born in 1943 in a mixed family and has German and Brazilian roots. Her parents, in addition to her, had three older children. Father (Walter Sommerlat) was an entrepreneur and for a long time did business in Brazil, where he married the Brazilian Alice Soares de Toledo. Sylvia graduated from elementary school in Brazil, in 1957 the Sommerlat family returned to Germany, where she graduated from the Munich Institute of Translators.
Having received the royal title in marriage, Sylvia was actively engaged in charity, as befits the wife of the monarch. Under her guardianship is more than thirty organizations. She is also the chairman of the International Children's Fund, heads the Royal Wedding Foundation, takes active care of athletes with disabilities and much more. The king and queen of Sweden have been married for over forty years, which is perhaps the last example of traditional marriage for Swedish society.
The heirs
The Swedish king and wife have four children. The first in the family in 1977 was born the girl Victoria Ingrid Alisa Desiree, who, according to the laws of Sweden, became the heir to the throne. After her, two more children were born: Prince Carl Phillip and Princess Madeleine Teresa.
With the advent of the boy in the royal family, Swedish society split for some time: one part believed that a man should become the heir to the crown, the second part insisted on the inheritance of the royal status by birthright. In the end, everything was decided by law, according to which gender discrimination is unacceptable. All children of the royal couple are married to people of simple origin, have children and are happy with their life.
