2 min readStockholmMay 31, 2011 10:18 AM IST
First published on: May 31, 2011 at 10:18 AM IST
Swedish King Carl XVI Gustaf gave a rare interview,in an attempt to quash a swelling scandal,flatly rejecting media reports he had visited strip clubs and even had indirect contact with organised crime.
In a long interview with the TT news agency published late Monday,Sweden’s head of state denied recent reported claims from a former mafia member,Mille Markovic,that he had pictures in his possession showing the king in a sex club in the same shot as two naked women. “No,it is impossible that they exist,” the king insisted,stressing that “it is also difficult to comment on something one has not seen and no one else has seen either.”
The royal court has demanded that public broadcaster TV4,which in a report two weeks ago about the alleged pictures said a journalist had seen them,show the shots to prove there is any substance to the claims.
The TV4 report and a new book about another shady figure from Sweden’s underworld,alleged friends of the king had been willing to pay large sums of money to block the publication of pictures of the monarch in compromising situations.
One of the king’s childhood friends,Ander Lettstroem,admitted in a statement last week he had contacted people involved with organised crime,but insisted it was purely his own initiative and had nothing to do with Carl XVI Gustaf.
In Monday’s interview,the king reiterated a previous statement that he had no knowledge of Lettstroem’s actions and had nothing to do with his confession.
He admitted the scandal had “of course hurt confidence in me,and even confidence in the monarchy and also Sweden.”
The latest scandal comes just over six months after a tell-all biography of the king hit the bookstands,causing uproar with its descriptions of his participation in wild parties and affairs with young women.
The allegations also come shortly after the royal court announced the king’s wife,German-born Queen Silvia,had launched a probe into her father’s Nazi past.
Share
