Change in law that still irks King of Sweden 40 years later

King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden caused controversy with his comments regarding who should succeed him on the throne.

In a recent interview with SVT, the King spoke about the change in the laws of succession that stripped his son, Carl Philip, of his Crown Prince title and gave it instead to Carl Philip’s older sister, Victoria. He said: “It’s tricky to have laws that work retroactively. It doesn’t seem wise.

“You can accept the next generation – that’s okay. But it was my son who was born, and they got rid of it all.”

The King later clarified his remarks, saying Carl Philip and Victoria get along well and that Victoria is “very committed” and “feels the responsibility” of her role as the heir to the throne.

His Majesty has shared his disagreement with the law applying retroactively in the past as he felt it was unfair to his son, who was born as the heir to the throne. He did object to the law being changed; he just thought it should have been applied to future generations.

So what is the law that has irked the King for so long?

Prior to 1980, the Swedish line of succession was governed by agnatic primogeniture – meaning females are excluded from the line of succession.

King Carl Gustaf and Queen Silvia’s first child was a girl – Victoria – who was born in July 1977; at birth, she was not Crown Princess of Sweden but instead titled Princess Victoria. When her younger brother, Carl Philip, was born in May 1979, he was the Crown Prince of Sweden. His time as the heir to the throne did not last long because the Swedish government was already in the process of changing the laws governing succession. The Riksdag (parliament) passed the new law on 7 November 1979 after first being brought up for a vote in 1975.

The new law of absolute primogeniture (1979 Act of Succession) went into effect on 1 January 1980; thus, Victoria, as the eldest child of the monarch, became the Crown Princess, and Carl Philip was demoted to the title of Prince. Sweden was the first country to adopt new laws of succession that allowed women to ascend the throne ahead of younger brothers.

The 1979 Act of Succession also changed a few other things, which the King did not object to – like overriding the law that said Swedish princes could not marry commoners and retain their place in the line of succession.

The full Act of Succession now stipulates that those in the line of succession must:

1. Be a descendant of King Carl Gustaf
2. “Always profess the pure and evangelical faith … prince and princess of the Royal House shall be brought up in that same faith and within the Realm.”
3. Get the government’s consent to marry upon application from the monarch
4. Undertake travel abroad without the knowledge and consent of the monarch
5. Cannot become head of state of another country without the monarch and the Riksdag’s consent (if this occurs without consent, they and their descendants lose succession rights)

Sweden’s current line of succession is as follows:

1. Crown Princess Victoria
2. Princess Estelle
3. Prince Oscar
4. Prince Carl Philip
5. Prince Alexander
6. Prince Gabriel
7. Prince Julian
8. Princess Madeleine
9. Princess Leonore
10. Prince Nicolas
11. Princess Adrienne