It perhaps now common knowledge that the Swedish monarch is not the biggest fan of the incumbent President of the United States, Donald Trump. Now King Carl XVI Gustaf has attracted further criticism after appearing to take another stab against President Trump – this time in the form of some birdhouses on display at His Majesty’s summer palace.
The King is currently displaying an exhibition of birdhouses at Solliden Palace in Öland. It has been made in collaboration with the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation and was unveiled on Monday via Instagram.
The Instagram post featured an image of Donald Trump with the speech bubble reading ‘beware’ and was quickly deleted when it drew attention from the Swedish press.
These birdhouses do not come to the Palace without the King’s approval and many now believe His Majesty may have acted in a partisan way, making a political point.
Jan Turvall, political scientist at the University of Gothenburg said: “The King has not violate any law. However, on the question whether this is appropriate one can criticise him. It is not appropriate for the king to stand behind something that can be perceived as a political position”.
In a statement, the Swedish Royal Court said: “This exhibition is a collaboration between Solliden Palace, the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation and school classes in grades 4 and 5, and the King has had nothing to do with the competition”.
King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden has previously made controversial statements about Donald Trump. During the climate summit in Paris in 2015, King Carl XVI Gustaf was asked what he thought about the many American politicians, including Trump, who believes that there is no climate change and no global warming. The King thought this was absurd and distant to reality to think like that.
In 2017, the American-British husband of Princess Madeleine, Chris O’Neill may have damaged the relationship between the Swedish Royal Family and Donald Trump when he called the President “shameful”. Also in 2017 King Carl Gustaf defended Swedish journalist following an attack by president Trump.
