SUPPORT OUR JOURNALISM: Please consider donating to keep our website running and free for all - thank you!

Sweden

Princess Sofia asked in interview if she has ever considered quitting Sweden’s Royal Family

In an interview for a new documentary about her life, Princess Sofia of Sweden has been was asked if she has ever intended leaving the royal family she married into.

During the programme, for Swedeish TV channel TV4, she was asked if she had ever thought about leaving with the journalist using a controversial term, enquiring if she planned to “do a Megxit”. TV4 is known to quite sceptical towards the Royal Family and their new documentary on Princess Sofia has created a lot of discussions following some tough questions put during its making.

The interview was done a while ago, before the pandemic, when the princess was on a private journey to South Africa.

Princess Sofia was asked if she ever has wanted to do as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and break with the royal family and move abroad. Princess Sofia was clearly surprised by the question.

It took a while before the princess answered: “No. Not really. I think I have found such a fantastic balance, and I really see it as positive that I have made it through these stormy years. It is such a huge advantage, in that we have the opportunity to stand a little in both worlds.”

At the same time, Princess Sofia speaks openly in the documentary about some of the problems she has encountered in her life. She explained: “Since I became a princess, I have been through many identity crises. Here in South Africa I have a type of identity and when I come home I have something else. Here I am allowed to be who I want to be.”

Sofia garnered a lot of newspaper headlines, not all of them positive, from the moment her relationship with Prince Carl Philip became public knowledge and there was some debate about her background when it was confirmed the two would marry. Before she became royal, Sofia moved from the countryside to Stockholm, where she worked as a waitress and glamour model. She participated in the television programme, Paradise Hote,l in 2005. She then shortly moved to New York City to become a yoga instructor.

Sofia married Prince Carl Philip, only son of King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia of Sweden, in June 2015 and the couple have two children, Prince Alexander and Prince Gabriel. In recent months, the princess has been widely praised for her decision to work in a hospital during the coronavirus pandemic.

About author

Senior Europe Correspondent Oskar Aanmoen has a master in military and political history of the Nordic countries. He has written six books on historical subjects and more than 1.500 articles for Royal Central. He has also interview both Serbian and Norwegian royals. Aanmoen is based in Oslo, Norway.