Queen Silvia and her Childhood Foundation are in the midst of a public conflict with a former Swedish top athlete. The former Swedish sports star Patrik Sjöberg is angry at Queen Silvia and her organisation, having posted his displeasure in a Facebook post which has since received widespread attention.
The former athlete donated 10,000 Swedish Krona, (around 1,000 Euros) to support the work of helping the world’s children against sexual abuse. The money from Patrik Sjöberg to Queen Silvia’s organisation is profit from the online sales of T-shirts and sweatshirts with the message “Kill your local peadophile” and “hunt your local peadophile” emblazoned on the clothing.
In a post on Facebook, Sjöberg says that he has received the donation back, and that the Childhood Foundation will not accept his contribution. The World Childhood Foundation confirmed to Swedish press that they have declined the donation. On social media, Sjöberg says that he now no longer wants to donate funds to the World Childhood Foundation. He promises his followers that all money raised in the future will go to projects in other organisations.
Due to the aggressive message endorsing violence, the World Childhood Foundation does not feel it can accept profits from the sale of the clothing. In a statement to magazine Svensk Damtidifning they says: “Everything we do is about protecting children from sexual abuse. We believe that is what Patrik Sjöberg and his campaign also want. But if that is the intention, we do not think this is the best method.”
Sjöberg is harsh in his criticism and writes: “Do they want us to print sweatshirts with the message “hug your local paedophile”? When you say no to money, you clearly show that politics is more important than the purpose. When the money donated to the World Childhood Foundation goes directly to research on paedophile’s, the desire to donate was not as great, but it is clear that an organization that should be called the world paedophile foundation, had not received a fraction of the income that Childhood can collect.”
