Lol, I just realized that the name of the RF would be Bengtsson (patronymic) or Bengtsstuga (habitational house name) in Swedish!
Anyway, there was one line in the book where Paxman described the Bernadottes as having the "dullest" and most tradition-bound court in all of Europe. He didn't go into any detail on this, and I've been curious if anyone knows any anecdotes or has any insider information that could possibly reveal why he wrote this?
Well, let's see:
Carl XIV Johan: Naturally he wanted to "fit in", both idealogically and in terms of appearance, pomp and circumstances. Although "society" did of course speak French, the fact that he never learned Swedish and Norwegian properly and relied on his son as interpreter did put a certain damper on his interaction with his subjects. That his queen couldn't stand Stockholm and was much absent from court didn't help either, and neither did
sängkammarvälden, that on his older days he did all the government work out of his bed with very restricted access for his ministers. BTW Desirée was also fond of staying in bed during the day and turning night into day.
Oscar I: He and Josefina had a large family and my impression is that their court was centred on a very happy, gay family life, both in Stockholm and in Christiana. The whole family was very artistically gifted and sang and made music together and with invited artists.
Carl XV: His court was very, very merry, but with his queen and daughter living a rather separate, isolated existence I think it became somewhat debauched.
Oscar II: He and Sophia was very much the typical Victorian family à la Ibsen: Nice, large family, but the spouses really lived rather separate lifes, with Oscar doing some serious philandering. He was also rather choleric and she rather serious-minded, so their court wasn't exactly gay. That Oscar also ended up in opposition to the political development in both Norway and Sweden (with his wife on the side of the opposition) also made the court a rather conservative bastion, not the glittering centre of the political world like that of their contemporary Edward VII or to some degree even Wilhelm II.
Gustaf V: Officially he was a somewhat rigid, conservative person like George V, even though of course behind the scenes he was bi- if not homosexual. He accepted that the monarchy had lost its political power but kept the trappings of pomp and circumstances, without the content. Of course it didn't help that his queen mainly resided abroad.
Gustaf VI Adolf: He kept the official pomp and circumstances inherited from his father, but by now it was mere empty props around a modest monarch who was most content as a private citizen surrounded by his immediate family instead of courtiers from the still extant but not very glamorous nobility. BTW with his widowed daughter-in-law Sibylla we again encounter a woman, a potential court hostess, who was unable to cope with life in Sweden and withdrew into obscure isolation.
Carl XVI Gustaf: Much of the pomp and circumstances was stripped away by constitutional reform and the court can only be described as a modern firm, a work place. The nuclear family is the primary focus, although the RF does socialize discreetly with the nobility and the rest of the upper classes.
I think one big problem during the last few reigns has been that with Sweden officially being a Social Democracy, the RF must try very hard not to be seen as elitist. They can't just invite interesting people from the landed, political, economical, academical, artistical and media elites to court entertainments, like Oscar I and Carl XV lavishly did. If they want to socialize with such people (BTW the King is not very into the arts, sciences and other such intellectual pursuits) they must do it privately, like the recent scandal has shown that the King to a certain extent has done.
I think the Bernadottes most closely resemble their Norwegian cousins in this aspect, even in Denmark there is a greater acceptance of the Queen inviting the whole upper crust of the noble calendar and the table of ranks to court festivities together with her fellow artistic connections etc.
