King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden: 50 years of banal royalism
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Friday, September 1, 2023
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People around the world observed, in close detail, how the UK’s royal institution consolidates its authority by using ritual to link to the past.
Key Points:
- People around the world observed, in close detail, how the UK’s royal institution consolidates its authority by using ritual to link to the past.
- Over the weekend of September 15 and 16 2023, Sweden will celebrate its own royal occasion, the golden jubilee of King Carl XVI Gustaf.
- This may be of interest to the British royal family if their popularity continues to decrease over time.
Towards a low-key monarchy
- Of the nine remaining hereditary monarchies in Europe, the Swedish monarchy has the least power and resources.
- Many members of the Social Democratic party were pushing for the country to become a republic, while the more conservative voices sought to retain the monarchy.
- Instead, it would remain a constitutional monarchy, with the Bernadotte dynasty holding the throne.
- By doing away with this antiquated tradition of male-preference primogeniture, the monarchy was aligned with modernity.
An ordinary (royal) family
- The Year with the Royal Family has been part of Christmas scheduling on public service TV since 1977.
- A typical scene from 1985 features the family making sausages in the palace kitchen – the king in a red cardigan, the children in matching white aprons.
- These media portrayals have sought to underline quite how ordinary the royal family is and how the public might identify with them.
- In his 1995 book, Banal Nationalism, British social psychologist Michael Billig unpicks how nationalism is reproduced in everyday life via ordinary, unremarkable reminders.
- Similarly, we might talk about “banal royalism” to describe how closely tied the Swedish royal institution is to the private lives of ordinary citizens – their superiority accentuated by their proximity to normal people.