No birthday interview with Victoria this year - the King has stopped it!
I could not believe my ears when I heard on the radio after getting back home yesterday, that this year there will be no annual birthday interview with Crown Princess Victoria!!
This has become a tradition, to have a birthday interview included in the televised programme from her official birthday celebrations at the island of Öland.
I did some online searching and found an article in Göteborgs Posten about it. Apparently the King has stopped the interview this year, he thinks the media pressure has been to great and wants the family to pause... The interview was already preliminary booked with the Royal Court (it's always taped before the actual birthday), and the interviewer was to be Carin Hjulström-Livh, a Swedish TV personality, but now they have gotten a no!
The producer of the show thinks it's too bad, because the annual birthday programme for Victoria also raises money for the Victoria Fund.
The Director of the Press and Information Department at the Royal Court, Nina Eldh, says that it's a lack of time that makes it impossible to make the interview this year (my comment: lack of time?? Victoria has had a very slow official spring & summer, because of those private studies). She says that enquiries from media are pouring in, from press, radio & TV around the world (me: oh, really?! I haven't seen any result from that, have any of you? Whitewash is what it is, mark my words
).
- The King feels that there has been a lot of inteviews during the spring, and he feels that he needs to pause, she says. (my comment: he needs to pause, but he doesn't do Victoria's interviews, or was he planning to dress up as his daughter for this year's interview?
I'd understood if it was the King who wanted a break, he's been doing inteviews non-stop this spring, before his 60th, but Victoria doesn't give interviews that often, so every missed opportunity is very apparent)
A small segment from the work of the Victoria Fund, with the Crown Princess visiting a canooing club, has already been recorded (that's also tradition, that they film her visiting one of the projects that has received funds). But there will be no other interview to replace the traditional one.
Strange, strange, strange.... I'm very disappointed and even a bit angry, but mainly confused. Whitewash was the word. We haven't seen an interview with Victoria for a long long time, nor do we hardly ever see any paparazzi pictures of the SRF, and the Royal Family will still be appearing for the birthday celebrations - so one small interview hardly makes much difference...
According to this article, these hush-hush private studies Victoria have been doing lately, have consisted of courses in social science subjects at the Stockholm university. Apparently she has just finnished them, and is now planning for the autumn.
http://www.gp.se/gp/jsp/Crosslink.jsp?d=286&a=283638