Royal court mulls suing over King book review

Sweden's Royal Court has allowed its lawyers to scrutinise a book review of the biography on King Carl XVI Gustaf published in the Left Party's newspaper to see if there are grounds to pursue legal action.

• Princess Madeleine wins German libel award (27 Jan 11)
• New tulip named after Sweden's Prince Daniel (16 Jan 11)
• Most Swedes want king to step down: poll (25 Dec 10)

The unofficial tell-all biography "Carl XVI Gustaf - the reluctant monarch" ("Carl XVI Gustaf - Den motvillige monarken") went on sale on November 4th.

The Vänsterpress book review, titled "A horny king," alleges that the King paid for prostitutes using tax funds, a claim that does not appear in the book, newspaper Expressen reported on Tuesday.

"We don't know what actions we will take. We will wait and see what our lawyer's opinion is. We will hear from him in a couple of days. I can't comment on any details about it," Royal Court communications director Bertil Ternert told The Local on Tuesday.

"I can only say that we think our lawyer has to look at it. It has nothing to do with the book. There is no connection to that. The author of the book, he also told readers there is nothing in the book about this," said Ternert.

According to Expressen, Vänsterpress wrote in the book review, "And the Swedish people pay for the feasts, both weddings, parties and whores."

Left Party secretary Anki Ahlsten, party leader Lars Ohly's political right hand, is the legally responsible publisher of Vänsterpress and several party colleagues slammed the review.

"It is an infringement and someone must offer an apology," Left Party MP Jonas Sjöstedt told Expressen.

The biography on the King chronicled details of wild parties and affairs he had with young women. It is the first book of its kind in Sweden.

Among the more lurid revelations in the book was an alleged year-long love affair with Swedish singer and model Camilla Henemark, born to a Nigerian father and a founding member of the band Army of Lovers.

The King's daughter, Princess Madeleine, won damages worth over 3.5 million kronor ($540,000) last week from a slew of German newspapers for libel and intrusion in her private life.

The stories included a wide range of false information and claims about Princess Madeleine's life and living habits, including details that she was pregnant and planning to marry. The stories were published between 2000 and 2004.

The princess broke off her engagement to lawyer Jonas Bergström weeks before her sister Crown Princess Victoria's wedding to Prince Daniel in June 2010 after reports surfaced that he had cheated on her with a Norwegian handball player. She is now based in New York.