'Many great monarchs have been queens'

Leader pages across Sweden devoted space on Friday to congratulating Crown Princess Victoria and Sweden's newborn princess, while many also expressed the view that she should be able to choose her own path.

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“She can abdicate. She can free herself from the tradition of monarchy which has long survived on its own,” wrote Göran Greider of the Social Democratic-leaning Dala Demokraten newspaper.

Widar Andersson of Social Democratic Folkbladet in Norrköping views hereditary monarchies as “ghastly conservative institutions”.

He believes the Royal Family makes continuity plain and straightforward.

However, he could never reconcile himself with a hereditary monarchy that had political power.

“A constitution like the Swedish one, on the other hand, is one with which I can easily reconcile myself,” wrote Andersson.

Olof Jonmyren of the Centre Party-sympathetic Södermanlands Nyheter newspaper claims, however, that a hereditary head of state is anachronistic.

“Not only from a power perspective, but also from an individual perspective,” he wrote.

PJ Anders Linder of the conservative Svenska Dagbladet (SvD) reflected on how a hereditary monarch can connect with Sweden's citizens in a way that politicians cannot.

“Heredity contributes a personal and deep human dimension to public life. The little girl who was born early yesterday morning will one day function as a 'collective representative and symbol for the country'. That she and the country's residents will have had such a long history together makes it easier for her to manage this sizeable task,” Linder wrote.

“The power brokers of politics enter the stage one moment and are gone the next, while the citizens can follow along with a monarch's entire journey from childhood through adulthood and into old age.”

The liberal Göteborgs-Posten (GP) newspaper notes that the birth signifies a not-insignificant injection of sympathy for the Royal Family.

“We can only wish that the newborn princess receives an upbringing suited to modernity: open and with the possibility to make her own choices. An upbringing and childhood that fits with the times,” wrote the GP editorial writers.

The conservative Barometer newspaper argued that Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel have modernized the monarchy by their natural and open choice of careers.

“Whether that's enough to defend an anachronism into the future remains to be seen,” read the paper's editorial.

The Social Democratic-leaning Sydöstran had a leader filled with congratulatory praise.

But the editorial writers also point out that “it's inappropriate for people to be born into a career with defined limits from cradle to grave”.

“The monarchy stands in irreconcilable conflict with democracy and a modern view of humanity,” wrote Sydöstran.

The conservative Nya Wermlands-Tidningen (NWT) editorial also wishes the Crown Princess and her family well. The royal birth is described as a happy occasion for close family “but also for the Kingdom of Sweden”.

“The royalists hearts of course beat with extra warmth at such occasions,” wrote NWT, while going on to welcome the future queen of Sweden.

“Many of history's greatest monarchs have been queens,” wrote the paper.