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Queen appeals swastika montage publication

Published: 20 Feb 13 16:45 CET | Print version
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/46306/20130220/

Sweden's Queen Silvia has resubmitted a press ethics complaint concerning the newspapers that chose to reproduce artwork that she found "insulting and hurtful" because it portrayed her scrubbing a Nazi swastika off the floor.

A photographic montage by Swedish artist Elisabeth Olsson Wallin showed the queen kneeling on the floor, seemingly about to scrub away at the swastika in front of her. In the background, the king and several other high-profile Swedes prepare to eat pizza from the naked body of singer Camilla Henemark.

The montage was first published by the left-of-centre magazine Tiden but was later republished by several heavyweight newspapers.

Tiden, Sydsvenskan, Aftonbladet and Expressen newspapers are all mentioned in the queen's press ethics complaint, which was dismissed by the Press Ombudsman (Pressombudsmannen, PO) Ola Sigvardsson in December 2012.

She has now chosen to forward her complaint to the Press Council (Pressens Opinionsnämnd, PON), according to a report in Expressen.

Daniel Suhonen, the editor-in-chief and publisher of Tiden magazine, defended the artwork when the royal court reacted angrily to its publication last year.

"This is satire, it's incisive and though it may push the boundaries too far, it is the job of satire to push boundaries," he said, according to the TT news agency.

"The king is head of state and must be prepared to take criticism for as long as he is king. It is not our job to keep the king happy."

The queen, meanwhile, has interpreted the montage to be accusatory, at least in conjunction with the headline that Expressen used at the time of publishing it.

"The montage in conjunction with the headline communicates the claim that Her Majesty the Queen has tried to conceal Nazism and by so doing tried to hide the holocaust," the complaint reads.

The royal court has decided not to comment on the renewed complaint until the Press Council issues a statement, deputy press secretary Annika Sönnerberg told TT.

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02:36 February 21, 2013 by Eric1
Now could you wipe the "hammer and sickle" from your door mat, comrade Liz.
07:15 February 21, 2013 by karex
I'm all for freedom of speech. But every right comes with a set of responsibilities. We all must learn to exercise our rights responsibly. To me this means that my right ends where someone else's begins. This sad episode in my eyes clearly shows a whole group of people who have no clue what the rights they have been taking for granted even mean.

If this is art, it is in very poor taste.

To complement the comment of #1 above, an appropriate phrase comes to mind: "people who live in glass houses should not throw stones".
21:38 February 25, 2013 by salalah
I think everyone knew the swastika was about her father's Nazi past, but it was bad taste to put the Queen in the same picture as a naked La Camilla. No-one would have thought it was an alude to the holocaust. I still feel sorry for her because she is not responsible for her father and she has always been nice to immigrants.
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