Last week, I gave a little preview of Scandinavian royal scandal attractions. Sweden’s Prince Carl Philip will marry fiancée Sofia Hellqvist on June 13th, and the whole thing is sort of a mess – go here to review. Some questioned my insistence on the inappropriateness of Sofia as a royal bride, like I was “slut-shaming” an obvious free spirit and sex-positive role model. Well… I feel like that sort of loses the thread of why this union is so scandalous. Sofia has literally posed for p0rn magazines and she’s a thirsty reality star in the vein of, like, Courtney Stodden. And if there was nothing to be ashamed of, why is the Swedish royal family trying to whitewash Sofia to such an extent? But I digress. The wedding is going through. Soon she will be HRH Princess Sofia, Duchess of Värmland. Ahead of their wedding, Carl Philip and Sofia sat down for a joint interview on Swedish television. You can tell that everything has been orchestrated by the palace because Sofia wasn’t asked any questions about her past:
The royal wedding countdown is on! In just a few weeks, Prince Carl Philip of Sweden, one of Europe’s most beloved bachelors, will be off the market when he marries reality-TV star Sofia Hellqvist — and if the couple’s latest comments are anything to go by, we can expect to see quite the romantic display when they tie the knot on June 13.
“I feel extremely confident, stable and balanced when Sofia is by my side, and I’ve felt that way from the beginning,” Prince Carl Philip, 36, told Swedish channel TV4 in an interview to be aired just before the nuptials.
Former model and soon-to-be HRH Princess Sofia, Duchess of Värmland, sounds just as enamored. “Carl Philip is my best friend, the person I talk to the most,” the 30-year-old bride said. “He’s so smart and I feel so secure with him.”
The interview, which will air in Sweden on June 1 and 8, is the latest in the pre-wedding excitement. In April, Sofia enjoyed a bachelorette party with close friends like Crown Princess Victoria in a lavish mansion on the banks of Lake Mälaren, about an hour west of Stockholm. Then it was Prince Carl Philip’s turn in early May, when his friends “kidnapped” him for a surprise bachelor party in Greece.
I’m surprised Crown Princess Victoria organized Sofia’s bachelorette party. My impression was that Victoria was not looking forward to welcoming Sofia into the family in any way, shape or form. As for all of this… is Carl Philip really “so smart”? I have my doubts. But it doesn’t matter THAT much: Victoria is the crown princess and it’s not like Carl Philip or Sofia will ever get near the throne.
Photos courtesy of Getty, WENN.
He looks a little like Jamie Dornan in that last photo, but clearly he’s not too bright.
Dornan + Matt Bomer, and very handsome.
I find it a little weird because she’s thirty…….in 2004 she was 20, and that was when she was doing the nude/p0rn modeling, and was on the reality show (in 2005). And she was doing this while at college in Stockholm. And then in 2005/2006 she moved to NY and opened a yoga studio (and bragged about making out with Jenna Jameson). Other than that, she wasn’t really in the news until 2010 when it was announced that she was Carl Phillip’s new girlfriend.
I could see side eyeing it if she kept up with the nude modeling and was an all around party girl up until NOW (and not doing anything constructive like college or volunteer work or something)……but it just seems kind of “meh” to pearl clutch about it. Especially since it seems as though she’s grown up. If she turns into a lazy Duchess *cough* after her wedding, then we can throw stones.
i agree.
she might have been Courtney Stodden at 20, but she hasn’t been that person for 5yrs. At what point do we accept that a person has changed. If we can’t accept that a person can and has changed, then we should apply that formula to everyone including someone like Angelina Jolie who had a wild youth.
As for the whitewashing, that happens for every new royal inlaw at the engagement. everyone. Sofia isn’t the first new royal inlaw nor will she be the last. It’s the privilege of marrying royalty that you receive a white wash reset on your life and reputation at your engagement.
If, like Kate Middleton, you throw away the whitewash reset, THEN people bring up your past because it’s a good predictor for your ongoing behaviour.
@ LAK
Could you explain what you mean when you write that Kate Middleton threw away the whitwash reset? Thanks 🙂
She would be dumb to continue her previous lifestyle though. She wanted to make it and she did when she “scored” a prince. Of course she’s not presenting herself like she did before to get famous. She adapts to the situation in my opinion, which doesn’t make her any better. But her game is pretty obvious, so it’s his choice to be with someone who clearly just wants to be with him because he’s a prince.
I agree with this. Judging from some of the comments on Carl in the last thread, they seem like a good match.
I have no dog in this fight–the info I got from above was from a 2 second google search. But I don’t see how we can judge someone who did some stuff as a hot, broke? 20 year old (that didn’t hurt anyone, wasn’t illegal, etc), now that she’s thirty years old. Maybe she is a little thirsty, I don’t know–but she seems to have grown up, and got to work. I read down below that she got involved with a charity after she met Carl Phillip–well, as long as she’s been consistent and dedicated to that charity does it really matter how she got into it? I mean, if you looked at my life, you’d think I spent all my time on myself–but I do “charity work” outside the context of an organization.
And Sofia is dumb as hell if she thinks she’s going to get to be a princess and roll around in jewelry all day. It’s an actual job. Hopefully one that she’s prepared for.
Not that sure about that. I agree that people make “mistakes” and can change – but I assume the charity thing was orchestrated by the palace to make her look better. What’s her job right now anyway?
Well – in the last few years Sophia didn’t exactly “improve”. No stable job. No further education. Okay she got some courses at some uni but those were largely an assembley of courses from such a wide range … and it didn’t really lead to any kind of BA or MA degree. No real charity work except that what the Swedish Royal Family organised for her to beautify her as a bride. Nothing known if she has any serious artsy interests.
This is just not very much for somebody who will get to a very high social place “by virtue of marriage”.
I kind of think that Sophia gives Carl Philip the feeling he were smart. Allegedly he isn’t. Carl Philip hasn’t any academic degree – at least there isn’t one given in his wikipedia profile. So he did probably not finish the full schedule for some BA or MA degree.
See, there isn’t that much whitewashing though. Yes the court has played up her achievements but she doesn’t pretend like her past never happened. In a documentary about the SRF that aired at the end of last year, she stated that “Im not proud of my past, but I don’t regret it” and went on to say that she was young (barely 20 mind you) and made bad decisions. I think it speaks volumes that she has made an effort to try to make people ilk her instead of pulling a Will and Kate and basically saying they deserve respect and people need to respect their royal authority, never question them, etc.
Yep. She is honest.
Just there wasn’t much else besides honesty so far. Everything else is more pr activity than serious interest.
The comparison to Courtney Stodden is spot-on. The Palace has been trying to whitewash Sofia’s past from the start, including a charity interest she very conveniently found after meeting the prince, a resumé listing university studies when she didn’t even go to high school and so on. Posing for p0rn magazines over several years isn’t at all being a free spirit and just the thought of this woman, who’s been using her body to get what she wants, representing my country makes me sick. Also Victoria didn’t organize the bachelorette party, she stopped by and made sure to be photographed, probably urged by Queen Silvia to try and put the neverending rumors of her and her sister not accepting Sofia to rest.
I don’t think there has been any whitewashing of her past at all- most Swedes can google and know all about her background but don’t particularly care one way or another about her background. Given that Prince Carl Philip is no longer the Crown Prince it is not as though she will play a major royal role – also important to remember the type of skeletons that the King and Queen have in their closets – Sofia will fit right in.
If anything it is Princess Madeleine’s husband – Chris O’Neill who is more disliked by the Swedes for fiddling his taxes, refusing to take Swedish citizenship and in a major breach of protocoll he started investment companies using hiswife’s royal title.
Sofia seems to have made the right moves and has completed the compulsory “Prince/Princess school” (like Prince Daniel was required to do) with lessons in political science, Swedish history, knowledge of ceremonial duties and traditions of the royal family. She has also studied languages and got a royal stylist (I hear the tattoos and piercings are gone)
Do tell! What are the skeletons in the King/Queen’s closet? Swedes in general are much more liberal than Americans or Brits, so I don’t think it’s that big of a deal to most people in Sweden. They’d probably be more upset by her lack of education than her past ways of making a living.
And I think the comparison to Courtney Stodden is very unfair. If she had bleached out white, long extensions, and fake breasts as big as beach balls then maybe. Or if Prince Carl was in his 40’s-50’s and she was 16.
@ava7…… Queen Sylvia’s father is said to have been a Nazi , various back and forth stories there, google ‘Queen Sylvia’s Nazi Father/Connections’ for a run down. The King is said to have had a long string of prostitutes/porn stars in his life, supposedly past but stories and photographs keep turning up, perhaps one reason he hasn’t batted an eye lid about Sofia’s past while he put Victoria’s hardworking average Joe husband Daniel through the wringer for 10years before he consented to their marriage.
Five bucks say she wouldn’t think he was so smart if he wasn’t a royal prince with all the money and perks. Although I suppose that’s true for any monarch out there………..
if you are not smart yourself lots of other people will seem smart to you. she probably is telling the truth from her point of view.
the swedish royals aren´t the smartest… and i mean not stupid, i mean they are more unacademic. The thing is, the King and his kids suffer from dislexia. That is nowadays no problem if you get the right help! Dyslexia doesn´t mean you´re not intelligent. Sadly when the King was young there was no such thing as a dyslexia-therapy. So he felt like a loser and had a hard time learning something and is now known for not being that smart. Till this day the King just fakes reading his speeches. He has to learn every speech by heart.
His kids do the same. Victoria and Carl Philip are very open about their struggles
Victoria and Madeleine both have degrees, though. CP doesn’t, as far as I know.
Victoria is no dummy – she studied political science at Yale and has a bachelor degree in International relations and conflict studies from Uppsala University
Carl Philip has an associates degree in agriculture, forestry and estate management.
He has also studied design for 2 years and launched his own design range- but given the big plagiarism controversy perhaps best not to mention these studies.
In Germany there was a former minister of defense: ba_ron zu gut_ten_berg. Allegedly he had written his Phd thesis with summa cum laude (very very good). then some smart people found out that 40-60% of his thesis were plagiarised. Even the orthografic mistakes were plagiarised. When the news came out he denied everything. Stupid move because people started speculating if perhaps he hadn’t written his phd thesis himself but a ghos_twriter. He had to leave politics.
Oh, and his family (former aristocrats) is rich and he gave a higher six-figured sum to the university of his university professor who accepted his phd.
Yep yep that is how the rich and famous get their academic merits. Just mentioning …
Question now – that is interesting as Sweden had a very similar scandal when Employment Minister Sven-Otto Littorin was revealed to have bought his MBA online from an unaccredited US degree mill. He actually survived that scandal but was forced to resign later after an incident with a prostitute – Swedish law prosecutes the buyers rather than the sellers.
Austria had its own similar scandal a couple of years ago – the head of a department of the Conservative Party, a Mr Hahn, plagiarized his dissertation as well. He was shipped off to a nice, well-paid job in Brussels, for the European Union, though… Unfortunately, in this country, you really would have to murder someone and get caught on tape to be kicked out of politics.
I don’t agree with you calling her thirsty. Of course, her past makes her appear so – but for the time she has been in the royal spotlight, her behaviour has been immaculate. Blame it on the white wahing or not, but she will make a fine princess. She will do her royal work, probably something with kids, have a few cute prince(sse)s of her own and that’s it.
They seem geuinely in love and I wish them nothing but the best.
Thank you soupsnake and I agree with you! Why everyone is so judgey-judgey I have no idea.
Her teeth – ugh….. She must have a great personality.
I don’t think there is anything wrong with them. Generally it is only in North America where people get braces for things like gap tooth or snaggle tooth.
To each their own.
Exactly. Everybody except North Americans is more relaxed about “imperfect” teeth. Everybody except North Americans thinks that those “too-perfect teeth” in the mouthes of North Americans make their smiles look fake.
If you can’t even stand up for your own teeth …
ita rhona, all this effort to whitewash her and no effort to fix her wonky teeth
Her teeth are god awful. She looks so white trashy. Compared to her, Carl Phillip must be a Nobel winner.
There is nothing wrong with her teeth. What is it with Americans and teeth?
Some kind of national teeth trauma?
We’re pretty obsessed with teeth in the US. Objectively, there is nothing wrong with the gap in Sofia’s teeth — but knowing that, I still have an immediate American reaction of “Why didn’t she get that fixed?!”
Part of it is a socio-economic thing — free dental care is not available in the US — unless it’s charitable. Even many full-time jobs do not offer part or full dental insurance. So bad teeth, or even just crooked teeth, are a sign that you either don’t have a good job or are too poor to get your teeth fixed.
@ Sila
North Americans can’t even stand up for their own teeth. 😉
it’s not just a gap, they sort of point inward and arent even. they look like the teeth of my cousin who is on meth.
I highly doubt Victoria organized her bachelorette party. Vik seemed to make about a 10-minute appearance and that was it – Sofia and her other guests were all sitting in a hottub, but Vik came fully dressed, kept on her coat on, and then chatted for what seemed like a few minutes and left. It seems quite clear that she doesn’t like her (or isn’t happy about the marriage or whatever) because she never released a statement congratulating the couple and has had some awesome WTF faces toward Sofia on public outings.
Plus her refusal to comment on her brothers wedding when she was in South Korea. Not even a “I’m happy he’s happy” but a strait out refusal to discuss it. I think showing her face at the bachelorette party was to way to keep up apperances after that. She came, and left once her pic was taken.
I think Victoria is also a bit bitter that she had to wait for years and years until she got the permission to marry Daniel, whereas CP is able to marry this gold-diggerish lady just like that. Of course their positions matter: if Carl Philip was the crown prince, I doubt Sofia would have been accepted this quickly, if at all…
Bingo!
Yes pretty tough on Victoria that she had to wait 8 years to marry Daniel
I love this. The concept of a monarchy in the modern age is absolutely preposterous. Sofia, shake things up.
Any political figure (royals included) should be vetted. She’s not someone I’d want representing me or my country and as a HRH and Princess that is what she’ll be doing as a lifelong career paid by tax payers. Its not just the nude modeling, sugar daddy chasing in nyc, regular on club websites in Sweden, reality tv, but its her turn-her-image-around (appropriated once meeting CP) charity where proceeds originally went into her bank account… and don’t forget her wonderful quotes on rape and condoms that her charity work is supposed to help with. She’s not a Cinderella story. She wanted fame and got it…and now will be bowed to by nobel prize winners.
The big thing people were mad about was that she did Big Brother or something and got her butt rubbed down on TV. The clip keeps getting pulled up, that’s why.
Look, Carl is not known for his brains.
I just love reading about them!!! I wish them well and hope they don’t turn into bores like Waity and Willy.
I personally don’t really think a monarchy is good for much besides tourism. However, it really speaks to it being obsolete if they’re going to keep marrying “common” folk. If anybody can be a princess, it’s not special any more.
I don’t know much about european royals in general. But from the little I do know – I prefer the Swedish over the British any time! The Swedish are not that stuck up their asses as the Brits imo. Although I kind of like Queen Elizabeth, I still think the British Royal Family is boring, old-fashioned and far too much caught up in traditional behaviour.
As for the Swedish – yeah for them marrying common people, who are not from noble descent. Makes them more like real people and much more likeable.
Them marrying common people makes totally sense, considering the fact that the founding father of this dynasty, Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte, was NOT from noble descent himself. He was a common french man and a fascinating one as well. 🙂
imagine your tax money going to some girl from flava of love or something
it´s hardly whitewashing, i mean she did everything so public and never tried to hide it. People can still watch her Big Brother-apperances, you can google her snake-pictures and she even had her own blog about partying in NewYork when she was 20 something. Girl was always honest about her lifestyle.
The thing is she changed her life completely years ago. She started her own childrens charity (more than the waity did) and became more serious (yes, she still looks too fake with her blue-black hair and make-up, but ok). Of course she did it for her Prince-boyfriend. No one is denying this. But fact is both are scandalfree and happy together for years now.
And i don´t think she will play a big role anyway. I bet they won´t be that involved in the royal work. Even Madeline and husband come only for big celebratons and the rest of time she works for her charity and he has his own job. Carl Philip isn´t a big charity worker, he loves his race cars and photography, so it´s likely he and wife will just do a few charity apperances. The Crown Princess-couple shoulders the rest as they do now.
Sofia did not start the charity. It was created and functioning before she joined it ( public records proof this). Somehow the founder of the charity was convinced to rewrite its history to provide some cover for Sofia. Since so many thing sare public in Sweden (e.g. salary, taxes) it’s also well known that she has not supported herself but has been living off Carl-Phillip, i.e the Swedish public for the entire time they’ve been together.
He’s attractive, she needs to smile with her lips closed.
This is a total trainwreck and I love it. Those teeth…ugh.
I could care less about these two, but it is interesting and sad that Victoria and Daniel went through so much and wasted so many years trying to get Carl-Gustaf’s approval. and Sophia, with her shady past and whitewashed present, is welcomed with open arms. All I have to say is thank goodness the laws of succession were changed and Victoria is rightfully the Crown Princess/heir to the throne. Lord knows what that dimwit CP would do in her position.
@TheOriginalMia. yeah, it was ashame Victoria and Daniel had to go through all of that b.s. but perhaps that helped pave the way for The King and Queen to rethink the way they do things which now allows Madeleine CP to marry who THEY want.
I think that it was more of an issue with Victoria as she is now first in line so the spouse will have an important role. Obviously Carl Philip is not the Crown Prince any more so it is less of an issue
When people make up their mind to dislike a person, they will cling on to anything to justify it. That’s just how some people are, look at the hate for Kate Middleton/DoC.
Not every new Royal Bride or Royal Groom will be the likes of Queen Maxima, Queen Letizia or Prince Daniel who had interesting jobs and full lives before marrying into royalty. It would be nice though.
Having said this though, it is still funny to read the complete meltdowns some royalist are having on this union. And Sofia keeps giving them lots to work with like that pictures of her in her red dress showing her engagement ring off to the press with a gold digger smile.
I can’t hardly wait for this wedding. The comments on certain royal boards will be epic.
“The comments on certain royal boards will be epic.”
You’ve got that right!
There are questions about Project Playground, namely, donations to that cause went into Sofia’s bank account. That’s not good.
.
Since he’s not the heir, I’m not going to judge her until I see how she performs as a princess. She could be the biggest skank in the world-but if she puts that behind her and works diligently for the crown–then thats good enough for me.
What’s with all the teeth comments? It’s a gap between her front two teeth, it’s not like her teeth are falling out.
*and I’m an American
I think the gap makes her look interesting. I’d rather see that than a perfectly veneered waity makeover.
About Victoria´s and Madeleine´s so called studies. Victoria has not got a real degree, she has been “attending courses”. And Madde´s degree, well who knows, the media reported that several parts of her education was customized (special groups with hand-picked fellow students). Just like her “hard work” is today. But please, this is 2015, you can´t fool the dumb people anymore.
I agree with you. All 3 are quite dumb, and listening to interviews (most of them scripted!) is really embarrassing because of how superficial and clueless they are. The university studies were obviously tailored, but at least Vic and Madde attended, unlike their soon-to-be sister-in-law…. Then again what can you expect from the daughters of a queen who replied like this some 15 yrs ago when asked what she thought about feminism: “I think it’s important to be feminine”. I rest my case… 😉
Thank you Kaiser for telling the truth about Sofia!
I’m Swedish, and I’m appalled that this woman is marrying our prince. I used to be a royalist but CP’s choice of wife has cured me of that. Sofia hasn’t done one day of honest work in her life and just wants a free ride at the royal family’s expense. Also really funny how she calls CP “smart” in the headline, he’s known for his lack of brains… But I guess to her even his very limited intelligence is awe-inspiring. Didn’t watch Madeleine’s wedding because I can’t stand her Wall Street wanker and staying away from the coverage of CP’s wedding as well.
Why is this marriage a bad idea? That a look at this:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2187702/Swedens-rebel-prince-happy-slapped-glamour-model-girlfriend-night-Cannes.html
This is THREE YEARS ago. Carl Philip claimed to be the victim, but no criminal charges were filed or no civil lawsuit was brought by the palace. To the Swedes that are upset about this wedding: be thankful that the law changed that allows Victoria to be the next monarch.