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Swedes lose faith in the King: poll

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TT/The Local/pvs - [email protected]
Swedes lose faith in the King: poll

Over a third of Swedes have lost faith in King Carl XVI Gustaf, while 32 percent would like to see Crown Princess Victoria take over, a new poll published on Wednesday shows.

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The poll carried out by Novus Opinion on behalf of Sweden's TV4 news shows that 35 percent of Swedes have little or very little faith in the King, while only 30 percent support him and the rest remain ambivalent.

The monarchy retains the support of the majority of the population however, with 56 percent favouring its retention. Some 32 percent of those polled would like to see Crown Princess Victoria take over from her father.

The King has been swamped by scandal since the publication of an unathorized tell-all book, "Carl XVI Gustaf - den motvillige monarken" ("Carl XVI Gustaf - the reluctant monarch") last November.

The controversial book detailed the King's alleged visits to porn clubs, claims of an affair, as well as alleged connections to the criminal underworld.

While initial buzz from the book died down after a few weeks, reports surfaced in May that a close friend of the King had turned to a reputed gangster for help in burying incriminating pictures of the King and his friends.

Royal scandal once again swept across Sweden, with the King finally agreeing to a lengthy and highly-questioned interview with news agency TT in an attempt to clear his name.

The story re-surfaced recently when the King's close friend Anders Lettström confirmed that the King was aware his attempts to silence the scandals by arranging to pay off known gangster Mille Markovic.

The King publicly renounced Lettström's actions in an interview with news agency TT in May. When asked if the king had known about Anders Lettström's contacts with Stockholm's criminal underworld, the King responded with a definite no.

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