Onsdag 3/25/15
Today we dressed our best. We began with a tour of the Royal Palace. First we were let into a board room where a close colleague of the King gave us a lecture on the Royal Family and the palaces. His job has several facets including finances of the palaces, private finances of the royal family and managing of charity foundations. The palace in Stockholm, pictured below, is essentially the office of the King and Crown Princess. King Carl drives his ferrari or Lamborghini right into the central courtyard. At this palace he also receives ambassadors and other heads of state.
My freshman year of college the King and Queen actually visited Gustavus. I attended a seminar of the environment which his advisor spoke at and he sat in the audience. Unfortunately he is self conscious about his speech so he declined to actually talk during the seminar.
We also went into the large hall where business was traditionally done by the king when he held all the power. In this room is a silver crown that was made for Princess Christina, pictured above. A recreation was made for a hollywood movie about Christina. A director was looking for a thrown for a bad guy. The Swedish silver throne can be seen in the 1989 Batman movie with Jack Nicholson sitting on it as The Joker.
There are royal banquets held in the palace as well. Our former Gustavus president Jack Ohle attended one. The King and Queen are always served first and when they are done eating the food is taking away. So you better eat fast! The current king is aware of how silly this so he tries to eat slow. Several hundred years ago dinner guests would just stand and watch the king eat.
Then we went around the corner to The Swedish Academy. It was founded in 1786 by King Gustavus III. They are said to be the defenders of the Swedish language. There are 18 members that serve for a lifetime. They are chosen by the current members and must be Swedish citizens. Many members are professors or authors. Since 1901 the Swedish Academy has been charged with deciding the Nobel laureate for literature every year. The Chief of Staff, named Odd, explained to us the detailed process of selecting. We even got to sit in the chairs in the special session room where they make their decisions. We also sat in the room where the name of the the winner is announced to the whole world.
We finished the day with a visit to a donor. We met with his son and thanked his family for their contribution. They make the semester in Sweden affordable. The family has a variety of business dealings including water bubblers and metal springs!
Today we dressed our best. We began with a tour of the Royal Palace. First we were let into a board room where a close colleague of the King gave us a lecture on the Royal Family and the palaces. His job has several facets including finances of the palaces, private finances of the royal family and managing of charity foundations. The palace in Stockholm, pictured below, is essentially the office of the King and Crown Princess. King Carl drives his ferrari or Lamborghini right into the central courtyard. At this palace he also receives ambassadors and other heads of state.
My freshman year of college the King and Queen actually visited Gustavus. I attended a seminar of the environment which his advisor spoke at and he sat in the audience. Unfortunately he is self conscious about his speech so he declined to actually talk during the seminar.
The palace was originally built in the 13th century. It burned down on May 7, 1697 and what is seen now is the baroque style palace built on top of the ruins. It is called the Three Crowns Castle. The three crowns is a prominent symbol of Sweden and is also the symbol of Gustavus Adolphus College. No one really knows the origin of the symbol. One theory is that it stands for Sweden, Norway and Denmark when they were a union. Or the Swedish King that came from France brought it over. He is the heir of the current royal family, The Bernadottes.
The palace is in the shape of a Roman Villa. It is square with a square courtyard in the middle. It is built to be a city palace so it is pretty and approachable from all sides. The side in this picture has gardens and is the feminine side. The opposite side has statues of soldiers and is the masculine side.
Next we got a special tour of the rooms. We walked through the old king and queen chambers. Some fun facts…the royal bedroom was not actually slept in. It was too large and had a window so it was hard to heat. However, the king would invite special guests to have the honor of watching him dress in that room in the morning. The really special guests were allowed to help. There are several apartments in the palace. One royal family built a whole apartment for their 8 year old son. Guess it was time for him to move out on his own.
We also went into the large hall where business was traditionally done by the king when he held all the power. In this room is a silver crown that was made for Princess Christina, pictured above. A recreation was made for a hollywood movie about Christina. A director was looking for a thrown for a bad guy. The Swedish silver throne can be seen in the 1989 Batman movie with Jack Nicholson sitting on it as The Joker.
There are royal banquets held in the palace as well. Our former Gustavus president Jack Ohle attended one. The King and Queen are always served first and when they are done eating the food is taking away. So you better eat fast! The current king is aware of how silly this so he tries to eat slow. Several hundred years ago dinner guests would just stand and watch the king eat.
The current king is Carl pictured with his german wife on the left. The next in line is Princess Victoria. When she was a toddler the line of descent for the throne changed to include women. She then became the heir instead of her brother. Princess Victoria is married to a common Swede who was her personal trainer while she was in America recovering from a eating disorder. The family also has another daughter.
Then we went around the corner to The Swedish Academy. It was founded in 1786 by King Gustavus III. They are said to be the defenders of the Swedish language. There are 18 members that serve for a lifetime. They are chosen by the current members and must be Swedish citizens. Many members are professors or authors. Since 1901 the Swedish Academy has been charged with deciding the Nobel laureate for literature every year. The Chief of Staff, named Odd, explained to us the detailed process of selecting. We even got to sit in the chairs in the special session room where they make their decisions. We also sat in the room where the name of the the winner is announced to the whole world.
We finished the day with a visit to a donor. We met with his son and thanked his family for their contribution. They make the semester in Sweden affordable. The family has a variety of business dealings including water bubblers and metal springs!
Cool silver throne and crown. I wonder how much the throne weighs. I am glad you had a chance to thank the donor family. Hard to put a price on all the access you get to special people and places.
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