The
current king and
head of state of
Sweden.
Born in 1946, he was the son of
prince Gustaf Adolf (who never became king
since he died in a
plane crash in
Copenhagen in 1947).
Carl Gustaf ascended the
throne in 1973, when his
grandfather Gustaf VI Adolf died. He took the name
Carl XVI Gustaf and the
motto "
För Sverige - i tiden", which
translates into "
For Sweden - with the times".
Carl XVI Gustaf married Silvia Sommerlath (from Heidelberg, Germany) in June 1976. During the years they had three children together; Crown Princess Victoria, born in July 1977; Prince Carl-Philip, born in May 1979; and Princess Madeleine, born in June 1982.
Carl XVI Gustaf suffers from dyslexia, which the consequences of amuses the Swedish people to no end. It is said (most certainly an urban legend, however) that when he was supposed to write his name with red paint on one of the cave walls of Falu copper mine (a long-standing tradition of Swedish kings) he accidentally wrote "Carl Gustf", which he therefore has been called informally by the people ever since.
The king is also often made fun of for his bad English; it is a fact that he once mispronounced the word "duke" and presented the Duke of Edinburgh (Prince Philip) as the "Joke of Edinburgh" during a public event.