Swedish royal couple under fire over honeymoon gifts

By Lennart Simonsson
dpa

STOCKHOLM – Sweden’s anti-corruption unit has received six complaints into wedding gifts received by Princess Victoria and her husband on their recent honeymoon, the unit told the German news agency dpa on Wednesday.

The princess, 33, and her husband, 36-year-old Daniel Westling, a former fitness instructor and entrepreneur, flew to French Polynesia on a private jet and then took a week-long cruise on a yacht after their June wedding.

Both the jet and the yacht are owned by Bertil Hult, founder of the EF language schools company.

The anti-corruption unit said several of the complaints had referred to reports in the tabloid newspaper Aftonbladet, which estimated that the cost of renting a private jet or yacht was several million kronor (hundreds of thousands of dollars).

The complainants had said that acceptance of such gifts was improper and could be regarded as a bribe.

The unit said no decision on a possible investigation into the complaints had yet been made.

“It was a private trip and a wedding gift from an old friend of the royal family,” the royal palace told dpa, declining further comment.

The newlyweds recently returned to Sweden but have no official engagements until Aug. 21, when the country celebrates the 200th anniversary of the election of French marshal Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte as heir to the Swedish throne.