Royal expert Julia Melchior: “Queen Silvia is spontaneous and quick-witted”

Royal expert Julia Melchior
“Queen Silvia is spontaneous and quick-witted”

Silvia Sommerlath (79), born in Heidelberg in 1943, met the then Crown Prince Carl Gustaf (77) at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich. In 1973 he became King of Sweden. They announced their engagement in March 1976 and their wedding was celebrated on June 19, 1976. In the TV portrait “Silvia. Sweden’s German Queen” (December 17th, 11:45 p.m. or already in the media library), the Swedish queen herself tells the funny story of how they met in an interview with royal expert Julia Melchior. In this film, which ZDF is showing on the occasion of the upcoming 80th birthday (December 23rd) of this very special queen, some myths are also dispelled. Today’s queen was not just a simple hostess… Documentary filmmaker and royal family expert Julia Melchior tells us in an interview with spot on news, among others, what the conversation was like in the Stockholm Palace.

In your new film you show a lot of fascinating archive footage. Did you browse for a long time or do you find pearls like these quickly?

Julia Melchior: There are really a few archive treasures that I also enjoy as a filmmaker. Family films from private collections and chance finds from Sweden and other European archives. We also specifically looked for some sequences after I had spoken to the queen. The conversation introduced me to new aspects, which we then researched in the archives. Since I’ve been making films about the Swedish royal family since 2006, we also have a huge pool of archive footage from Sweden, so we were able to illustrate almost every anecdote.

What was the biggest surprise for you?

Melchior: When everything fell into place. While researching the archives, I came across photographs of Queen Silvia and Anne-Aymone Giscard d’Estaing – France’s premier dame from 1974 to 1981. Finally I visited Madame Giscard d’Estaing [90] and she told me about a back talk, which Queen Silvia gave on the subject of child abuse at UNESCO in Paris in 1995. We found the material for this in an archive. And during my visit to Stockholm, the Queen reported on this speech in Paris, which gave her the starting signal to become active in child protection. And this is what has bonded Queen Silvia and Anne-Aymone Giscard d’Estaing, both pioneers in the fight against child abuse, for decades. The two women met regularly from 1976 until the 2000s.

The topic of charity is something one would expect from a queen. What is special about Queen Silvia?

Melchior: Your work is very professional and effective. I would almost like to call Queen Silvia an activist. She drew attention to topics such as child abuse and dementia that no one wanted to hear about in the 1990s, and in some cases she also ventured into political territory. She wanted to change something and pursued it very stubbornly. In addition to her speeches, she founded her own foundations, in which she is still very involved today. The Queen has a wealth of knowledge and is considered an international expert on the topics of child abuse and dementia. Queen Silvia breaks taboos, but in a very diplomatic way.

In addition to researching the archives, you also conducted an interview with Queen Silvia in the palace in Stockholm for the film. What was the atmosphere like?

Melchior: That was of course a special experience. But there was still a very homely and cozy atmosphere. We sat in front of the flickering fire in the official reception rooms. This was also the room in which Crown Princess Victoria announced her engagement.

And what was the queen like?

Melchior: What surprised me most was how funny, spontaneous and quick-witted the queen is. I didn’t expect that. In recent years I have mostly accompanied her to official appointments. The queen radiates a lot of warmth in direct conversation and makes you feel like you can talk about anything. And yet you don’t forget that the queen is sitting in front of you now. How she moves, how she looks and gestures. There is always a majestic aura surrounding her. You hear a bit that she has been living in Sweden for a long time. Conversely, you can also hear from her Swedish that she comes from Germany. She has a slight accent in both languages. She has a very soft voice, but speaks very impressively. It becomes immediately clear that she has something to say.

Silvia Sommerlath and Prince Carl Gustaf met at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich. Back then she wasn’t just a hostess, as it is sometimes said, but one of the head hostesses…

Melchior: I also think that the depiction always comes across as a bit misleading. It wasn’t a nice holiday job where the pretty Silvia Sommerlath led celebrities from A to B at the Olympic Games. Silvia started working for the National Olympic Committee in 1970. She was the personal assistant to the President of the NOK, Willi Daume [1913-1996]. And from that position, she was appointed one of the head hostesses, primarily tasked with planning and preparing staff in the run-up to the games and then with operational planning during the games.

Did Silvia’s work play a role in the wedding planning with Carl Gustaf?

Melchior: Apparently yes. It was important to the queen to finish her job. She had committed to helping plan and implement the 1976 Innsbruck Winter Games. She wanted it and Carl Gustaf accepted it. The engagement was only announced after the Winter Games. Of course, this also gave her time to take a closer look at what to expect in Sweden. But that also says something about her: she takes her job very seriously and she carries out what she sets out to do.

Before Silvia came, the court was very male-dominated. She has reinterpreted the role of the queen alongside the king. What were your first essential steps?

Melchior: Silvia’s first steps were her own office, a typewriter and new hires, especially young women. One of them was hired as an employee in the press office shortly after the wedding in 1976 and then had a stellar career at the court. First as press spokeswoman for the royal family, then as court marshal. There were no women in these positions before. But the Queen always had to act very carefully in all of this because she didn’t want to offend the long-serving members of the royal family. Everything developed very slowly.

Did Silvia face any headwinds in those early days or was she rather laughed at?

Melchior: She was indeed ridiculed because of the typewriter she requested for herself. The older gentlemen wondered why the Queen needed a typewriter. But she was just used to tackling things herself. The Queen still writes many emails herself, which King Charles, for example, does not do. Charles still prefers fountain pens and paper – which is very nice, but digital communication is faster and more professional at court. Queen Silvia has also brought her many years of professional experience to the royal family. She is always involved in the planning and organization of major events at court such as her children’s weddings or banquets and state visits. As a former event manager, if you want to call it that, she knows something about it and enjoys doing it.

A particularly touching scene in the film is the premiere of the ABBA song “Dancing Queen” at the opera. Silvia and Carl Gustaf could hardly contain their enthusiasm. Was the song really written for her?

Melchior: I had already worked with Anni-Frid for an earlier film [78] ABBA talked about it and she told me that her then fiancé Benny came home and played her the song. She had to cry because she found it so beautiful. When ABBA were invited to perform at the opera on the eve of the royal wedding, they chose to premiere this song. It wasn’t written for Silvia, as is actually often claimed, but they premiered it the night before the wedding in Silvia’s honor and dedicated it to her. “Dancing Queen” is one of the most successful hits of all time.

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