The drama series Queen Silvia has given audiences their first look at its retelling of how Sweden’s King and Queen met. A sneak preview was shown this week at the Mipcom television market in Cannes, and the German company Beta Films released a first clip on Instagram. The full series will later be available on Prime Video.
The German actress Alicia von Rittberg plays the young Silvia Sommerlath in the drama, while Swedish actor Edvin Endre plays King Carl Gustaf. The released scene shows their first encounter in the VIP stand at the 1972 Munich Olympics, where Silvia was working as a hostess. She notices a handsome young man watching her through binoculars, and a short exchange between the two marks the start of the romance. The series is written by Miguel Alexandre, Lisa Hofer and Pauline Wolff.
Svensk Damtidning, however, questions whether the writers have built their story on a myth. The magazine’s editor-in-chief, Johan T. Lindwall, came across a different account while researching his bestselling biography Silvia: Drottningen som räddade monarkin, which translates as The Queen Who Saved the Monarchy. According to Lindwall, the late editor Sten Broman told several people that the couple had in fact met five months earlier, at a conference held before the Olympics.
In that version, the future King and Queen had dinner together at a Munich restaurant called Tiffanys. Lindwall says the claim has never been addressed in public, but that it could explain why the King was scanning the stands with binoculars: he may have been looking for a woman he had already met. He adds that several people have independently suggested the two knew each other before the Games. “The binoculars scene may be invented, embarrassingly enough,” he said.
The binoculars meeting is the version of events most Swedes know, and it sits at the heart of the opening scene released by the producers. Svensk Damtidning describes the drama as one of the most discussed television series of the year, and its account of the Queen’s early life, including her work as an Olympic hostess in Munich, is likely to be watched closely by royal followers, many of whom will now be checking the opening scene against Lindwall’s account. No date has yet been given for the premiere on Prime Video.
