Scandinavia: A Sovereign Plea for Seals

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Sweden's dapper King Carl XVI Gustaf has never had trouble ruling his own temper. But the characteristically circumspect monarch displayed a rare flash of royal wrath last week as he lashed out at Norway's Prime Minister for failing to stop the slaughter of baby seals in her country. Said the King: "If Gro Harlem Brundtland can't take care of the seal problem, how is she supposed to take care of the Norwegian people?"

King Carl Gustaf's outburst, which came during a state visit to New Zealand, was prompted by a hard-hitting documentary on Norwegian sealing that had aired the previous week on North European television. The footage showed hunters stabbing baby and adult seals with ice picks and in some instances dragging the animals, only half dead, back to Norwegian flaying vessels. The King's comments were strong stuff, considering Norway's sensitivity to criticism from Sweden, its onetime colonial master and its archrival. Said Swedish Foreign Minister Sten Andersson of the King, before rushing off to Norway on a fence- mending mission: "He must have been very angry."