Swedish film has got an unusual connection with the Royal Family. It is not a coincident that in some of the oldest Swedish films, from the Stockholm Exhibition of 1897, the footage is dominated by Royalty.

Historically, it is of course interesting that the Royal family and its decreasing powers during the early half of 1900s, are in direct proportion to an increased royal exposure in the mass media of those days, especially on film.

A search for the word "King" in the database "Reel History", gives no less than 1.363 hits. More than a fourth of the entire film material has some kind of connection to the Royal family. The king "Gustaf V", only gives about 500 hits.

Often Gustaf V ceremonially arrives in some town, plays tennis or inaugurates some monument. Sometimes he takes part as a rather common figure. In the still to the left, taken from the short film, A Day with the King - a film that was shot for presentations abroad in 1940 - the king is seen having his breakfast. Kings and queens were eagerly registered by film cameras of those days, and films of the Royal family seem to have been especially carefully saved and preserved.