Haijby affair

The Haijby affair was a political affair in Sweden in the 1950s, involving the conviction and imprisonment of Kurt Haijby for blackmail of King Gustaf V.

Kurt Haijby (b. 1897 Stockholm as Kurt Johansson - d. 1965 Stockholm). His father was a wine-merchant and a fishmonger by appointment to the Royal Court. In 1912 he and another boy scout were granted an audience with King Gustaf V selling "majblomma" charity pins.

Johansson worked as a waiter, clerk, actor and illusionist. He was convicted to hard labour six times for several cases of theft and fraud between 1915 and 1925. While trying to escape prison in 1923 he shot dead a police officer. After being released he changed his name to Haijby and spent nomadic life in France and in USA.

In 1931 he opened a restaurant with his second wife Anna, a 10 years older widow. As he was a convicted criminal he could not get a licence to sell wine. He then applied to the King and was granted an audience in 1933 to put forward his case. King Gustav V, a 74-year-old widower, then allegedly seduced Haijby.

Haijby's wife, Anna Haijby, when learning about this in 1936, filed for divorce, citing her husband's sexual relationship with the King as cause for divorce. Fearing that this would become known, officials of the Royal Court convinced the couple to settle for an amicable no-fault divorce and separation by paying Anna Haijby 15,000 Swedish crowns (more than 400,000 in modern Swedish crowns). In reality the couple continued to live together till the death of Anna Haijby. According to a report the King said to his Court Superintendent: "There must not be a scandal, but do it with as little money as possible".

Haijby was encouraged by the Royal Court lawyer to emigrate to the United States and given 1,500 Swedish crowns, where he was to receive additional 3,000 Swedish crowns and start a new life. However, when he arrived in the USA, he claimed there was no money for him. He had to return to Sweden where he, unemployed and penniless, asked for support from the Royal Court.

During several years, money from the Court financed a number of failed enterprises that Haijby tried, for example a coffee store and a boarding-house at Tystorp Manor. There is no evidence of outright blackmail on Haijby's part, but the Court was obviously trying to buy his silence. In all, Haijby received 170,000 Swedish kronor (more than 4 million in modern Swedish crowns) from the Court and perhaps much more from the King's private funds.

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Wikipedia