"I Feel Fine"

In the past 50 years, five potential heirs have dropped out of the succession for the crown of Sweden (usually by marrying commoners). The Kingdom of the Goths and the Wends has scarcely felt their defection. For 41 years the same comfortable King* has sat on Sweden's throne, the same scholarly Crown Prince stood patiently by. Last week, as half a million Swedes lined the streets of Stockholm to cheer King Gustaf V's 90th birthday, it seemed as if this state of affairs might go on indefinitely. Even the horses that pulled the royal coach had an air of permanence--17-year-old Ajax and Meteor had performed the same job on the King's 80th birthday.

As for Gustaf himself, Europe's most indestructible monarch began the day with his usual breakfast: the yolks of a couple of two-and-a-half-minute eggs, one Dutch biscuit and a glass of tea. Then he put in 15 hours of celebration and ceremony. "My legs are just a bit weak," he admitted after a lurching false step in the throne room, "but otherwise I feel fine." Late that night, when he strode out on to the palace balcony to greet his people for the fourth time, his daughter-in-law the Crown Princess Louise gaped in wonder. "How can he take it?" she asked. "He's fantastic."

Gustaf did not think himself fantastic; he was merely methodical. For one thing, he had always kept up his life-insurance policy. On his birthday last week the policy matured, and the King happily split the proceeds (about $250,000) among his great-grandnieces.

*For news of an envious, less comfortable monarch, see Persia.

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