STOCKHOLM - Sweden's King Carl Gustaf's plans to heat the water at his royal palace with solar panels have been dashed by bureaucrats, who have blocked the initiative for aesthetic reasons, the daily Expressen said yesterday.
The king, who received the panels as a 50th birthday present last summer from employees at various state authorities, is an avid nature lover and environmentalist. But the Swedish Board of National Antiquities, which is responsible for all historic monuments, will not allow the panels to be installed at the palace, located in the centre of the capital, because they are unsightly.