Fake Swedish coin mocking king reappears, fooling media again

by frank

 

A fake coin mocking the Swedish king that made worldwide headlines when it circulated in the kingdom in 2012 was on Thursday thrown back into the spotlight after a photo of it was accidentally linked to a story about the Swedish Central Bank.

The counterfeit coin appeared four years ago, featuring the familiar profile of the Swedish royal pictured on the genuine one-krona (€0.10) coin. But instead of carrying the text: "Sweden’s King" it said: "King Carl XVI Gustaf – Our King the Whore", referring to a string of alleged sex scandals that had hit the royal household in previous years.
The coin was allegedly fabricated as an act of revenge by a Swede whose arrival at work was delayed by public celebrations for the monarch’s 65th birthday. A total of 14 counterfeit coins were created and were so well made that their existence was not discovered until they were already in circulation.
On Thursday, a picture of the funny coin reappeared once again when it was attached to an otherwise banal news wire on Swedish interest rates, fooling the media with its authentic appearance. The story along with the archive photograph were picked up by several websites around the world (including FRANCE 24) before the embarrassing mistake was discovered and corrected.
Swedish Twitter users quickly spotted the mistake, however, prompting much amusement on both social media and some of the Nordic country's news websites