SWEDEN HAS BEEN ROCKED by claims that its king, 64-year-old Carl Gustav, frequently visited Mafia-run nightclubs to partake in wild orgies when he was a younger man.

The claims are made in a new biography of the king, ‘The Reluctant Monatch’, of which advance copies were issued last week – containing claims deemed so explosive that discussion of them has dominated the national agenda ever since.

The unauthorised book alleges that some of those visits, made when he was a younger man though since he took the throne as a 27-year-old in September 1973, compromised his security coverage – and that other attendees at the events included underage girls invited by friends of the King.

The Daily Mail reports that Carl Gustav – who is a third cousin of the UK’s Queen Elizabeth – is also said to have required the secret service to cover his tracks by making sure embarrassing material pertaining to the King’s year-long affair with singer and model Camilla Henemark.

The King had opted to frequent Mafia-owned clubs because their ownership apparently minimised the chances of a police sting happening to find him while there,

While the Montreal Gazette reports that the king’s press secretary had said there were no plans to pursue legal action – against the book’s co-authors – effectively offering the royal stamp of legitimacy on its claims – Hello! Magazine quotes the King, effectively admitting to the deeds:

I have spoken with my family and the queen [Silvia, his wife of 30 years] and we choose to turn the page and move forward because, as I understand, these are things that happened a long time ago.

The allegations have been given exhaustive coverage in the local press; one columnist with national daily Aftonbladet, Katrine Kielos, wrote that “strip clubs, illegal clubs, rented ladies who are naked under their fur coats. Women were simply desserts, used as sweets to be served with the coffee.”

Political analyst Jenny Madestam, meanwhile, said that “the royal family has always been viewed as an august, fabulous family. But these allegations are so grave that our trust in them is seriously damaged… the King is not even denying it.”

The book’s entire initial print run of 20,000 was snapped up almost immediately when the book went on general sale on Monday.