Every girl dreams of being a princess. Fluffy dresses, handsome admirers, rose-petalled bathtubs…the whole pretty package.
We never imagine that real life princesses might have real life problems to deal with along with the privileges.
Swedish Crown Princess Victoria was born into everything that wealth and status could buy, but she suffered endlessly in school because of her dyslexia. She remembers her classmates frequently poking fun at her inability to read aloud. Soon she started to believe what they were saying: that she was stupid.
Dyslexia runs in the royal family, so even though she had lots of support at home, the school environment remained an area of difficulty where she was bullied.
“I used to think I was stupid and slow. When one has reading and writing difficulties, it can be tough sometimes. It sounds like a simple problem but it isn’t, I know.”
She eventually overcame her problem by working hard outside of school with a private tutor hired by the royal family.
Princess Victoria has spent time in her adult years supporting charities through the Crown Princess Victoria Fund. Much of the resources have been devoted to support children who have functional disabilities or chronic illnesses. Children or their parents can apply for funding for activities like horse-back riding or other expensive therapies.
Sarah Forrest is an Easyread Coach at the Easyread System, an online phonics course to help children with dyslexia, auditory processing disorder and highly visual learning styles to overcome their reading problems. You can find out more at www.easyreadsystem.com or www.facebook.com/easyreadsystem.