Princess Birgitta of Sweden (Birgitta Ingeborg Alice; born 19 January 1937) is an elder sister of

King Carl XVI Gustaf Carl XVI Gustaf (Carl Gustaf Folke Hubertus; born 30 April 1946) is King of Sweden. He ascended the throne on the death of his grandfather, Gustaf VI Adolf, on 15 September 1973. He is the youngest child and only son of Prince Gustaf Adolf, D ...

Family

Born at Haga Palace in

Stockholm Stockholm () is the capital and largest city of Sweden as well as the largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people live in the municipality, with 1.6 million in the urban area, and 2.4 million in the metropo ...

, she is the second child of

Prince Gustaf Adolf, Duke of Västerbotten Prince Gustaf Adolf, Duke of Västerbotten (Gustaf Adolf Oscar Fredrik Arthur Edmund; 22 April 1906 – 26 January 1947) was a Swedish prince, who for most of his life was second in the line of succession to the Swedish throne. He was the eldest ...

, and

Princess Sibylla of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha Princess Sibylla of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (Sibylla Calma Marie Alice Bathildis Feodora; 18 January 1908 – 28 November 1972) was a member of the Swedish royal family and the mother of the current king of Sweden, Carl XVI Gustaf. Born into the Ho ...

, and a granddaughter of

King Gustaf VI Adolf Gustaf VI Adolf (Oscar Fredrik Wilhelm Olaf Gustaf Adolf; 11 November 1882 – 15 September 1973) was King of Sweden from 29 October 1950 until his death in 1973. He was the eldest son of Gustaf V and his wife, Victoria of Baden. Before Gustaf Ado ...

. Her sisters are

Princess Margaretha, Mrs. Ambler Princess Margaretha, Mrs. Ambler (Margaretha Désirée Victoria; born 31 October 1934), is a Swedish princess, the eldest sister of King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden and also a first cousin of Queen Margrethe II of Denmark. Early life Margaretha wa ...

, Princess Désirée, Baroness Silfverschiöld, and

Princess Christina, Mrs. Magnuson Princess Christina, Mrs. Magnuson, (''Christina Louise Helena'', born 3 August 1943) is the youngest of the four older sisters of King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden. She generally uses the name Christina Magnuson. Early life Christina was born at ...

. She is a first cousin of Queen Margrethe II of Denmark and

Queen Anne-Marie of Greece Anne-Marie, ( el, Άννα-Μαρία ; born 30 August 1946) is a Greek and Danish royal who was the last Queen of Greece from 1964 to 1973 as the wife of King Constantine II. The Greek monarchy was abolished with the 1974 Greek Republic Re ...

. Among her sisters she alone married a man of princely status, and, in keeping with the tradition that princesses who marry princes retain their royal status, Princess Birgitta retained her Swedish style of ''Royal Highness'', a higher treatment than that of ''

Serene Highness His/Her Serene Highness (abbreviation: HSH, second person address: Your Serene Highness) is a style used today by the reigning families of Liechtenstein, Monaco and Thailand. Over the past 400 years, it has also used as a style for senior members ...

'', to which the Princes of Hohenzollern and their wives were historically entitled.

Marriage

Wedding of Princess Birgitta and Johan Georg von Hohenzollern 1961 003

In 1959, Birgitta met

Prince Johann Georg of Hohenzollern , image = Wedding of Princess Birgitta and Johan Georg von Hohenzollern 1961 004.jpg , caption = Princess Birgitta and the bridegroom, Johan Georg von Hohenzollern, after their wedding ceremony , spouse = , issue = Prince Carl ChristianPrinc ...

at a cocktail party in Germany. On 15 December 1960, their engagement was announced. The couple were married in a civil ceremony in the Hall of State of the

Royal Palace of Stockholm Stockholm Palace or the Royal Palace ( sv, Stockholms slott or ) is the official residence and major royal palace of the Swedish monarch (King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia use Drottningholm Palace as their usual residence). Stockholm Pala ...

on 25 May 1961. The bride's grandfather, King Gustaf VI Adolf, hoped for a

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched ...

ceremony, but

Pope John XXIII Pope John XXIII ( la, Ioannes XXIII; it, Giovanni XXIII; born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, ; 25 November 18813 June 1963) was head of the Roman Catholic Church, Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City, Vatican City State from 28 Oc ...

forbade this. The bridesmaids were the bride’s sister Princess Christina and cousin

Princess Benedikte of Denmark Princess Benedikte of Denmark, Princess of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg (Benedikte Astrid Ingeborg Ingrid, born 29 April 1944) is a member of the Danish royal family. She is the second daughter and child of King Frederick IX and Queen Ingrid of ...

; the groomsmen were the bride's brother Crown Prince Carl Gustaf and her cousin Count Michael Bernadotte of Wisborg (son of Sigvard Bernadotte). That evening, the King held a ball at the Royal Palace. A

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

ceremony was held at Sankt Johann Church at the groom's family seat of

Sigmaringen Sigmaringen ( Swabian: ''Semmerenga'') is a town in southern Germany, in the state of Baden-Württemberg. Situated on the upper Danube, it is the capital of the Sigmaringen district. Sigmaringen is renowned for its castle, Schloss Sigmaring ...

, Germany, on 30 May 1961. Birgitta applied to convert to

Roman Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

when she married the Hohenzollern prince, but her application was rejected in wording which questioned her spiritual commitment to the change. Of her marriage, she had three children: Carl (b. 1962), Désirée (b. 1963), and Hubertus (b. 1966). She and her children were passed over for succession to the Swedish throne when subsequent

absolute primogeniture Primogeniture ( ) is the right, by law or custom, of the firstborn legitimate child to inherit the parent's entire or main estate in preference to shared inheritance among all or some children, any illegitimate child or any collateral relativ ...

was established in Sweden in 1979 and 1980, and then only included her brother's descendants and her uncle

Prince Bertil Prince Bertil, Duke of Halland (Bertil Gustaf Oskar Carl Eugén; 28 February 1912 – 5 January 1997), was a member of the Swedish royal family. He was the third son of King Gustaf VI Adolf and his first wife, Princess Margaret of Connaught, ...

. Prince Johann Georg and Princess Birgitta separated in 1990, although they remained legally married. She lived on the island of

Majorca Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest island in the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain and located in the Mediterranean. The capital of the island, Palma, is also the capital of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands. The Bale ...

in Spain, while her husband lived in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and ...

. He died in 2016.

Public life

In November 1960, Birgitta visited the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

accompanied by her younger sister Princess Désirée on behalf of their grandfather

for the 50th anniversary of

The American-Scandinavian Foundation The American-Scandinavian Foundation (ASF) is an American non-profit foundation dedicated to promoting international understanding through educational and cultural exchange between the United States and Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Swede ...

. In their honour a ball was organised for the two princesses at the

Renaissance Blackstone Hotel The Blackstone Hotel is a historic 21-story hotel on the corner of Michigan Avenue and Balbo Drive in the Michigan Boulevard Historic District in the Loop community area of Chicago, Illinois. Built between 1908 and 1910, it is on the Natio ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

by Mayor Richard Daley. Princess Birgitta was involved with golf and charities outside of Sweden and was an honorary board member of the (British) Royal Swedish Golfing Society, a position she took over when her uncle

died. She had her own golf competition in

, the Princess Birgitta Trophy, at her home golf course.

Arms

File: Armes des Princesses Brigitte, Margaretha et Désirée de Suède.svg, Arms of Princess Birgitta of Sweden (1937–1961) File:Armoiries de la Princesse Brigitte de Suede.svg, Arms of Princess Birgitta of Sweden and Hohenzollern (1961–present)

Ancestry

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Birgitta of Sweden, Princess 1937 births Living people People from Solna Municipality Swedish princesses House of Bernadotte Swedish Lutherans Swedish people of German descent Grand Crosses 1st class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Exercise instructors