Name Birgitta Ingeborg | ||
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Issue Prince Carl ChristianPrincess DesireePrince Hubertus Father Prince Gustaf Adolf, Duke of Vasterbotten Siblings Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden Children Princess Desiree of Hohenzollern, Prince Carl Christian of Hohenzollern, Prince Hubertus of Hohenzollern Parents Prince Gustaf Adolf, Duke of Vasterbotten, Princess Sibylla of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha Similar People Princess Desiree - Baroness, Princess Margaretha - Mrs Ambl, Prince Johann Georg of, Princess Sibylla of Saxe‑Co, Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden | ||
Golfturnier und Interview mit Prinzessin Birgitta von Schweden
Princess Birgitta of Sweden, Princess of Hohenzollern (Birgitta Ingeborg Alice; born 19 January 1937) is an elder sister of King Carl XVI Gustaf.
Contents
- Golfturnier und Interview mit Prinzessin Birgitta von Schweden
- Family
- Marriage
- Public life
- Title
- National honours
- Foreign honours
- References
Family
Born at Haga Palace in Stockholm, she is the second child of Prince Gustaf Adolf, Duke of Västerbotten and Princess Sibylla of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and a granddaughter of King Gustaf VI Adolf. Her sisters are Princess Margaretha, Mrs. Ambler, Princess Désirée, Baroness Silfverschiöld, and Princess Christina, Mrs. Magnuson. She is a first cousin of Queen Margrethe II of Denmark
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, to which the Princes of Hohenzollern and their wives were historically entitled.
Marriage
On a visit in 1959 to friends and relatives in Germany, Birgitta met her future husband at a cocktail party.
On 15 December 1960, her engagement to Prince Johann Georg Carl Leopold Eitel-Friedrich Meinrad Maria Hubertus Michael of Hohenzollern (b. 1932; d. 2016), was announced.
The civil ceremony took place at the Royal Palace of Stockholm on 25 May 1961, and the religious in the Sankt Johann Church at the bridegroom's Family Palace of Sigmaringen on 30 May/ 31 July 1961. The bridesmaids were the bride’s sister Princess Christina and cousin Princess Benedikte of Denmark; the groomsmen were the bride's brother Crown Prince Carl Gustaf and her cousin Count Michael Bernadotte of Wisborg (son of Sigvard Bernadotte).
Birgitta applied to convert to Roman Catholicism when she married the Hohenzollern prince, but her application was rejected in wording which questioned her spritual 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 female primogeniture was established in Sweden in 1979 and 1980, and then only included her brother's descendants.
Prince Johann Georg and Princess Birgitta separated in 1990, although they remained legally married. She lives on the island of Majorca in Spain, while her husband lived in Munich.
Public life
In November 1960 Birgitta visited the United States accompanied by her younger sister Princess Désirée on behalf of their grandfather King Gustaf VI Adolf for the 50th anniversary of The American-Scandinavian Foundation. In their honour a ball was organised for the two princesses at the Renaissance Blackstone Hotel in Chicago by Mayor Richard Daley.
Princess Birgitta has been involved with golf and charities outside of Sweden and is an honorary board member of the (British) Royal Swedish Golfing Society, a position she took over when her uncle Prince Bertil died. She has her own golf competition in Majorca, the Princess Birgitta Trophy, at her home golf course.