Royal Profile: The Swedish Royal Family
The House of Bernadotte
Monarch
King Carl XVI Gustaf
Heir Apparent
HRH Crown Princess Victoria followed by her daughter Princess Estelle
Members of the Royal House
HM The King, Queen Silvia, Crown Princess Victoria, Prince Daniel, Princess Estelle, Prince Carl Philip, Princess Madeleine, Princess Lilian (widow of the King’s uncle) and Princess Birgitta (the King’s sister).
Succession
Equal primogeniture (eldest child, regardless of gender) adopted in 1979. When adopted Prince Carl Philip, who was less than a year old, was the heir apparent. Upon adoption it was applied retroactively and Carl Philip’s older sister Princess Victoria became the Crown Princess. Sweden was the first country to adopt equal primogeniture.
Biography
Sweden became a hereditary monarchy 1523, when Gustaf I Eriksson Vasa freed Sweden from Danish rule. It hasn’t been an easy run however. In 1810, the heir to the throne died. The king at the time had wanted to elect the deceased’s brother, a Danish prince, to the throne but pro-France officers and civil servants had other plans. They came up with a solution to offer the role to one of Napoleon’s marshals – Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte. He was a commoner who had risen through the ranks and had been awarded the title of Prince of Pontecorvo by Napoleon. Bringing the plan to fruition, Bernadotte was adopted by the monarch Karl XIII and his wife and later was crowned Karl XIV Johan, King of Sweden and Norway.
The current monarch, King Carl XVI Gustaf is one of the youngest monarchs in Europe. His father died as heir apparent, dying in a tragic plane crash, never ascending to the throne. The King, therefore, became Crown Prince at the age of four. Once he ascended to the throne in 1973 he had already met the woman who would become Queen. At the Munich Olympics the previous year, the then crown prince was introduced to a young interpreter named Silvia Sommerlath. When they married in 1976 he became the first reigning monarch to marry in Sweden since 1797.
The King and Queen have three children, each are the subject of constant speculation from the press. Crown Princess Victoria, put up with years of speculation and rumor in her younger years before the palace confirmed that she indeed suffered from anorexia. She recovered after coming to the United States to avoid the press. In recent years her love life has been under constant scrutiny. She was dating a commoner, Daniel Westling whom the press and public deemed not ‘good enough’. Well, the tide has turned, and to much fanfare the Princess married Prince Daniel in 2010, and the country is thrilled that the couple had their first child in February 2012, Princess Estelle.
Interesting Facts
- The wildly popular Crown Princess’ birthday is a national holiday, Victoria Day.
- Had the King married Queen Silva during the reign of his grandfather he would have lost his position has heir to the throne. His grandfather was a firm believer that royalty married royalty.
- Though initially cool to her arrival, the public warmed to Queen Silvia very quickly. It was written by Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet with "With Silvia, the republic died.”
- Crown Princess Victoria has twelve godchildren, three of which are heirs to thrones in Europe.
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