Princess Birgitta of Sweden
Princess Birgitta of Sweden (LoK KMO) (Birgitta Ingeborg Alice; born 19 January 1937) is a member of the Swedish royal family.
She is the second child of Prince Gustaf Adolf, Duke of Vasterbotten, and Princess Sibylla of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and an elder sister of King XVI Gustaf.
Family
Born at Haga Palace in Stockholm, she is the second child of Prince Gustaf Adolf, Duke of Vasterbotten, and Princess Sibylla of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and a granddaughter of King Gustaf VI Adolf. Her sisters are Princess Margaretha, Mrs. Ambler, Princess Desiree, Baroness Silfverschiold, and Princess Christina, Mrs. Magnuson. She is a first cousin of Queen Margrethe II of Denmark and Queen Anne-Marie of Greece.
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
In 1959, Birgitta met Prince Johann Georg of Hohenzollern 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 on 25 May 1961. The bride's grandfather, King Gustaf VI Adolf, hoped for a Lutheran ceremony, but Pope John XXIII forbade this. 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). That evening, the King held a ball at the Royal Palace. A Roman Catholic ceremony was held at Sankt Johann Church at the groom's family seat of Sigmaringen, Germany, on 30 May 1961. Birgitta applied to convert to Roman Catholicism when she married the Hohenzollern prince, but her application was rejected in wording which questioned her spiritual commitment to the change.
Prince Johann Georg and Princess Birgitta separated in 1990, although they remained married. She lives on the island of Mallorca in Spain, while her husband lived in Munich. He died in 2016.
Johann Georg and Birgitta's marriage produced three children:
-Prince Carl Christian of Hohenzollern (b. 5 April 1962 in Munich, Bavaria, Germany), married Nicole Helene Neschitsch (b. 22 January 1968, Munich) on 26 July 1999 in Kreuzpullach. They have one son>
-Princess Desiree of Hohenzollern (b. 27 November 1963, Munich). She married Heinrich Franz Josef Georg Maria, Hereditary Count of Ortenburg (b. 11 October 1956, Bamberg) on 21 September 1998 in Weitramsdorf. They had three children before divorcing in 2002. Then she married Eckbert von Bohlen und Halbach (b. 1956)
-Prince Hubertus of Hohenzollern (b. 10 June 1966 in Munich), married Uta Maria Konig (b. Trier 25 February 1964).
The Princess and her children were passed over for succession to the Swedish throne when subsequent absolute primogeniture was established in Sweden in 1979 and 1980, and then only included her brother's descendants and her uncle Prince Bertil.
Public Life
In November 1960, Birgitta visited the United States accompanied by her younger sister Princess Desiree on behalf of their grandfather King Gustaf VI Adolf for the 50th anniversary of The American-Scandinavian Foundation. In their honor a ball was organized for the two princesses at the Renaissance Blackstone Hotel in Chicago 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 Prince Bertil died. She had her own golf competition in Mojorca, the Princess Birgitta Trophy, at her home golf course.
On Christmas Day 2022, Sweden's national public service Sveriges Televison broadcast a recent hour-long documentary and interview and the princess where she detailed her often troubling life as a Swedish royal.
Titles, Styles, Honors
19 January 1937-25 May 1961: Her Royal Highness Princess Birgitta of Sweden
25 May 1961-present Her Royal Highness Princess Birgitta of Sweden and Hohenzollern
Honors
Sweden: Member of the Royal Order of the Seraphim (LoK KMO)
House Bernadotte (by birth) Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen (by marriage)
