The Swedish-British Royal connection

Like most European royal houses, Sweden has links to the British royal family. In this case through three of Queen Victoria's children. They are related by blood through Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught, and Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany and Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. The third connection is via marriage through Princess Alice, second daughter of Queen Victoria. The present King Carl XVI Gustaf is the son of two of her great-grandchildren. His daughter, Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden is, twice-over, a great-great-great grandchild of Queen Victoria.

The current King's paternal grandmother was Princess Margaret of Connaught, the daughter of Arthur, Duke of Connaught, third son of Queen Victoria. She was born in 1882 and known to her family as 'Daisy'. She married Prince Gustaf Adolf, the future King Gustaf VI Adolf, in 1905 and they had five children, the eldest, Prince Gustaf Adolf, father of the present King, was born in 1906. Daisy did not live to become Queen of Sweden, having died suddenly in 1920. She is also, incidently, through her daughter Ingrid, the grandmother of the current Queen Margarethe of Denmark.

The King's mother, Princess Sibylla, was the granddaughter of Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany, fourth son of Victoria. She was born in 1908 and her father, Prince Charles Edward, was the posthumus son of Prince Leopold and upon his birth became Duke of Albany. She married her second cousin,  Prince Gustaf Adolf in 1932 and they had five children, the youngest, the current king, born in 1946. Like her late-mother in law, Princess Margaret, she would never become Queen. Her husband died in a plane crash in 1947, leaving their infant son as second in line to the throne. She died in 1972.

When Crown Princess Margaret of Sweden died in 1920, Prince Gustav Adolf remarried in 1923 to Lady Louise Mountbatten  granddaughter of Princess Alice, second daughter of Queen Victoria. They did not have any children and became King Gustaf VI Adolf and Queen Louise in 1950. She died in 1965 and her husband reigned until 1973. Upon his death, his grandson, King Carl XVI Gustaf, succeeded.

© Marilyn Braun 2010