Princess Birgitta of Hohenzollern, née Princess of Sweden (1937-2024)

The Swedish Royal Court announced today 4 December 2024 the death of Princess Birgitta of Hohenzollern. 

Princess Birgitta, b. Haga in Solna outside Stockholm 19 January 2024 was the second oldest daughter of Prince Gustaf Adolf of Sweden (1906-1947) and Princess Sibylla of Sweden, née Princess of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, and thus an elder sister of King Carl Gustaf. In 1961 Princess Birgitta married Prince Johann-Georg of Hohenzollern (1932-2016) and had by him 3 children. Since her marriage she lived for many years in Munich, Germany before moving to Mallorca after she had separated from her husband. 

The Swedish Royal Court has so far only stated that the princess died at Mallorca earlier today on 4 December 2024. The English-speaking local newspaper Majorca Daily Bulletin claims to know that she died at her home in Santa Ponsa. A friend of Princess Birgitta has, however, told Aftonbladet that she had been hospitalized lately due to a broken arm, but was about to be released from hospital when she died earlier this morning. The article doesn't explicitly say that she died at the hospital, though. Another friend of the princess has on the other hand told the newspaper Expressen that she died in a local hospital.

Princess Birgitta was at the time of her death still a member of the Swedish Royal House because she, unlike her sisters, had married into royalty. 

The court writes that details about the funeral service. which will be a private affair («Gravsättning sker i kretsen av Prinsessans familj») will be given later. In accordance with her wishes she will be laid at rest at Kungliga begravningsplatsen (The Royal Cemetery) at Haga.

Updated (4 December 2024 at 21:41):

After my blog article was updated the Swedisn Royal Court has made an English version of its press release, which I quote in full:

4 December 2024

HRH Princess Birgitta has passed away

HRH Princess Birgitta, sister of HM The King, passed away on the island of Mallorca on Wednesday 4th December 2024. The Princess was 87 years old.

On the occasion of the death of HRH Princess Birgitta, the following statement is made by HM The King:

“With great sadness, I have today received the news that my sister, Princess Birgitta, has passed away. My sister was a colorful and forthright person who will be deeply missed by me and my family. Together with all my family, I send my condolences to Princess Birgitta's children and grandchildren.”

Princess Birgitta was the widow of Prince Johann Georg of Hohenzollern (1932–2016) and lived on the Spanish island of Mallorca for many years. Princess Birgitta leaves behind her three children and their families.

Flags at half mast

HM The King has ordered the flags at Drottningholm Palace and Haga Palace to be flown at half mast on the 5th December.

Funeral arrangements

Her Royal Highness will be laid to rest at the Royal Cemetery in Haga Park in Stockholm, in keeping with the wishes of The Princess. The burial will take place in the presence of The Princess’ family.

Additional information regarding Princess Birgitta’s funeral will be provided at a later date.

Sweden: King Carl Gustaf to undergo heart surgery

The Swedish Royal Court announced today that King Carl Gustaf is to undergo a planned heart surgery on Monday 20 February 2023:

14 February 2023

HM The King to undergo planned surgical procedure

On the advice of his physician, HM The King will undergo a planned surgical procedure on Monday 20 February 2023. The procedure will be performed using laparoscopic (keyhole) surgery in the heart area.

The procedure will be followed by a period of rest. The King’s planned official engagements between 20 February and 3 March will therefore be postponed until later this spring.

The King is in good health and until 20 February will carry out his official engagements as planned.

King Carl Gustaf, who will be 77 years old in April, will later this year celebrate his 50th anniversary as king.

Sweden: Changes to the Royal House

Court decision 7 October 2019. Photos of documents published at the Swedish Royal Court's Facebook page.

The Swedish Royal Court announced on Monday 7 October 2019 that the King had decided to «downsize» the Royal House, which meant that the children of Prince Carl Philip and Princess Sofia and of Princess Madeleine and Christopher O'Neill had ceased to be members of the Royal House and now only were members of the Royal Family. They are also no longer styled Royal Highness. The press release in full said:

His Majesty The King has decided on changes to The Royal House. The purpose of these changes is to establish which members of The Royal Family may be expected to perform official duties incumbent on the Head of State or related to the function of the Head of State.

His Majesty The King has decided that the children of Their Royal Highnesses Prince Carl Philip and Princess Sofia, and the children of Her Royal Highness Princess Madeleine and Mr Christopher O’Neill will no longer be members of The Royal House.

Prince Alexander, Prince Gabriel, Princess Leonore, Prince Nicolas and Princess Adrienne will continue to be members of The Royal Family. However, they will no longer enjoy the style of Royal Highness and, in the future, will not be expected to perform duties incumbent on the Head of State.

Prince Alexander (Duke of Södermanland), Prince Gabriel (Duke of Dalarna), Princess Leonore (Duchess of Gotland), Prince Nicolas (Duke of Ångermanland) and Princess Adrienne (Duchess of Blekinge) will retain their titles of Duke and Duchess previously granted by His Majesty.

His Majesty The King and Her Royal Highness The Crown Princess are, together with Her Majesty The Queen and His Royal Highness Prince Daniel, Sweden’s highest representatives within the Realm and vis-à-vis other States.

Their Royal Highnesses Prince Carl Philip and Princess Sofia, and Her Royal Highness Princess Madeleine will continue their work in the non-profit foundations and organisations which they have founded or in which they are involved. In addition, they will perform official duties to the extent decided by His Majesty.

OFFICE OF THE MARSHAL OF THE REALM

7 October 2019

Fredrik Wersäll
Marshal of the Realm

I was not very surprised by the news – the downsizing was bound to happen some day – but the timing was odd. It had made more sense if the king had clarified the membership prior to the birth of Princess Leonore. As the royal children in question were never expected to take on official engagements, I have earlier on several occasions (see for instance my article of 14 September 2013) said that I would have preferred if they hadn't got any titles at all. Only royals expected to represent the royal house should have titles. The Swedish king has now made a system which somewhat resembles the Norwegian, where those who are styled Majesty or Royal Highness are members of the royal house, while the others are «only» members of the royal family. The only difference is that both children of Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel are styled Royal Highness, while among the Norwegian Crown Prince's children only Princess Ingrid Alexandra has that style. In addition, in the Norwegian Royal Family Prince Sverre Magnus, Princess Märtha Louise and Princess Astrid Mrs. Ferner are styled Highness while abroad (but not in Norway – although the Royal Court has never given a satisfactory explanation to this, I guess the decision was made because titles and styles means more abroad than at home).

In the press conference which followed the announcement, the Marshal of the Realm among others stressed that the prince(ss) and ducal titles for the royal children in question were personal and could
not be transferred to their spouses and children.

King Carl XVI Gustaf's decision does of course not affect the line of succession. However, the question of the upbringing of Princess Madeleine's children outside the realm, cf. the Act of Succession Article 4, remains unsolved. Another question is what would happen if Prince Carl Philip or Princess Madeleine had another child. I expect that the king would make no difference and would settle on the personal title of prince/princess (and ducal title), but of course not give the style Royal Highness.

Members of the Royal House

• HM King Carl XVI Gustaf (b. 1946)
• HM Queen Silvia (b. 1943)
• HRH Crown Princess Victoria (b. 1977)
• HRH Prince Daniel (b. 1973)
• HRH Princess Estelle (b. 2012)
• HRH Prince Oscar (b. 2016)
• HRH Prince Carl Philip (b. 1979)
• HRH Princess Sofia (b. 1984)
• HRH Princess Madeleine (b. 1982)
• HRH Princess Birgitta (b. 1937)

Members of the Royal Family

The Royal Family consists of the members of the Royal House as well as the King's other grandchildren and sisters as well as the widow of the King's Uncle Count Sigvard of Bernadotte.

• Prince Alexander (b. 2016)
• Prince Gabriel (b. 2017)
• Princess Leonore (b. 2014)
• Prince Nicolas (b. 2015)
• Princess Adrienne (b. 2018)
• Princess Margaretha, Mrs. Ambler (b. 1934)
• Princess Désirée, Baroness Silfverschiöld (b. 1938)
• Princess Christina, Mrs. Magnuson (b. 1943)
• Countess Marianne Bernadotte of Wisborg (b. 1924)

The Line of Succession to the Swedish Throne

As said, the line of succession remains unchanged:

1. HRH Crown Princess Victoria (b. 1977)
2. HRH Princess Estelle (b. 2012)
3. HRH Prince Oscar (b. 2016)
4. HRH Prince Carl Philip (b. 1979)
5. Prince Alexander (b. 2016) 
6. Prince Gabriel (b. 2017)
7. HRH Princess Madeleine (b. 1982)
8. Princess Leonore (b. 2014)
9. Prince Nicolas (b. 2015)
10. Princess Adrienne (b. 2018) 

Updated on Thursday 10 October 2019 at 21:05 (minor spelling mistake corrected, last time on Sunday 1 December 2019 at 13.30 (grammatical error corrected).

Sweden: More about the name of Princess Adrienne

I wrote the article about the name of Princess Adrienne on Tuesday evening because I didn't have the time to blog on Monday when the Council of State, in which the name was announced, took place. But I still managed to miss out on some additional information about the name, so I will have to write another blog article on the subject.

The Swedish magazine Svensk Damtidning wrote on 12 March 2018 under the headline «Svensk Damtidning avslöjar – hemligheten bakom Madeleines namnval» («Svensk Damtidning reveals – the secret behind Madeleine's name choice») that Adrienne was a name Queen Silvia had loved for many years. According to the Swedish pastor Adrienne Riddez on her Facebook wall (her message seems to have been deleted), they met eachother some time in the late 1990s and the queen had said: «Oh, is your name Adrienne, that is such a beautiful name. I should have given that to Madeleine!» And a generation later the name was given to Princess Madeleine's third child.

The head of the information department at the Royal Court in Sweden, Margareta Thorgren, seems to have confirmed the story, but also stressed that Princess Madeleine and Chris O'Neill had chosen the name for the simple reason that they liked it. «They chose Alice after Princess Madeleine's grandmother [«mormor» – «mother's mother»] and Josephine after Chris' grandmother [«mormor» – «mother's mother»]. But the name Adrienne stands on its own.»

The last piece of information is quite interesting. Naturally most commentators, myself included, pointed at Queen Josephine of Sweden as the source of inspiration for the name. I should of course have double-checked the ancestry of Chris O'Neill before I published my article on Tuesday night. After all, some information about his family has been published at the Nobiliana forum in the thread «Ancestors of Christopher O'Neill» (too many contributors to mention them all). Svensk Damtidning, and/or Ms. Thorgren, has messed up a bit, though. It is Chris' farmor («father's mother») who was named Josephine, not his mormor: Josephine Cesario, b. around 1896.