Ingeborg of Denmark (1878-1958)
Princess Ingeborg Charlotte Caroline Frederikke Louise of Denmark (born August 2, 1878 in Charlottenlund near Copenhagen , † March 12, 1958 in Stockholm ) was the daughter of King Frederick VIII of Denmark . She is the grandmother of King Harald V of Norway and the two Belgian kings Baudouin and Albert II. She is also the great-grandmother of Henri, Grand Duke of Luxembourg and the current King Philippe of Belgium .
Origin and childhood
Ingeborg was born on August 2, 1878 in Charlottenlund near Copenhagen. She was the fifth of the eight children of King Frederick VIII of Denmark and his wife Queen Louise . Through her grandfather, the Danish King Christian IX . ( Called Europe's father-in-law ), she was related to many European royal families. The last Russian Tsar Nicholas II , King George V of Great Britain , King Constantine I of Greece and the last reigning Duke Ernst August of Braunschweig were among their cousins.
Unusually for the time, Ingeborg and her siblings were raised by their mother and seldom placed in the care of a governess. Louise was very interested in the development of her children, so she gave them a loving and not too authoritarian upbringing. Ingeborg grew up to be a friendly, carefree and quick-witted young woman.
Marriage and offspring
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On August 27, 1897, she married Prince Carl of Sweden , Duke of Västergötland, in the Christiansborg Palace Church in Copenhagen . He was the third son of King Oskar II of Sweden and his wife Sophia of Nassau . The couple spent their honeymoon in Germany.
The marriage resulted in three daughters and one son:
- Margaretha Sofia Lovisa Ingeborg (1899–1977) ⚭ 1919 Prince Axel of Denmark (two sons)
- Märtha Sofia Lovisa Thyra Dagmar (1901–1954) ⚭ 1929 Crown Prince and later King Olav V of Norway (two daughters, one son)
- Astrid Sofia Lovisa Thyra (1905–1935) ⚭ 1926 Crown Prince and later King Leopold III. from Belgium (one daughter, two sons)
- Carl ("Carl Jr.") Gustaf Oscar Fredrik Christian (1911–2003)
- ⚭ 1937–1951 Countess Elsa von Rosen (one daughter)
- ⚭ 1954–1961 Ann Margareta Larsson
- ⚭ 1978–2003 Kristine Rivelsrud
The marriage of a Danish princess into the Swedish royal family was welcomed in the country. The fact that Ingeborg was the granddaughter of the popular King Charles XV. was a major contributor. On the occasion of their golden wedding anniversary in 1947, Ingeborg admitted that the marriage to Carl had been arranged by the two fathers. She herself added: "I married a complete stranger!"
Family life and interests
The family was very popular in Sweden, not only because of their simple appearance, but also because of their harmonious coexistence. It was generally referred to as "The Happy Family" . The family lived in the Arvfurstens Palast in Stockholm and spent the summers in Fridhem on the Baltic island of Gotland . The children had a simple, yet loving youth. The daughters learned to cook on a real stove and also helped with the household. There were hardly any nannies and governesses . Ingeborg and Carl raised their children themselves and taught them virtue and helpfulness. Ingeborg soon became a symbol of a woman and mother all over Sweden and was often featured in newspapers.
For many years she was considered the most popular member of the Bernadotte family . Her easy-going personality and clever way of acting had earned her a lot of sympathy. Actually, her whole interest was in the family, but she also enjoyed sports, especially ice skating . Unusually for a woman of her time, she attended a motor show in Stockholm in 1903 and was very interested. On that day, she and Crown Prince Gustav spontaneously went on a trip in a Scania car .
Royal duties
Since Queen Sophia had withdrawn from the public almost completely since 1897 and Crown Princess Victoria lived abroad for most of the year for health reasons, Ingeborg was responsible for representing Sweden. She now acted as first lady . This included official occasions to visit state visits by other heads of state, to visit hospitals and schools and to integrate into social life. Ingeborg performed these tasks with a combination of dignity and kindness, which earned her great respect in the country's society.
During this time she was said to be perhaps the best suited to be Queen Consort of Sweden of all the foreign princesses who had married into the Swedish royal family. Unofficially, it was dubbed as such at the royal court. Her sister-in-law, Crown Princess Victoria, did not approve of this and once said: "You cannot enter the chamber of the Crown Princess of Sweden without knocking, even if you are Princess Ingeborg."
Next life
When Norway achieved independence from Sweden in 1905, Ingeborg's husband was offered the Norwegian throne, but he refused. So her brother became king as Haakon VII . Their second daughter Märtha married Haakon's son Olav in 1929 and became Crown Princess of Norway at his side. Their kinship with the Scandinavian dynasties helped bring the three royal houses back together after some tension arose from Norway's independence.
Ingeborg was interested in politics all her life. She showed democratic and liberal sympathies and disliked the conservatives. She frequently criticized the conservative press and viewed the resignation of the Liberal Social Democrats cabinet in 1918 as a disaster.
In 1922 Carl and Ingeborg ran into financial difficulties. A bank in which the princess invested went bankrupt and so the house in Stockholm, which they had moved into during the war years, had to be sold. Another stroke of fate struck her in 1935 when the youngest daughter Astrid was killed in a car accident in Switzerland. In the following years they took over part of the upbringing of their grandchildren Joséphine-Charlotte , Baudouin and Albert .
During the Second World War Ingeborg publicly demonstrated against National Socialist Germany by blocking the window of her house in front of the German embassy in Stockholm.
Her husband Carl died in 1951 at the age of 90. Ingeborg survived him by seven years and died on March 12, 1958 at the age of 79. It lies next to Carl in the Haga Royal Cemetery , Solna .
ancestors
| Friedrich Wilhelm of Schleswig-Holstein (1785–1831) | |||||||||||||
| Christian IX King of Denmark (1818–1906) | |||||||||||||
| Luise Karoline of Hessen-Kassel (1789–1867) | |||||||||||||
| Frederick VIII, King of Denmark (1843–1912) | |||||||||||||
| Wilhelm of Hesse (Rumpenheim) (1787–1867) | |||||||||||||
| Louise of Hesse (1817–1898) | |||||||||||||
| Louise Charlotte of Denmark (1789–1864) | |||||||||||||
| Ingeborg Charlotte of Denmark | |||||||||||||
| Oskar I, King of Sweden (1799-1859) | |||||||||||||
| Charles XV King of Sweden (1826–1872) | |||||||||||||
| Josephine von Leuchtenberg (1807–1876) | |||||||||||||
| Louise of Sweden-Norway (1851-1926) | |||||||||||||
| Friedrich Prince of the Netherlands (1797–1881) | |||||||||||||
| Luise of Oranien-Nassau (1828–1871) | |||||||||||||
| Luise of Prussia (1808-1870) | |||||||||||||
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Marlene Eiler's Koenig: Royal Musings: 4 Kings at Ingeborg's funeral. In: Royal Musings. March 19, 2010, accessed September 3, 2018 .
- ↑ a b c d e Princess Ingeborg of Denmark, Princess of Sweden . In: Unofficial Royalty . February 3, 2015 ( unofficialroyalty.com [accessed September 3, 2018]).
- ↑ Princess Ingeborg of Sweden and Norway | Wedding Jewels Diadem Royal Marriage Tiara. Retrieved September 3, 2018 .
- ^ Princess Ingeborg of Sweden . In: The Royal Watcher . August 2, 2018 ( royalwatcherblog.com [accessed September 3, 2018]).
- ↑ a b Ingeborg - Sveriges Kungahus. Accessed September 3, 2018 .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Ingeborg of Denmark |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Ingeborg Charlotte Caroline Frederikke Louise of Denmark |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Wife of Prince Carl of Sweden, Duke of Västergötland |
| DATE OF BIRTH | August 2, 1878 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Charlottenlund near Copenhagen |
| DATE OF DEATH | March 12, 1958 |
| Place of death | Stockholm |