Princess Birgitta of Sweden

Princess Birgitta of Sweden (Birgitta Ingeborg Alice; born 19 January 1937), Princess of Hohenzollern, is an elder sister of King Carl XVI Gustaf.

Born at Haga Palace in Stockholm, she is the second child of Prince Gustaf Adolf, Duke of Västerbotten and Princess Sibylla of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and a granddaughter of King Gustaf VI Adolf. Her sisters are Princess Margaretha, Mrs. Ambler, Princess Désirée, Baroness Silfverschiöld, and Princess Christina, Mrs. Magnuson. She is a first cousin of Queen Margrethe II of Denmark

Birgitta is the widow of Prince Johann Georg of Hohenzollern.

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.

Princess Birgitta in 1958

On a visit in 1959 to friends and relatives in Germany, the princess met her future husband at a cocktail party.

On 15 December 1960, her engagement to Prince Johann Georg Carl Leopold Eitel-Friedrich Meinrad Maria Hubertus Michael of Hohenzollern (b. 1932; d. 2016), was announced.

The civil ceremony took place at the Royal Palace of Stockholm on 25 May 1961, and the religious in the Sankt Johann Church at the bridegroom's Family Palace of Sigmaringen on 30 May/ 31 July 1961. 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 Count Sigvard Bernadotte of Wisborg).

Birgitta converted to Roman Catholicism when she married the Hohenzollern prince. Thus she and her children would have been ineligible for succession to the Swedish throne even under subsequent female primogeniture which was established in Sweden in 1979 and 1980, and then only included her brother's descendants anyway.

Prince Johann Georg and Princess Birgitta separated in 1990, although they remained legally married. She lives on the island of Majorca in Spain, while her husband lived in Munich.

In November 1960 Birgitta visited the United States accompanied by her younger sister Princess Désirée on behalf of their grandfather King Gustaf VI Adolf for the 50th anniversary of the The American-Scandinavian Foundation. In their honour a ball was organised for the two princesses at the Renaissance Blackstone Hotel in Chicago by Mayor Richard Daley.

Princess Birgitta has had assignments for golf and charities outside of Sweden and is an Honorary Board Member of the (British) Royal Swedish Golfing Society, a position she took over when her uncle Prince Bertil died.

She has her own golf competition in Majorca, the Princess Birgitta Trophy, at her home golf course.

She participates in the celebrations of the Swedish Lucia every year, and in the party held at her golf club on Sweden’s National Day.

She also takes part in Swedish royal family events; with her husband and children, she was a guest at the 2010 Wedding of Victoria, Crown Princess of Sweden, and Daniel Westling, and at Princess Madeleine's wedding in 2013.

Birgitta's arms since marrying Prince Johann Georg

Princess Birgitta's marriage produced three children and six grandchildren:

• HSH Prince Carl Christian of Hohenzollern (b. 5 April 1962 in Munich, Germany), married in 1999 to Nicole Helene Neschitsch (b. 22 January 1968 in Munich). They have one son:
  • HSH Prince Nicolas Johann Georg Maria of Hohenzollern (b. 22 Nov 1999)
• HSH Princess Désirée of Hohenzollern (27 November 1963) she married HIllH Hereditary Count Heinrich (since 6 August 2007, the Count) von Ortenburg on 21 September 1990 and were divorced in 2002. They have three children. She remarried Eckbert von Bohlen und Halbach, grandson of Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach, on 27 November 2004.
  • Hereditary Count Carl-Theodor Georg Philipp Maria of Ortenburg (b. 1992)
  • Count Frederik Hubertus Ferdinand Maria of Ortenburg (b. 1995)
  • Countess Carolina Maria Franziska Christina Stephanie of Ortenburg (b. 1997)
• HSH Prince Hubertus of Hohenzollern (b. Munich 10 June 1966), married in 2000 to Uta Maria König (b. Trier 25 February 1964). The couple had a son, who died a few days later, and then adopted a daughter:
  • Prince Lennart Carl Christian of Hohenzollern (born on 10 January 2001 and died on 14 January 2001)
  • Vivianne von Hohenzollern (b. 2009).

Title

• 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.

Honours

National honours

•  Sweden: Member Grand Cross of the Royal Order of the Seraphim (LoK av KMO)
•  Sweden: Member of the Royal Family Order of King Gustaf VI Adolf, 1st Class
•  Sweden: Member of the Royal Family Order of King Carl XVI Gustaf, 1st Class
•  Sweden: Recipient of the 90th Birthday Medal of King Gustav V
•  Sweden: Recipient of the Commemorative Medal of King Gustav V
•  Sweden: Recipient of the 85th Birthday Badge Medal of King Gustaf VI Adolf
•  Sweden: Recipient of the 50th Birthday Badge Medal of King Carl XVI Gustaf
•  Sweden: Recipient of the Wedding Medal of Crown Princess Victoria to Daniel Westling
•  Sweden: Recipient of the Ruby Jubilee Badge Medal of King Carl XVI Gustaf
•  Sweden: Recipient of the 70th Birthday Badge Medal of King Carl XVI Gustaf

Foreign honours

•  Germany: Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, 1st Class

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