| Princess Ingeborg | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Duchess of Västergötland | |||||
 Ingeborg in 1914 | |||||
| Born | (1878-08-02)2 August 1878 Charlottenlund Palace,Copenhagen,Kingdom of Denmark | ||||
| Died | 12 March 1958(1958-03-12) (aged 79) Stockholm,Kingdom of Sweden | ||||
| Spouse | |||||
| Issue | Margaretha, Princess Axel of Denmark Märtha, Crown Princess of Norway Astrid, Queen of the Belgians Prince Carl Bernadotte | ||||
| |||||
| House | Glücksburg | ||||
| Father | Frederick VIII of Denmark | ||||
| Mother | Louise of Sweden | ||||
Princess Ingeborg of Denmark (Ingeborg Charlotte Caroline Frederikke Louise; 2 August 1878 – 12 March 1958), was a Princess of Sweden by marriage toPrince Carl, Duke of Västergötland.
Princess Ingeborg was a daughter ofFrederick VIII of Denmark andLouise of Sweden, she grew up inCopenhagen as a Danish princess. In 1897, she was married to her mother's first cousinPrince Carl of Sweden, Duke of Västergötland, and spent the rest of her of life in Sweden as a member of theSwedish royal family.
Her marriage produced four children, among whom wereMärtha, Crown Princess of Norway andAstrid, Queen of the Belgians.
Princess Ingeborg was born on 2 August 1878 at her parents' country residence, theCharlottenlund Palace north ofCopenhagen, during the reign of her paternal grandfather, KingChristian IX.[1] She was the second daughter and fifth child ofCrown Prince Frederick of Denmark, and his wifePrincess Louise of Sweden.[2] Her father was the eldest son of KingChristian IX of Denmark andLouise of Hesse-Kassel, and her mother was the only daughter of KingCharles XV of Sweden andLouise of the Netherlands. She was baptised with the namesIngeborg Charlotte Caroline Frederikke Louise,[a] and was known as Princess Ingeborg.[1]
As a granddaughter of Christian IX, referred to by thesobriquet the "father-in-law of Europe", Princess Ingeborg was related to several European monarchs and rulers. She was thus a first cousin of the future KingGeorge V of the United Kingdom, TsarNicholas II of Russia, KingConstantine I of Greece andDuke Ernest Augustus of Brunswick.
Princess Ingeborg had seven siblings, the two eldest of whom were Prince Christian (the future KingChristian X of Denmark) and Prince Carl (the future KingHaakon VII of Norway).[2] She was raised with her siblings at the royal household in Copenhagen, and grew up between her parents' city residence, theFrederik VIII's Palace,[b] an 18th-centurypalace which forms part of theAmalienborg Palace complex in centralCopenhagen, and their country residence, theCharlottenlund Palace, located by the coastline of theØresundstrait north of the city. In contrast to the usual practise of the period, where royal children were brought up bygovernesses, the children were raised by Crown Princess Louise herself.[4] Under the supervision of their mother, the children of the Crown Princess received a rather strict Christian-dominated upbringing, which was characterized by severity, the fulfillment of duties, care and order.[4] In spite of this austere upbringing, Princess Ingeborg grew up to be a friendly, carefree and quick-witted young woman.[citation needed]
In May 1897, Princess Ingeborg was engaged at the age of eighteen toPrince Carl of Sweden, Duke of Västergötland who was the third son of KingOscar II of Sweden andSophia of Nassau.[5] They were, therefore, first cousins once-removed. It had long been a public secret that Crown Princess Louise wanted one of her daughters to marry a member of theSwedish royal family, which thus indeed happened. In 1947, on the occasion of theirgolden wedding anniversary, her spouse admitted that their marriage had beenarranged by their respective fathers, and Ingeborg herself added: "I married a complete stranger!"[6] Although their marriage was arranged, the outcome was very much in accordance with the personal aspiration of the princess who after the wedding said: "I have prayed to God for a whole year to have Carl."[7]
The wedding was celebrated on 27 August 1897 in thechapel ofChristiansborg Palace in Copenhagen.[1] The wedding guests included members of theDanish andSwedish royal families, as well as the bride's paternal aunts, theDowager Empress of Russia and thePrincess of Wales. After thewedding reception, the newly married couple left the palace for the pier, where they embarked the Danishroyal yacht, thepaddle steamerDannebrog, which early next morning sailed forLübeck.[8] They spent their honeymoon in Germany.
The marriage was popular because she was the granddaughter of the popular king Charles XV of Sweden and IV of Norway, and she was a personal success in Sweden. It was said of her, that of all foreign princesses married into the Swedish royal house, she was perhaps the one best suited to be Queen consort of Sweden,[9] and for the first ten years in Sweden, she almost was: from 1897 until 1907,Queen Sophia seldom attended public events andCrown Princess Victoria spent most of her time abroad for health reasons, Princess Ingeborg was thereby given more public duties, unofficially performing much of the role associated with thequeen consort at the Swedish court.[10] She is perceived as having performed her representational duties with a combination of dignity and easygoing friendliness, and as attracting a social circle with her wit.[10]Her sister-in-law, Crown Princess Victoria, however, did not approve of her informality and once remarked: "One does not enter the chamber of the Crown Princess of Sweden without knocking, even if one is Princess Ingeborg."[11]
Ingeborg was interested in sports, especiallyice skating, and at the automobile exhibition of Stockholm in 1903, she andCrown Prince Gustav, made a spontaneous demonstration trip in a car fromScania. In 1908, she accompanied her husband's nephewPrince Wilhelm to his wedding with her paternal first cousin once removedGrand Duchess Maria Pavlovna in Russia.
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Although the parties had not had much influence on its conclusion, the marriage between Ingeborg and Carl ended up being successful, and the couple's relationship was described as harmonious.[12] They had four children:
The family lived a harmonious life, and was known as "The happy family".[6] The children were given a simple upbringing, and expected to learn household tasks: they were, for example, given a real stove in their play cottage, on which they cooked real food. She and Carl lived an informal and intimate family life with their children.
Ingeborg was admired for her handling of the economic difficulties experienced when a bank they invested in crashed in 1922 and they had to sell their home.[6] She was portrayed as a symbol of a wife and mother in many magazines and was for many years the most popular member of the royal house.
In 1905, the Norwegian government discussed making them king and queen of Norway, but Carl declined the offer. Instead, her brother was elected monarch of Norway. Ingeborg's kinship to the Scandinavian dynasties helped bring the three royal houses together again after tension created due to Norway's 1905 secession. Politically, Ingeborg had democratic and liberal sympathies and disliked the conservatives, views she expressed during thegovernment crisis in 1914.[10] She detested the conservativeHammarskjöld cabinet and the 1914 policy, criticized the conservative press and viewed the resignation of the Liberal-Social Democratic cabinet of 1914 as a disaster, reportedly commented it with the words: "It must not happen! No no no!"[10]
DuringWorld War II from 1940 to 1945, she demonstrated publicly against Nazi Germany by blocking the window of her house which faced the German embassy in Stockholm.[10]
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