Friday, March 19, 2010

4 Kings at Ingeborg's funeral



March 19, 1958

The Kings of Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and Belgium were present today for the funeral of Princess Ingeborg of Sweden, according to Reuters,

King Gustav VI Adolf of Sweden, King Frederik IX, King Olav V of Norway and King Baudouin, with Queen Louise of Sweden and Queen Ingrid of Denmark, sat in the front row of the Great Church at the royal palace in Stockholm, with Ingeborg's two surviving children, Prince Carl Bernadotte and Princess Margaretha of Denmark. Other members of the royal family were present for the service, and then "drove to Haga Castle," where Princess Ingeborg was buried in the cemetery. She died at her home last Wednesday at the age of 79.

Princess Ingeborg Charlotta Carolina Frederikke Louise of Denmark was born in Copenhagen on August 2, 1878. She was the fifth child of King Frederik VIII and his wife, Princess Louise of Sweden. On August 27, 1897, Ingeborg married Prince Carl of Sweden. The marriage had been arranged by their fathers, which Carl admitted on the occasion of the couple's 50th wedding anniversary in 1947. Ingeborg acknowledged that she "married a complete stranger. They had four children, Margaretha, Märtha, Astrid, and Carl.

Margaretha married her first cousin once removed, Prince Axel of Denmark. They had two sons, Georg and Flemming. Märtha, who died in 1954, was the Crown Princess of Norway as in 1929, she married her first cousin, then Crown Prince Olav of Norway. Princess Astrid became the wife of Crown Prince Leopold of the Belgians in 1926. Leopold succeeded to the throne in 1934. A year later, Queen Astrid, 29, was killed in a car crash. Prince Carl lost his royal titles and his right of succession in 1937 when he married Swedish Countess Elsa von Rosen. His brother-in-law, King Leopold III, created him as Prince Bernadotte.

Princess Ingeborg, who was known as "the mother-in-law of Europe," is survived by two of her children, Princess Margaretha of Denmark and Prince Carl, and her grandchildren, Princes Georg and Flemming of Denmark, Princesses Ragnhild and Astrid and Crown Prince Harald of Norway, King Baudouin and Prince Albert of the Belgians and the Hereditary Grand Duchess of Luxembourg (Princess Josephine-Charlotte of Luxembourg) and Countess Madeleine Bernadotte, as well as numerous grandchildren.

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