Princess Ingeborg of Denmark

For other people of the same name, see Ingeborg of Denmark.

Princess Ingeborg
Duchess of Västergötland
Born	(1878-08-02)2 August 1878 Charlottenlund Palace, Copenhagen, Denmark
Died	Stockholm, Sweden
Spouse	Prince Carl, Duke of Västergötland
Issue	Margaretha, Princess Axel of Denmark Märtha, Crown Princess of Norway Astrid, Queen of the Belgians Prince Carl Bernadotte
Full name Ingeborg Charlotte Caroline Frederikke
House	Glücksburg
Father	Frederick VIII of Denmark
Mother	Louise of Sweden

Princess Ingeborg of Denmark (Ingeborg Charlotta Carolina Frederikke Louise; 2 August 1878 – 12 March 1958) was a daughter of Frederick VIII of Denmark. She is the maternal grandmother of Harald V of Norway, Baudouin and Albert II of Belgium, and the female line great grandmother of Henri of Luxembourg.

Early life

Princess Ingeborg's birthplace, Charlottenlund Palace

Princess Ingeborg was born on 2 August 1878 at Charlottenlund Palace north of Copenhagen as the second daughter and fifth child of Crown Prince Frederick of Denmark, the eldest son of King Christian IX. Her mother was Princess Louise of Sweden, the only surviving child of King Charles XV of Sweden and IV of Norway.

Marriage

In May 1897, Princess Ingeborg was engaged to Prince Carl of Sweden, Duke of Västergötland. Prince Carl was the third son of King Oscar II of Sweden and Sophia of Nassau. They were, therefore, first cousins.

They married on 27 August 1897 in the chapel at Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen and spent their honeymoon in Germany.

The couple had four children:

1. Princess Margaretha of Sweden, later Princess of Denmark (1899–1977).
2. Princess Märtha of Sweden, later Crown Princess of Norway (1901–1954).
3. Princess Astrid of Sweden, later Queen of the Belgians (1905–1935).
4. Prince Carl Bernadotte, known as Carl Jr., later Prince Bernadotte, a Belgian title (1911–2003).

In 1947, on the occasion of their wedding anniversary, her spouse admitted that their marriage had been completely arranged by their respective fathers, and Ingeborg herself added: "I married a complete stranger!"

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, and for the first ten years in Sweden, she almost was: from 1897 until 1907, Queen Sophia seldom attended public events and Crown 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 the queen consort at the Swedish court. 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.

Ingeborg was interested in sports, especially ice skating, and at the automobile exhibition of Stockholm in 1903, she and the Crown Prince, Gustav, made a spontaneous demonstration trip in a car from Scania. In 1908, she accompanied Prince William to his wedding with Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna in Russia.

Family life

She lived a harmonious family life, and the family was known as "The happy family". 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. 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 the governmental crisis in 1918. She detested the conservative Hammarsköljd cabinet and the 1914 policy, criticized the conservative press and viewed the resignation of the Liberal-Social Democratic cabinet of 1918 as a disaster, reportedly commented it with the words: "It must not happen! No no no!"

During the World War II in 1940–45, she demonstrated publicly against Nazi Germany by blocking the window of her house which faced the German embassy in Stockholm.

Princess Ingeborg has the distinction of being the grandmother of three European monarchs, King Harald V of Norway, King Baudouin of the Belgians, King Albert II of the Belgians. And she is great-grandmother of two: Henri, Grand Duke of Luxembourg and Philippe, King of the Belgians

Ancestry

Family of Princess Ingeborg of Denmark

16. Friedrich Karl Ludwig, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Beck               8. Friedrich Wilhelm, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg                       17. Countess Friederike of Schlieben               4. Christian IX of Denmark                             18. Prince Charles of Hesse-Kassel               9. Louise Caroline of Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel)                       19. Princess Louise of Denmark               2. Frederick VIII of Denmark                                   20. Prince Frederick of Hesse               10. Prince William of Hesse                       21. Princess Caroline of Nassau-Usingen               5. Louise of Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel)                             22. Frederick, Hereditary Prince of Denmark and Norway               11. Princess Louise Charlotte of Denmark                       23. Sophia Frederica of Mecklenburg-Schwerin               1. Princess Ingeborg of Denmark                                         24. Charles XIV John of Sweden               12. Oscar I of Sweden                       25. Désirée Clary               6. Charles XV of Sweden                             26. Eugène de Beauharnais               13. Josephine of Leuchtenberg                       27. Princess Augusta of Bavaria               3. Lovisa of Sweden                                   28. William I of the Netherlands               14. Prince Frederik of the Netherlands                       29. Wilhelmine of Prussia               7. Louise of the Netherlands                             30. Frederick William III of Prussia               15. Princess Louise of Prussia                       31. Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz

References

• Lars Elgklou: Familjen Bernadotte. En kunglig släktkrönika (The Bernadotte family. A royal family chronicle) (in Swedish)
• Staffan Skott: Alla dessa Bernadottar (All of the Bernadottes) (1996) (In Swedish)
• Ingeborg C C F L, urn:sbl:11950, Svenskt biografiskt lexikon (art av Ragnar Amenius), hämtad 2015-02-27.