Swedish monarchy – the Royal Family in Sweden: the Swedish King, the Queen, the Crown Princess, her siblings and and all their royal spouses and children
Meet the Bernadottes
- Get to know every member of the royal family of Sweden
- The complete succession to the throne in the bottom of this page
What Swedes think about about the royal family
If a member of the royals family reads this site and would like to suggest any changes, please let me know. (Contact page).
Members of the Swedish royal family
Get to know all the characters partaking in the never ending, real reality show “Meet the Bernadottes”, created by the production company Kingdom of Sweden (I guess), located at the Swedish royal court and many other locations wherever representing and ribbon-cutting have to be executed in a highly professional and glamorous manner.
Let’s start with the big boss, the CEO of Swedish monarchy, the current champion of the Swedish game of thrones …
King Carl XVI Gustaf
“Carl the sixteenth Gustaf”
- Born 30 April 1946
- Official title: H.M. Konung Carl XVI Gustaf
- First names: Carl Gustaf Folke Hubertus
- Married to Silvia since 19 Juni 1976
- Motto: För Sverige – i tiden, “For Sweden – With the Times”
- Engaged in topics: nature and environment
Big car enthusiast, collecting cars. Has at least one Ferrari in his garage, and a Volvo XC 90, of course.
Likes hunting. Considers wolf hunting OK. Many Swedes (particularly those living in bigger cities) don’t like it.
Sometimes he spells things wrong (dyslexic). It has been reported that, once, instead of writing “kungen” (king) he wrote “knugen” instead. This was many years ago, but some Swedes still like to mention this in conversations about him.
Met his wife Silvia during the Olympic summer games in Germany in 1972. She was working as a hostess, he as a professional international Sweden representer. Silvia was taking care of all special guests’ well being. Some say she treated him like a king.
Three children: Victoria, Carl-Philip, Madeleine
Talk and scandals
Rumour has it, he had an affair with the singer of Army of Lovers, Camilla Henemark in the 90’s.
According to some Swedish media outlets, the king had been seen spottet in Strip-Clubs in Stockholm a few times in the past.
Seat of government of the king: Kungliga slottet, royal castle in Stockholm
Queen Silvia of Sweden
- First names: Silvia Renate
- Title: H.M. Drottning Silvia, Her majesty queen Silvia
- Born: 23 December 1943
- Daughter of Walther and Alice Sommerlath
- Father Walter Sommerlath, (German), +
- Mother Alice Sommerlath, (Brazilian), +
- From 1947 to 1957 she lived with her family in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Moved back to Germany thereafter.
- Engagement with the King of Sweden on 12 March 1976 in Stockholm castle
- Speaks six languages fluently: German, Swedish, English, French, Spanish and Portuguese.
- Supports children: founded the World Childhood Foundation and is patron of several other charities.
- Smiles a lot
Has an image among the Swedes as being utterly friendly and very sympathetic.
Talk and scandals
Swedes like to gossip that she probably had a plastic surgery, a face lift. Some even claim, jokingly, that the face lift is the reason for her constant smile.
Even after more than 40 years in Sweden, she still has a very prominent German accent when she speaks Swedish. This surprises many Swedes, considering her potential access to the world’s best speech therapists. Some Swedes consequently joke about her accent either in casual conversations about the royal family or in comedy shows on Swedish television. In this video you can listen yourself: announcement video of the engagement between crown princess Victoria and Daniel Westling, here.
Also mentioned regularly in Swedish media: the potential cooperation of her father Walther with the Nazis during World War II.
Crown Princess Victoria
- First names: Victoria Ingrid Alice Désirée
- Title: H.K.H. Kronprinsessan Victoria, Crown Princess of Sweden
- Born 14 July 1977
- Number 1 in the succession to the Swedish throne
- Met Daniel Westling in 2001
- Married 19 June 2010 in Stockholm’s Storkyrka
- Mother to Princess Estelle and Prince Oscar
- Dyslexic (like her father)
- Studied in political science and history in Yale (USA). Internships at the UN in New York and the Swedish Trade Council in Berlin (Germany).
Of all members of the royal family, she is the one who is the favourite of the Swedish people.
Talk
Suffered from anorexia during during her teenage years.
Prince Daniel
- Previously called: Daniel Westling
- Full name: Olof Daniel Westling Bernadotte
- Title: H.K.H. Prins Daniel, Prince Daniel of Sweden, Duke of Västergötland
- Born 15 September 1973
- Met Victoria in his fitness-club in 2001, he was her personal trainer
- Engagement with Victoria 24 February 2009
- Father of Estelle und Oscar
- Interest in entrepreneurship and sports
Daniel grew up in a the city Öckelbo, which is close to Örebro. (Funny city names, aren’t they?! :) )
Scandals
(Nothing)
Princess Estelle
Erika Gerdemark Kungahuset.se
- Title: H.K.H. Prinsessan Estelle, Duchess of Östergötland
- Estelle Silvia Ewa Mary
- Born 23 February 2012
- Baptised 22 May 2012 in the chapel of the Royal Palace in Stockholm.
- Number 2 in the succession to the throne.
Talk and scandals
Although she isn’t directly participated in the scandal – shortly after her birth, on the day her name was announced, Victorias former history teacher and public person Hermann Lindqvist commented “Estelle is the name of a “nattklubsdrottning”, night club queen.
Prince Oscar
- Title: H.K.H. Prins Oscar Carl Olof, Duke of Skåne
- Born 2 March 2016
- Baptised 27 May 2016in the chapel of the Royal Palace in Stockholm
- Number 3 in the succession to the throne
Prince Carl Philip
- Title: H.K.H. Prins Carl Philip, Duke ov Värmland
- First names: Carl Philip Edmund Bertil
- Born: 13 May 1979
- Was crown prince for a while. Had to hand over the job to his older sister in 1980, when the Swedish act of succession (part of the Swedish constitution) was changed from “guys only” to “whoever was born first, no matter what gender”.
- Number 4 in the succession to the throne
- Two children, Prince Alexander and Prince Gabriel
- Just like his dad, he’s a big fan of automobiles
- Drove in the Swedish touring car championship. In a Volvo, of course. (Yes, Volvo racing cars do exists. And no, those were not estate cars.)
- Designs things
Some say, he looks very similar to the actor Orlando Bloom.
Talk and scandals
Once, he designed a fireplace gate. Depicting the burning Stockholm castle (referring to an historical event – not that he wanted to see the castle burn.) A little later, another designer said “Ursäkta, Carl Philip didn’t participate only to a minor extend in the design process, now taking home all the credits. Pffft.“
Princess Sofia
- Official title: H.K.H. Prinsessan Sofia, Duchess of Värmland
- Full name: Sofia Kristina Hellqvist Bernadotte
- Born 6 December 1984 in Danderyd
- Grown up in Täby and Älvedalen
- Married to Carl Philip since 13 June 2015
Has tattoos (even had a belly button piercing). A butterfly below her right armpit on her chest. And a star below the neck on her spine, which was visible during the wedding ceremony.
Some Swedes say she has similarities with Sivlia. Well, make up your own mind.
Talk and scandals
She participated in the Swedish version of the reality program “Paradise Hotel” (video).
Seems like she liked the band “The Ark” a lot, when she was younger. This picture shows her in party mood with a signature of the singer Ola Salo on her belly (2001).
Prince Alexander
- Title: H.K.H. Prins Alexander, Duke of Södermanland
- First names: Alexander Erik Hubertus Bertil
- Born 19 April 2016
- Number 5 in the succession to the throne
Prince Gabriel
- Title: H.K.H. Prins Gabriel, Duke of Dalarna
- Full name: Gabriel Carl Walther
- Born 31 August 2017
- Number 6 in the succession to the throne
Princess Madeleine
- Title: H.K.H. Prinsessan Madeleine, Duchess of Hälsingland and Gästrikland
- First names: Madeleine Thérèse Amelie Josephine
- Born 10 June 1982 in Ekerö
- Number 7 in the succession to the throne
- Married to Christopher O’Neill since 8 June 2012
- Two children, Princess Leonore and Prince Nicolas
Talk and scandals
She was in a long term relationship with the lawyer Jonas Claes Bergström. Just a few months after their engagement rumours were confirmed that he had something going with another woman, a Norwegian handball player.
Some say, the problem wasn’t that he was unfaithful, but rather that she was Norwegian!
After that she moved to New York where she met Chris. He is a successful investment banker and has no reported affiliations with Norwegians.
Christopher O’Neill
- Title: has none. Actually, he isn’t even officially part of the royal family. One has to be Swedish citizen to be able to become part of the Swedish royal family.
- Chris holds dual American and British citizenship.
- Full name: Christopher Paul O’Neill
- Born 27 June 1974 in London
- Grew up in London, St. Gallen, but also in Germany and Austria.
- Investment banker
Talk and scandals
There have been repeated rumours that his Mother Eva Maria Walter had an affair with Prince Charles, a long time ago.
Princess Leonore
- Title: H.K.H. Prinsessan Leonore, Duchess of Gotland
- First names: Leonore Lilian Maria
- Born 20 February 2014
- Baptised 8 June 2014
- Number 8 in the succession to the throne
Prince Nicolas
- Title: H.K.H. Prins Nicolas Paul Gustaf, Duke of Ångermanland
- First names: Nicolas Paul Gustaf
- Born 15 June 2015
- Baptised 11. October 2015
- Number 9 in the succession to the throne
Princess Adrienne
- Title: H.K.H. Prinsessan Adrienne, Princess Adrienne, Duchess of Blekinge
- First names: Adrienne Josephine Alice
- Born 9 March 2018
- Number 10 in the succession to the throne
What is the meaning of “H.M.” and “H.K.H.”?
When you walk around in Stockholm, you will find these initials written at several locations.
The King and Queen have H.M.
Standing for “Hans Majestät“, his majesty, for him. And “Hennes Majestät“, her majesty, for her.
Princes and princessesseseseses add H.K.H.
Which stands for “Hans kungliga höghet“, his royal highness, for the guys, and “Hennes kungliga höghet“, her royal highness, for the ladies of the Swedish royal family.
Succession to the throne in the kingdom of Sweden
After the current king Carl XVI Gustav come …
- Crown princess Victoria
- Princess Estelle
- Prince Oscar
- Prince Carl Philip
- Prince Alexander
- Prince Gabriel
- Princess Madeleine
- Princess Leonore
- Prince Nicolas
- Princess Adrienne
More about the royal family of Sweden
- Their own Website: Kungahuset.se
- More facts on Wikipedia
