Crown Princess of Sweden
(1882-1920)
When Margaret was 23 and her youngest sister Patricia 18, both girsl were among the most beautuful and elegible princesses in Europe. Their uncle, King Edward VII, wanted his nieces to married an European king or crown prince. On January 1905, the Duke and Duchess of Connaught visited Portugal where they were received by King Carlos and Queen Amelia whose sons Crown Prince Luis Felipe and Prince Manoel enteratined the young English princesses. The Portugueses expected one of the Connaught princesses would become the future Queen of Portugal. Then the Connaughts visited Spain, where Patricia was expected to be King Alfonso XIII's future wife. But neither of these expectations would become true, Margaret and Patricia had another destiny.
The Connaughts continued their trip to Egypt and Sudan. In El Cairo they met Prince Gustaf Adolf of Sweden, grandson of the Swedish King Oscar II, and son of Crown Prince Gustaf. Gustaf and Margaret felt in love at first sight. Prince Gustaf proposed at a dinner, held by Lord Cromer at the British Consulate in Egypt, and was accepted. Margaret had certainly fallen completely in love with Gustaf so her parents were very happy eventhough the Prince was ten months youger than his bride. Prince Gustaf was short of sight and used spectacles; he was "tall, dark, well informed fond of music, an excellent shot and a good dancer".Gustaf and Margaret married on June 15, 1905 in St. George Chappel, at Windsor Castle.
Life was not easy for a British princess at the Swedish court, who was mostly pro-German. Besides, Princess Margaret's cousin Maud (daughter of King Edward VII) was married to the recently elected King Haakon VII of Norway; before Haakon, Margaret's grandfather in law, Oscar II, had been king of Norway and Sweden, but the Norwegian Parlament had voted for the separation of both countries, so Maud was now Queen of Norway, and being her cousin was not easy for Margaret in Sweden. Anyway her beauty and gentle manners won popularity for her and she was beloved by all who knew her.
King Oscar died in 1907 and Crown Prince Gustaf became King Gustaf V, so Margaret and her husband became Crown Prince and Princess of Sweden. During the First World War, Margaret established an open line between her royal relatives in the warring factions and also between prissoners of war on both sides. Shee did an important job in tracing the wounded, missing and prissoners of war. Among the outstanding jobs she did, was the congratulations telegram she routed from Kaiser Wilhelm II to his uncle and aunt in Britain, Prince and Princess Christian on their golden wedding anniversary. She also helped the Christians to have news of their son Albert who was serving in the Prussian Army. Princess Margarte's position in the Swedish court was again difficult because her mother in law, Queen Victoria of Sweden, a princess of Baden, was first cousin of the German Emperor, and Margaret, although being herself first cousin of the Kaiser, was mostly British. Anyway this didn't contribute to open a breach between the Queen and her daughter in law.
Princess Margaret gave Prince Gustaf Adolf five children: Gustaf Adolf, Sigvard, Ingrid, Bertil and Karl Johann. She died suddenly on May 1, 1920, when she was expecting her sixth child, after having got chicken pox and a severe chill. She was 38 years old..
Her husband, Prince Gustaf Adolf became King Gustaf VI Adolf, at the death of his father King Gustaf V in 1950. He was a very popular king; he married again with a another English princess, Louise Mountabatten, great granddaughter of Queen Victoria and sister of Lord Mountbatten of Burma Margaret's daughter, Ingrid, married King Frederick IX of Denmark and is the mother of the actual Queen of Denmark, Queen Margaret. Her eldest son, Prince Gustaf Adolf died in a plane accident before his father, so in 1973, at the death of King Gustaf VI Adolf, the sucessor was Prince Gustaf's son, the actual King Charles XIII, Gustaf of Sweden, Princess Margaret's grandson.
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