GrandDuchess
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Crown Princess Margareta is one of my favourite Swedish royals ever. And in her days, she was also highly admired by the people. But sadly enough, she's been a bit forgotten these days, with most people only caring about the royals of our time. Since I found no thread about her here at TRF either, I thought I'd write a bit about her so you can learn a little of whom she was.
In Memoriam of Darling Daisy
Her Royal Highness Princess Margaret Victoria Augusta Charlotte Norah of Connaught was born at Bagshot Park in Surrey in the United Kingdom on 15 January 1882. She was the daughter of His Royal Highness Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught, Duke of Strathearn and Earl of Sussex (son of Her Majesty Queen Victoria and His Royal Highness Prince Albert The Prince Consort of the United Kingdom) and Her Royal Highness Princess Louise Margaret of Prussia (daughter of His Royal Highness Prince Friedrich and Her Royal Highness Princess Anna Maria of Prussia, née Princess of Anhalt).
While travelling with her family, the 23-year-old Princess Margaret met Prince Gustaf Adolf of Sweden in El Cairo in Egypt in the beginning of 1905. It was love at first sight, and Prince Gustaf Adolf proposed to her at a dinner held by Lord Cromer at the British Consulate in Egypt. The wedding celebrations were held at Windsor Castle where the two married on 15 June 1905 in St. George’s Chapel. It was only days after the dissolution of the union with Norway.
Princess Margaret of Connaught now became Princess of Sweden and Duchess of Skåne.
It was a happy family and the news Princess wad adored by her subjects. In 1907, after the death of King Oscar II, Crown Prince Gustaf became Gustaf V – and Prince Gustaf Adolf and Princess Margareta became Crown Prince and Crown Princess of Sweden.
She gave birth to five children: Gustav Adolf (1906-1947), Sigvard (1907-2002), Ingrid (1910-2000), Bertil (1912-1997) and Carl Johan (1916-).
In the end of 1919, Crown Princess Margareta got troubles with her ears, and this was only to be the beginning. The 37-year-old Crown Princess was expecting her sixth child, but after suffering from malignant chicken pox and a bad chill, the insides of her jaws began festering. On 1 May 1920, the 38-year-old and pregnant Crown Princess passed away.
The news spread fast through the city of Stockholm. Prime Minister Hjalmar Branting who was holding his 1 May speech on Gärdet, paused and announced to the crowd: “Our Crown Princess is dead”. He ended his speech quickly and then hurried to the Royal Palace of Stockholm. Once there, it is said that he took Crown Prince Gustaf Adolf in his arms with the words “Dear, dear, what has happened?”
Crown Princess Magareta is buried in the Royal Cemetery at Haga.
The Flower Princess - Margareta and Sofiero.
In 1905, The King and Queen gave Sofiero to their grandchild Prince Gustaf Adolf and Princess Margareta after their wedding. As the daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Connaught, Princess Margareta had grown up at Bagshot Park in the United Kingdom – one of the times most worth-seeing parks. Her father, Prince Arthur, the Duke of Connaught, was himself a great landscaping gardener and was called “the country’s great, princely garden architect” by his countrymen. As a young girl, Margareta’s father hired a French artist, Madeleine Fleury (student of Claude Monet) as her teacher to encourage her artistic talents.
Princess Margareta became a pioneer to the gardening interest in Sweden. When she and her husband received Sofiero, it was decayed because no one had used it for a long time. She gave this description of it herself:
“Once upon a time there was a palace, built in Skåne, and that has one of the most beautiful views in the world. But when we received Sofiero, there was hardly anything there of flowers and plants. The whole place instead seemed more like the enchanted woods, where the fairytale princess laid asleep. Maybe it was nice for her, but we wished for something else, something more, and as quickly as possible began to think how we would beautify the of nature already so beautifully situated estate.”
Margareta planned and laid the foundation for Sofiero’s grand park and gardens, and wrote a few books about it herself. She involved her children, the staff and the occasional guests in the gardening – and as it turned out, one of her children especially inherited this interest. Princess Ingrid, later Queen of Denmark, was the one who created the park of Graasten Castle in Denmark.
For the Baltic Exhibition in Malmö In 1914, the Crown Princess herself planted the beautiful flower walk in front of the royal pavilion, now the Margareta pavilion. Her work became of great importance to the Swedish garden developments, and during her life she got the name “flower princess”. She was very artistically talented, and besides the gardening, she was also a good photographer and painter. She often used motifs from Sofiero in her paintings, and many of her photographs show the children doing some gardening at Sofiero.
Crown Princess Margareta’s words of wisdom to success with a perennial flowerbed:
- Find the right place
- Show respect to the grounds, the cardinal points, and found of the flowerbed
- Let one and two year plants complement the perennials
- Let the earth appear as little as possible
- Place lower plants in front of higher ones
- The more you work with the plant’s mutual relationship in colour, forms and height, the more effect is achieved
- Don’t force the plants to things which are not necessary
- Place late blooming species on the most seen places, they look green and promising the whole summer, until their turn comes
In Memoriam of Darling Daisy
Her Royal Highness Princess Margaret Victoria Augusta Charlotte Norah of Connaught was born at Bagshot Park in Surrey in the United Kingdom on 15 January 1882. She was the daughter of His Royal Highness Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught, Duke of Strathearn and Earl of Sussex (son of Her Majesty Queen Victoria and His Royal Highness Prince Albert The Prince Consort of the United Kingdom) and Her Royal Highness Princess Louise Margaret of Prussia (daughter of His Royal Highness Prince Friedrich and Her Royal Highness Princess Anna Maria of Prussia, née Princess of Anhalt).
While travelling with her family, the 23-year-old Princess Margaret met Prince Gustaf Adolf of Sweden in El Cairo in Egypt in the beginning of 1905. It was love at first sight, and Prince Gustaf Adolf proposed to her at a dinner held by Lord Cromer at the British Consulate in Egypt. The wedding celebrations were held at Windsor Castle where the two married on 15 June 1905 in St. George’s Chapel. It was only days after the dissolution of the union with Norway.
Princess Margaret of Connaught now became Princess of Sweden and Duchess of Skåne.
It was a happy family and the news Princess wad adored by her subjects. In 1907, after the death of King Oscar II, Crown Prince Gustaf became Gustaf V – and Prince Gustaf Adolf and Princess Margareta became Crown Prince and Crown Princess of Sweden.
She gave birth to five children: Gustav Adolf (1906-1947), Sigvard (1907-2002), Ingrid (1910-2000), Bertil (1912-1997) and Carl Johan (1916-).
In the end of 1919, Crown Princess Margareta got troubles with her ears, and this was only to be the beginning. The 37-year-old Crown Princess was expecting her sixth child, but after suffering from malignant chicken pox and a bad chill, the insides of her jaws began festering. On 1 May 1920, the 38-year-old and pregnant Crown Princess passed away.
The news spread fast through the city of Stockholm. Prime Minister Hjalmar Branting who was holding his 1 May speech on Gärdet, paused and announced to the crowd: “Our Crown Princess is dead”. He ended his speech quickly and then hurried to the Royal Palace of Stockholm. Once there, it is said that he took Crown Prince Gustaf Adolf in his arms with the words “Dear, dear, what has happened?”
Crown Princess Magareta is buried in the Royal Cemetery at Haga.
The Flower Princess - Margareta and Sofiero.
In 1905, The King and Queen gave Sofiero to their grandchild Prince Gustaf Adolf and Princess Margareta after their wedding. As the daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Connaught, Princess Margareta had grown up at Bagshot Park in the United Kingdom – one of the times most worth-seeing parks. Her father, Prince Arthur, the Duke of Connaught, was himself a great landscaping gardener and was called “the country’s great, princely garden architect” by his countrymen. As a young girl, Margareta’s father hired a French artist, Madeleine Fleury (student of Claude Monet) as her teacher to encourage her artistic talents.
Princess Margareta became a pioneer to the gardening interest in Sweden. When she and her husband received Sofiero, it was decayed because no one had used it for a long time. She gave this description of it herself:
“Once upon a time there was a palace, built in Skåne, and that has one of the most beautiful views in the world. But when we received Sofiero, there was hardly anything there of flowers and plants. The whole place instead seemed more like the enchanted woods, where the fairytale princess laid asleep. Maybe it was nice for her, but we wished for something else, something more, and as quickly as possible began to think how we would beautify the of nature already so beautifully situated estate.”
Margareta planned and laid the foundation for Sofiero’s grand park and gardens, and wrote a few books about it herself. She involved her children, the staff and the occasional guests in the gardening – and as it turned out, one of her children especially inherited this interest. Princess Ingrid, later Queen of Denmark, was the one who created the park of Graasten Castle in Denmark.
For the Baltic Exhibition in Malmö In 1914, the Crown Princess herself planted the beautiful flower walk in front of the royal pavilion, now the Margareta pavilion. Her work became of great importance to the Swedish garden developments, and during her life she got the name “flower princess”. She was very artistically talented, and besides the gardening, she was also a good photographer and painter. She often used motifs from Sofiero in her paintings, and many of her photographs show the children doing some gardening at Sofiero.
Crown Princess Margareta’s words of wisdom to success with a perennial flowerbed:
- Find the right place
- Show respect to the grounds, the cardinal points, and found of the flowerbed
- Let one and two year plants complement the perennials
- Let the earth appear as little as possible
- Place lower plants in front of higher ones
- The more you work with the plant’s mutual relationship in colour, forms and height, the more effect is achieved
- Don’t force the plants to things which are not necessary
- Place late blooming species on the most seen places, they look green and promising the whole summer, until their turn comes
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