Swedish Royal Wedding Look-Back: Gustaf Adolf and Sibylla

Following our first installment of ‘Swedish Royal Wedding Look-Backs’ – Gustaf Adolf and Margaret – yesterday, the TRF Blog would like to present our second installment, looking at the wedding of His Royal Highness Prince Gustaf Adolf, Duke of Västerbotten and Her Royal Highness Princess Sibylla of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.

The engagement between Gustaf Adolf and Sibylla was announced on January 16th, 1932 at the bride-to-be’s home, Callenberg Palace, in Coburg. Sibylla was the elder daughter of Charles Edward, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Princess Victoria Helena of Schleswig-Holstein; Gustaf Adolf was the eldest son of Crown Prince Gustaf Adolf of Sweden and Princess Margaret of Connaught. The couple had been introduced by Gustaf Adolf’s sister Ingrid in November 1931, at the wedding of Lady May Cambridge and Colonel Henry Abel Smith, where both Ingrid and Sibylla were bridesmaids.

Gustaf Adolf and Sibylla were married in Coburg in October 1932. Their civil ceremony took place on October 19th at Veste Castle, and their religious ceremony at the St Moritz Church on October 20th. The President of Nazi Germany, Paul von Hindenburg, decreed that the wedding – the first royal marriage to take place in republican Germany – should take place in a most official manner (this was despite the Coburgs being non-reigning; but Sibylla’s father was a member of the Nazi party), which resulted in several Nazi influences over the celebrations. During a procession through the streets of Coburg the night before the religious ceremony, some 4,000 Nazis participated as the royal party watched on.

For her religious ceremony, Sibylla wore a simple long-sleeved white gown, with a v-neckline and lace veil. A bouquet of white lilies and a string of pearls completed her look, while Gustaf Adolf wore the uniform of the Swedish military.

The couple were married for just over fourteen years, before Gustaf Adolf was killed in a plane crash just after take off in Copenhagen in January 1947. They had five children: Princess Margaretha, Mrs Ambler; Princess Birgitta of Sweden and Hohenzollern; Princess Désirée, Baroness Silfverschiöld; Princess Christina, Mrs Magnuson; and King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden. Princess Sibylla outlived her husband by twenty-five years.

Filed under Germany, Historical Royals, Sweden
Tagged House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Prince Gustaf Adolf Duke of Västerbotten, Sibylla of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Wedding.