On This Day: Death of Sweden’s Prince Bertil

Prince Bertil, Duke of Halland – the beloved uncle of the Swedish Royal Family – passed away twenty years ago on January 5, 1997 at Villa Solbacken. He was 84.

Born in February 1912, the Prince was the fourth child of Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden and Princess Margaret of Connaught. His siblings were Gustaf Adolf, Duke of Västerbotten; Sigvard Bernadotte, Count of Wisborg; Ingrid, Queen of Denmark; and Carl Johan Bernadotte, Count of Wisborg. Sadly, Bertil’s mother passed away in 1920 when Bertil was eight years old. His father remarried in 1923 to Lady Louise Mountbatten.

As he came of age, Prince Bertil joined the Swedish Navy, where most of his naval career during the 1920s and 1930s was spent on torpedo cruisers. During the Second World War, the Prince served as torpedo officer on several Swedish Navy ships before being assigned as the assistant naval attaché at the Swedish embassy in London for the period 1942-1945.

It was while in this position that Bertil met the love of his life – Welsh fashion model Lilian Craig. She was married at the time, but amicably divorced her husband in the late 1940s after the war ended. Bertil and Lilian kept their relationship private for a number of years, living between Saint-Maxime, France and Villa Solbacken in Stockholm. This was due to one thing: after the death of Prince Gustaf Adolf, Bertil’s eldest brother in 1947, Prince Bertil was the only adult in the line of succession behind his infant nephew, Carl Gustaf. It was thus expected that Prince Bertil would be needed as regent for the young Prince should he come to the throne while underage. If Bertil and Lilian were to marry, their marriage would not be approved by the King because Lilian was a commoner, and Bertil would lose his succession rights, like his brothers Sigvard and Carl Johan. Bertil and Lilian made the choice to put Sweden first, and did not marry until Bertil’s nephew was King and approved their marriage in 1976.

Prince Bertil and Princess Lilian undertook a number of engagements for the King after their wedding, continuing to support the royal family over the next three decades.

His funeral took place on January 13, at the Palace Chapel of the Royal Palace of Stockholm. Prince Bertil was buried at the Royal Burial Ground in Haga Park.

Filed under Historical Royals, Sweden
Tagged Anniversary, Death, Prince Bertil Duke of Halland.

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