| Princess Margaret of Connaught | |
|---|---|
| Crown Princess of Sweden; Duchess of Scania |
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| Spouse | Gustaf Adolf, Crown Prince of Sweden |
| Issue | |
| Prince Gustaf Adolf, Duke of Västerbotten Prince Sigvard, Duke of Uppland Ingrid, Queen of Denmark Prince Bertil, Duke of Halland Count Carl Johan, Bernadotte af Wisborg |
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| Full name | |
| Margaret Victoria Charlotte Augusta Norah | |
| House | House of Bernadotte House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha |
| Father | Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn |
| Mother | Princess Louise Margaret of Prussia |
| Born | 15 January 1882 Bagshot Park, Surrey |
| Died | 1 May 1920 (aged 38) Stockholm |
Princess Margaret of Connaught (Margaret Victoria Charlotte Augusta Norah; later Crown Princess of Sweden; 15 January 1882 – 1 May 1920) was the daughter of Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught, third son of Queen Victoria, and his wife, Princess Luise Margarete of Prussia. A Princess of the United Kingdom, she was nicknamed Daisy and in Sweden was known as Margareta.[1]
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The Princess was born at Bagshot Park and baptised in the Private Chapel of Windsor Castle on 11 March 1882 by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Archibald Tait, and her godparents were: Queen Victoria (her paternal grandmother); Wilhelm I, German Emperor (her maternal great-granduncle, who was represented by the German Ambassador Count Münster); the German Crown Princess (her paternal aunt, who was represented by her own sister Princess Christian); Prince and Princess Friedrich Karl of Prussia (her maternal grandparents, for whom her paternal uncle the Duke of Edinburgh and aunt Princess Beatrice stood proxy) and the Prince of Wales (her paternal uncle).[2] She was confirmed in the same chapel in March 1898, aged 16. Confirmation traditionally marked the end of childhood, after which a girl would 'come out' and be considered for marriage.
When Princess Margaret of Connaught was 23 and her younger sister Princess Patricia of Connaught was 18, both girls were among the most beautiful and eligible princesses in Europe. Their uncle, King Edward VII, wanted his nieces to marry a European king or crown prince. In January 1905, the Duke and Duchess of Connaught visited Portugal where they were received by King Carlos and his queen, Amélie of Orléans, whose sons Luís Filipe, Duke of Braganza, and Prince Manuel entertained the young British princesses. The Portuguese 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 (later, Alfonso married another granddaughter of Queen Victoria, Princess Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg). But neither of these expectations would become true; Margaret and Patricia had other destinies.
The Connaughts continued their trip to Egypt and Sudan. In Cairo they met Prince Gustaf Adolf of Sweden, the future Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden, grandson of the Swedish King Oscar II. Originally, it was Margaret's sister Patricia who had been considered a suitable match for Gustaf, when he was, as it is believed, arranged without his knowledge to meet the two sisters[3]. Gustaf and Margaret fell 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. Her parents were very happy with the match even though the Prince was ten months younger 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 15 June 1905 in St. George's Chapel, at Windsor Castle. The couple spent their honeymoon in Ireland, and arived in Sweden the 8 July 1905.
She became the first wife of Prince Gustaf Adolf of Sweden and his Duchess of Scania on 15 June 1905. When Gustaf Adolf's father, Crown Prince Gustaf, acceeded to the throne as King Gustaf V in 1907, the couple became Crown Prince and Princess of Sweden.
The marriage between Margaret and Gustaf Adolf is described as a happy love match[4]. Gustaf Adolf felt great pressure from the "Prussian" military discipline with which he had been raised by his mother, and he was greatly affected and attracted to Margaret's English customs, which contrasted with that of his mother's[5].
After her arrival in Sweden, Margaret, who in Sweden was called "Margareta", received lessons in the Swedish language, and asked to be educated in Swedish history and social welfare. After two years, she spoke good Swedish. During her first years in Sweden, Margaret behaved with great seriousness and was therefore regarded as stiff, but the view of her changed because of her great interest in sports, where she showed a more relaxed and natural manner. Margaret took a great interest in many forms of sports; she used the winters for skiing, ice skating and playing hockey, and played tennis and golf during the summers. She also corresponded with various relatives.
Margaret was also interested in art. She photographed, painted, and took a great interest in gardening. She and her spouse received as a wedding gift Sofiero Palace, where they spent their summers and made a great effort in the gardens of the estate. The gardens of Sofiero were in an English style, and her children participated in their improvement. In 1915, Margaret as Kronprinsessan Margareta published the book Vår trädgård på Sofiero ("Our Garden at Sofiero") and two years later also Från blomstergården ("From the Flower Garden") illustrated with her own drawings and photographs, which were sold for the benefit of household schools with childcare.
During World War I, Margaret created a sewing society in Sweden to support the Red Cross. The society was called Kronprinsessans Centralförråd för landstormsmäns beklädnad och utrustning ("The Crown Princess's central storage for clothing and equipment of the home guard"), which was to equip the Swedish armed forces with suitable underwear. When paraffin supplies ran low she organized a candle collection, and in November 1917 she instituted a scheme to train girls to work on the land. She also acted as intermediary for relatives separated by the war. With her help, private letters and requests to trace men missing in action were passed on. She was also active in her work on behalf of prisoners. She aided prisoners of war in camps around Europe, especially British nationals. Margaret's efforts during the war were pro-British, in contrast to that of her mother-in-law's strictly pro-German attitude. In 1917, Margaret organized Margaretainsamlingen för de de fattiga ("The Margaret fundraiser for the poor"). At the end of the war, when the final steps towards full democracy were taken in Sweden, Margaret's positive attitude to reform influenced her husband the Crown Prince. Unlike the attitude of her reform-hostile in-laws, King Gustaf and Queen Victoria, this is believed to have eased political tensions and preserved the Swedish monarchy.[6].
On 1 May 1920, Crown Princess Margaret died suddenly in Stockholm. The official announcement said infection set in following a mastoid operation. At the time, she was eight months pregnant and expecting her sixth child.
VA: Member Second Class of the Royal Order of Victoria and Albert
CI: Companion of the Order of the Star of India
DJStJ: Dame of Justice of St John
Upon her marriage in 1905, Princess Margaret ceased to use the arms of the United Kingdom, with an inescutcheon of Saxony, the whole differenced by a label argent of five points, the first and fifth bearing fleurs-de-lys azure, the second and fourth shamrocks vert, and the central point a cross gules. In 1917, the inescutcheon was dropped by royal warrant from George V.[7] Instead she used the arms of a Princess of Sweden and Duchess of Scania.
| Name | Birth | Death | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Prince Gustaf Adolf, Duke of Västerbotten | 22 April 1906 | 26 January 1947 | Father of Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden. |
| Prince Sigvard, Duke of Uppland | 7 June 1907 | 4 February 2002 | Later Count Sigvard Bernadotte af Wisborg. |
| Princess Ingrid | 28 March 1910 | 7 November 2000 | Later Queen-consort of Denmark; mother of the present Queen Margrethe II of Denmark and former Queen-consort Anne-Marie of Greece. |
| Prince Bertil, Duke of Halland | 28 February 1912 | 5 January 1997 | Married Lilian Davies; no issue. |
| Prince Carl Johan, Duke of Dalarna | 31 October 1916 | Later Count Carl Johan Bernadotte af Wisborg, married twice, had adopted issue. He is the last living great-grandchild of Queen Victoria & Albert, Prince Consort |
Crown Princess Margaret was a grandmother of the current King of Sweden, Carl XVI Gustaf, as well as of her namesake, the current Queen of Denmark, Margrethe II, and of the former Queen-consort of Greece, Princess Anne-Marie of Denmark.
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