| Princess Ingeborg | |
|---|---|
| Duchess of Västergötland | |
| Princess Ingeborg of Denmark | |
| Spouse | Prince Carl, Duke of Västergötland |
| Issue | |
| Margaretha, Princess Axel of Denmark Märtha, Crown Princess of Norway Astrid, Queen of the Belgians Carl, Prince Bernadotte |
|
| Full name | |
| Ingeborg Charlotte Caroline Frederikke | |
| House | House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg House of Bernadotte |
| Father | Frederick VIII of Denmark |
| Mother | Louise of Sweden |
| Born | 2 August 1878 Charlottenlund Palace, Copenhagen, Denmark |
| Died | 11 March 1958 (aged 79) Stockholm, Sweden |
Princess Ingeborg of Denmark (Ingeborg Charlotta Carolina Frederikke Louise; Charlottenlund, Copenhagen, 2 August 1878 – Stockholm, 11 March/12 March 1958) was a Danish princess and a Swedish princess consort. She was the second daughter and fifth child of King Frederick VIII of Denmark and his queen, Louise of Sweden.
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Princess Ingeborg was born on 2 August 1878 at Charlottenlund Palace north of Copenhagen as the daughter of Crown Prince Frederick of Denmark, the eldest son of King Christian IX of Denmark. Her mother was Princess Louise of Sweden.
In May 1897, Princess Ingeborg was engaged to Prince Carl of Sweden, Duke of Västergötland. They married on 27 August 1897 in the chapel at Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen and spent their wedding trip in Germany. Prince Carl was the third son of King Oscar II of Sweden and Sophia of Nassau. They had four children: Margaretha, Märtha, Astrid, and Carl.
In 1947, on the occasion of their wedding anniversary, her spouse admitted that their marriage had been completely arranged by their respective fathers, and Ingeborg herself added : "I married a complete stranger!".
The marriage was popular because she was the granddaughter of the popular king Charles XV of Sweden, and she was a personal success in Sweden. It was said of her, that of all foreign princesses married into the Swedish royal house, she was perhaps the one best suited to be Queen consort of Sweden, and for the first ten years in Sweden, she almost was: from 1897 until 1907, Queen Sophia seldom showed herself at public occasions and Crown Princess Victoria spent most of her time abroad, so Princess Ingeborg thereby filled the position of first lady at the Swedish court.
She was interested in sports, especially ice skating, and at the automobile exhibition of Stockholm in 1903, she and the Crown Prince, Gustav, made a spontaneous demonstration trip in a car from Scania. In 1908, she accompanied Prince William to his wedding with Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna in Russia.
She lived a harmonious family life, and the family was known as "The happy family". The children were given a simple upbringing, and expected to learn household tasks: they were, for example, given a real stove in their play cottage, on which they cooked real food. She and Carl lived an informal and intimate family life with their children, and their family were generally referred to as "Prince Carl's".
Ingeborg created an easy atmosphere in the entertaining of her spouse's officer colleagues and was admired for her handling of the economic difficulties experienced when a bank they invested in crashed in 1922 and they had to sell their home.
Ingeborg was well liked and popular in Sweden because of her good humour, her easy-going and jolly personality and her informal way of acting. In 1905, the Norwegian government discussed making them king and queen of Norway, but the couple was relieved when this did not come about.
Princess Ingeborg has the distinction of being the grandmother of three European monarchs, King Harald V of Norway, King Baudouin of the Belgians, King Albert II of the Belgians. And through Princess Joséphine-Charlotte of Belgium, she is great-grandmother of a fourth one: Henri, Grand Duke of Luxembourg
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