Ingrid of Sweden
Ingrid in 1954
Queen consort of Denmark
Tenure20 April 1947 – 14 January 1972
Born(1910-03-28)28 March 1910
Stockholm Palace, Stockholm, Sweden
Died7 November 2000(2000-11-07) (aged 90)
Fredensborg Palace, Fredensborg, Denmark
Burial14 November 2000
Roskilde Cathedral, Roskilde, Denmark
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1935; died 1972)​
Issue
Names
Ingrid Victoria Sofia Louise Margareta
HouseBernadotte
FatherGustaf VI Adolf of Sweden
MotherMargaret of Connaught
SignatureIngrid of Sweden's signature

Ingrid of Sweden (Ingrid Victoria Sofia Louise Margareta; 28 March 1910 – 7 November 2000) was Queen of Denmark from 20 April 1947 to 14 January 1972 as the wife of King Frederik IX and continued to be styled Queen Ingrid of Denmark after his death.

Born into the House of Bernadotte, she was the daughter of King Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden and his first wife, Princess Margaret of Connaught. In 1935, she married Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark and they had three daughters: Margrethe, the former queen of Denmark; Benedikte, now a princess of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg; and Anne-Marie, the former queen of the Hellenes.

In 1947, her husband became king on his father's death. As queen, Ingrid reformed the traditions of Danish court life, abolished many old-fashioned customs at court and created a more relaxed atmosphere at official receptions. King Frederik IX died in 1972, and Ingrid's daughter Margrethe became queen.

Early life

Princess Ingrid (far right) with her father, mother and three brothers in 1912.

Ingrid was born on 28 March 1910, at the Royal Palace in Stockholm as the third child and the only daughter of Gustaf Adolf, Crown Prince of Sweden and his first wife, Princess Margaret of Connaught. Her mother was a daughter of Queen Victoria's third son Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn by his wife Princess Louise Margaret of Prussia.

She was baptised Ingrid Victoria Sofia Louise Margareta in Slottskyrkan (the Royal Chapel) in Stockholm, Sweden on 5 May 1910. Her godparents were: the King and Queen of Sweden (her paternal grandparents); the Dowager Queen of Sweden (her paternal great-grandmother); the Duke and Duchess of Connaught and Strathearn (her maternal grandparents); the Dowager Grand Duchess of Baden (her paternal great-grandmother); the Empress of Russia (her mother's paternal first cousin); Princess Alexander of Teck (her mother's paternal first cousin); the Prince of Wales (her mother's paternal first cousin); Prince Adalbert of Prussia (her maternal second cousin); the Grand Duchess of Baden (her grandaunt); and the Dowager Duchess of Dalarna (her great-grandaunt).[1]

Ingrid and her family lived in apartments in the Royal Palace in Stockholm, in a mansion at Ulriksdal, near the capital, and in a summer residence, Sofiero Palace in Helsingborg, Scania in southern Sweden. Crown Princess Margaret founded a school for Ingrid with a small circle of Swedish noble girls. Ingrid was also given some domestic instruction as part of her education. As a child, she practiced cooking in her model cottage on the palace grounds and even washed the dishes after meals. The ability for a girl to cook, sew, and manage a household was seen as important at the time for royalty. In 1920, when Ingrid was just ten years old, her mother died from sepsis while in the eighth month of her sixth pregnancy.[2][3] After her mother's death, Ingrid spent several months of each year in the United Kingdom in the care of her grandfather. Observers suggested that Ingrid's strong self-discipline was shaped as an effect of her mother's death.[3] Her father remarried Lady Louise Mountbatten three years later. Louise was a second cousin of Ingrid's. Only a stillborn daughter resulted from her father's second marriage. Ingrid felt betrayed by her father when he remarried, and she was unkind to Crown Princess Louise. Ingrid and her father would not reconcile until many years later.[4]

Ingrid was taught history, art history, political science, and learned several languages. Her knowledge of art and culture was extended by long stays in Paris and Rome. Along with her father, stepmother and brother Prince Bertil, Ingrid took a five-month journey through the Middle East in 1934 - 1935. Ingrid interested in sports, especially horse-riding, skiing and tennis. Ingrid made her debut at the opening of the Swedish Riksdag in 1928 when she was noted to be “smartly dressed.” She was also noted to be an accomplished linguist, horsewoman, skier and skater, and dancer. Ingrid often played tennis against her grandfather King Gustav V. During her young adulthood, Ingrid was often seen driving her two-seat car around Stockholm. Besides gaining a reputation as a stylish young woman, Ingrid was known as being quite attractive. After her visit to the United States in 1939, Americans described Ingrid as "tall and very slender" with a "nicely modeled mouth and exquisite teeth."

Marriage

The newly married royal couple at their arrival in Copenhagen in 1935

The question of Ingrid's marriage was a hot topic of conversation in the 1920s. She was matched with various foreign royalties and was seen by some as a possible wife for the heir apparent to the British throne, the Prince of Wales, who was her second cousin.[5] Her mother, Margaret of Connaught, and the then-Prince of Wales' father, King George V, were first cousins, both being grandchildren of Queen Victoria. In 1928, Ingrid met the Prince of Wales in London. However, no engagement took place.[6] She was also considered as a match for Prince George of the United Kingdom, the fourth son of King George V.

On 15 March 1935, shortly before her 25th birthday, she was engaged to Frederik, the Crown Prince of Denmark and Iceland, who was 11 years her senior. They were related in several ways. As descendants of Oscar I of Sweden, they were third cousins. Through Leopold, Grand Duke of Baden, they were third cousins. And finally through Paul I of Russia, Frederik was a fourth cousin of Ingrid's mother.

The couple was married in Stockholm Cathedral on 24 May 1935 by the Archbishop of Uppsala, Erling Eidem. Ingrid wore the veil of Irish lace her late mother, Princess Margaret of Connaught, had worn at her wedding 30 years earlier. The veil has since been worn by all of Ingrid's female descendants as well as Mary Donaldson, the future Queen Consort of Denmark. She wore a crown of myrtle from a shrub her mother had brought with her from Osborne House in England to Sofiero Palace in Sweden. Carrying a sprig of myrtle in your wedding bouquet is a tradition that maintains to this day in the Swedish royal family and, with Ingrid, has continued into the Danish royal family when she brought cuttings from the shrub at Sofiero to be planted at Fredensborg Palace. Ingrid's second cousins Princess Ragnhild and Princess Astrid of Norway served as bridesmaids while Count Gustaf Bernadotte of Wisborg, son of Folke Bernadotte, was a page boy.

Among the guests at the wedding were Frederik's parents, King Christian X and Queen Alexandrine of Denmark; Ingrid's father and stepmother, Crown Prince Gustaf Adolf and Crown Princess Louise of Sweden; and Ingrid's grandparents, King Gustaf V of Sweden and the Duke of Connaught and Stathearn; as well as The King and Queen of the Belgians and The Crown Prince and Crown Princess of Norway.

The Swedish royal barge Vasaorden transported the couple to Dannebrog, the Danish royal yacht, on 24 May. Two days later, they arrived in Copenhagen aboard the yacht before leaving for a honeymoon to Rome. Her wedding was one of the greatest media events of the day in Sweden in 1935, and received so much attention that the media were criticised for it. Ingrid also appeared on the radio in 1935 and read a poem, something that was also given much attention.

Crown Princess

Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Ingrid on 9 May 1945, leaving Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen after the first opening of Parliament following the end of Nazi Germany's occupation of Denmark.

While she was Crown Princess, she was the official patron of the Girl Guides (1936), after having taken, and passed, the same tests all applicants were given. In 1940, before the occupation, she was the leader of the Danske Kvinders Beredskab (The Danish Women's war-effort society).[7] During the German occupation of Denmark in World War II, Ingrid, with her personal courage and integrity, influenced the Danish Royal House and its conduct in relation to the occupation forces, and won great popularity as a symbol of silent resistance and public patriotic moral. She showed solidarity toward the Danish population, and could often be seen on her bicycle or with her baby carriage on the streets of Copenhagen during the war. Her open defiance of the occupation forces made her grandfather, King Gustav of Sweden, worry about the risks, and in 1941, he sent a demand to her to be more discreet "for the sake of the dynasty" and its safety, but she reacted with anger and refused to obey, and she had the support of her spouse, who shared her views. One display of defiance shown by Ingrid was her positioning of the flags of Denmark, Sweden and the United Kingdom in the window of the nursery at Amalienborg, the royal residence in the centre of Copenhagen.

Queen consort

King Frederik IX and Queen Ingrid in the 1950s

Upon her husband's accession to the throne on 20 April 1947, she became the Queen of Denmark. As such, she reformed the traditions of Danish court life, abolished many old-fashioned customs at court and created a more relaxed atmosphere at official receptions. She was interested in gardening and art, and renovated the Gråsten Slot according to her own historical research about the palace's original appearance.

Widowed queen

Ingrid at a ship christening in 1983

In 1972, King Frederik IX died, and Ingrid was widowed at the age of 61. Her elder daughter, aged 31, became the new queen, and Ingrid now assumed a position as family matriarch. That same year, after having sworn to respect the Danish constitution, she was appointed Rigsforstander (formal regent) and representative of the monarch whenever her daughter (and later her grandsons) were absent, a task she performed on many occasions. This was exceptional; previously, only the Crown Prince had been allowed to act as regent in the absence of the monarch.

She was patron of a long line of social organizations, positions which, one after another, she eventually left to Princess Benedikte as years passed: Røde Kors, Ældre Sagen, Red Barnet, Løgum Klosters Refugium, and Fonden for Træer og Miljø. She also founded the organizations Kong Frederik og Dronning Ingrids fond til humanitære og kulturelle formål, Ingridfondet for South Jutland, Det kgl. Grønlandsfond, and Dronning Ingrids Romerske Fond til støtte af kulturelle og videnskabelige formål. She was described as dutiful, well-prepared and energetic.

Death

The grave of King Frederik IX and Queen Ingrid at Roskilde

Queen Ingrid died on 7 November 2000 at Fredensborg Palace, Fredensborg, with her three daughters—Queen Margrethe II, Princess Benedikte and Queen Anne-Marie of Greece—and ten grandchildren at her bedside. Thousands gathered outside Amalienborg Palace, her official residence, after her death was announced; flowers were left, candles were lit and hymns were sung in her honour.[8] Her funeral took place on 14 November 2000, and Ingrid was interred next to her husband, King Frederik IX, outside Roskilde Cathedral near Copenhagen. The funeral was attended by many crowned heads of Europe and other heads of state, among them the King and Queen of Sweden, the then Queen of Spain, the then Queen of the Netherlands, the King and Queen of Norway, the then King and then Queen of the Belgians, the then Grand Duke and then Grand Duchess of Luxembourg, the then Prince of Wales, the then Hereditary Prince of Monaco, the then President of Iceland Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson and former President of Finland Mauno Koivisto.[9]

Issue

Queen Ingrid and King Frederik IX have three daughters, ten grandchildren and twenty-two great-grandchildren.

Honours

Small vexillological symbol or pictogram in black and white showing the different uses of the flag Personal Standard of Queen Ingrid, introduced in 1948 and used until her death in 2000.

National

Foreign

Arms

Ancestry

References

Citations

  1. ↑ Roger Lundgren, Ingrid, Prinsesse af Sverige, Dronning af Danmark, People's Press, 2010. Retrieved 15 August 2013.
  2. ↑ "Crown Princess of Sweden – Death After Short Illness". The Times. 3 May 1920. p. 15.
  3. 1 2 "Ingrid, Queen Mother of Denmark". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 28 September 2018. Retrieved 28 September 2018.
  4. ↑ Roger Lundgren quoting close royal family members in Ingrid – prinsessa av Sverige, drottning av Danmark ISBN 978-91-85183-81-4 pp. 17-20
  5. ↑ "Historical documents - Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade". info.dfat.gov.au. Archived from the original on 5 February 2012. Retrieved 15 September 2015.
  6. ↑ "Historical documents - Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade". info.dfat.gov.au. Archived from the original on 5 February 2012. Retrieved 15 September 2015.
  7. ↑ Börge Outze & Aage Svendstorp (in Swedish): 5 år i bojor. Danmark under ockupationen 1940–1945 (5 years in chains. Denmark during the occupation) Aktiebolaget boktryck (1945) Hälsingborg
  8. ↑ Danish Queen Mother dies, BBC, 7 November 2000, archived from the original on 3 February 2014, retrieved 22 August 2013
  9. ↑ "Denmark buries beloved Queen Mother Ingrid". 15 November 2000. Archived from the original on 22 September 2023. Retrieved 8 March 2022.
  10. ↑ "Reply to a parliamentary question" (PDF). Parlament.gv.at (in German). p. 134. Archived (PDF) from the original on 1 May 2020. Retrieved 8 October 2012.
  11. ↑ Matikkala, Antti (2017). Suomen Valkoisen Ruusun ja Suomen Leijonan ritarikunnat (in Finnish). Helsinki: Edita. p. 497. ISBN 978-951-37-7005-1.
  12. ↑ "forseti". Forseti.is. Archived from the original on 3 January 2020. Retrieved 28 July 2022.
  13. ↑ "Onorificenze - Dettaglio del conferimento". quirinale.it. Archived from the original on 30 October 2013. Retrieved 15 September 2015.
  14. ↑ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 17 April 2015.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  15. ↑ Royal Thai Government Gazette (28 December 1960). "แจ้งความสำนักนายกรัฐมนตรี เรื่อง พระราชทานเครื่องราชอิสริยาภรณ์" (thajsky) Dostupné online

Bibliography

  • Bramsen, Bo (1992). Huset Glücksborg. Europas svigerfader og hans efterslægt [The House of Glücksburg. The Father-in-law of Europe and his descendants] (in Danish) (2nd ed.). Copenhagen: Forlaget Forum. ISBN 87-553-1843-6.
  • Lerche, Anna; Mandal, Marcus (2003). A royal family : the story of Christian IX and his European descendants. Copenhagen: Aschehoug. ISBN 9788715109577.
  • "Dansk Kvindebiografisk Leksikon - Ingrid". Kvinfo.dk. Archived from the original on 26 December 2013. Retrieved 12 January 2017. (In Danish)
  • Staffan Skott: Alla dessa Bernadottar (All of the Bernadottes) (1996) (In Swedish)
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