Alice Sommerlath

Alice de Toledo Sommerlath (née Alice Soares de Toledo; 25 May 1906 – 9 March 1997) was the mother of Queen Silvia, wife of King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden.

In this Portuguese name, the first or maternal family name is Soares and the second or paternal family name is de Toledo.
Alice Sommerlath
Born
Alice Soares de Toledo

(1906-05-25)25 May 1906
São Manuel, São Paulo, Brazil
Died9 March 1997(1997-03-09) (aged 90)
Drottningholm Palace, Ekerö, Sweden
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1925; died 1990)​
ChildrenRalf Sommerlath
Walther Ludwig Sommerlath
Hans Jörg Sommerlath
Silvia, Queen of Sweden
Grave of Walther and Alice Sommerlath

Early life

Sommerlath was born in the municipality of São Manuel in the Brazilian state of São Paulo,[1][2] she was the youngest child and only daughter of Elisa Novais Soares (1881–1928) and her husband Arthur Floriano de Toledo (1873–1935).

Marriage and later life

Alice Soares de Toledo married German entrepreneur Walther Sommerlath (1901–1990) on 10 December 1925 at Santa Cecília, São Paulo, eventually moving to Germany with him. There, the couple had four children:

In 1932, date on which Brazilian women were considered eligible to vote,[3] she came to hold in her own right: the title of elector, nomenclature that is a remnant of the Brazilian monarchical period.[4]

From 1937 through 1947, they lived in Berlin.[5]

From 1947 to 1957, the family lived in São Paulo, where Sommerlath's husband held positions such as president of the Brazilian subsidiary of Swedish company Uddeholm AB.[6] In 1957, the Sommerlaths returned to Heidelberg.

Sommerlath was widowed in October 1990. She suffered from heart disease and senile dementia[6] and died at Drottningholm Palace, west of Stockholm in 1997.[6] Her remains were buried in Heidelberg beside her husband's.[6]

References
  1. "Ancestry of Queen Silvia of Sweden (b. 1943)". 2012-12-04. Archived from the original on 2012-12-04. Retrieved 2010-06-28.
  2. Genealogia de Alice Soares de Toledo (in Portuguese)
  3. "A Conquista do Voto Feminino - Câmara dos Deputados".
  4. "História Hoje: Lei do Império que criou título de eleitor completa 136 anos". 7 January 2017.
  5. "The Queen speaks about the report relating to her father, Walther Som…". 2018-12-10. Archived from the original on 2018-12-10. Retrieved 2018-12-10.
  6. "Aftonbladet nyheter: Silvia ärver 57000 efter mamma". 2018-12-10. Archived from the original on 2018-12-10. Retrieved 2018-12-10.
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