Prince Bertil, Duke of Halland

Prince Bertil, Duke of Halland (Bertil Gustaf Oskar Carl Eugén; 28 February 1912 – 5 January 1997), was a member of the Swedish royal family. He was the third son of King Gustaf VI Adolf and his first wife, Princess Margaret of Connaught, as well as the uncle of King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark and Queen Anne-Marie of Greece. From 1973 to 1979 he was heir presumptive to his nephew King Carl XVI Gustaf and the Swedish throne.

Prince Bertil
Duke of Halland
Bertil in 1964
Born(1912-02-28)28 February 1912
Stockholm Palace, Stockholm, Sweden
Died5 January 1997(1997-01-05) (aged 84)
Villa Solbacken, Djurgården, Stockholm, Sweden
Burial13 January 1997
Royal Cemetery, Solna, Sweden
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1976)​
Names
Bertil Gustaf Oskar Carl Eugén
HouseBernadotte
FatherGustaf VI Adolf
MotherMargaret of Connaught
ReligionChurch of Sweden
Bertil arrives for an event at the Nordic Museum about 1950

Early life

Bertil was born 28 February 1912 at Stockholm, as the fourth of five children born to Princess Margaret of Connaught and Crown Prince Gustaf Adolf of Sweden. His siblings included: Prince Gustaf Adolf, Duke of Vasterbotten, Prince Sigvard, Duke of Uppland, Princess Ingrid and Prince Carl Johan, Duke of Dalarna.

The family lived in apartments at Stockholm Palace in Stockholm, at Ulriksdal Palace near the capital in Ulriksdal and at the summer residence: Sofiero Castle in Helsingborg in the southernmost province of Sweden, Scania.[1]

Royal role

Bertil was granted a very old dukedom, one that was bestowed in the Middle Ages on various Danish and Swedish royal relatives, such as Benedict, Duke of Halland. After his eldest brother, Prince Gustaf Adolf, died in 1947, leaving an infant son, Prince Carl Gustaf, in the line of succession, and because his elder brother Sigvard had already given up his place in the succession (owing to a constitutionally unacceptable marriage), it seemed likely that Bertil could one day become regent. After Carl Gustaf became king, Bertil remained the next in line to the throne (until the birth of Prince Carl Philip in 1979), and continued to act as the King's deputy.

When the Act of Succession was changed in 1980, rights to the throne were restricted to Carl XVI Gustaf and his descendants; however, a special addendum was made for Bertil's case, so that he became third (and, after the birth of Princess Madeleine in 1982, fourth) in line to the throne.

Personal life

Bertil became a naval officer; and, during the Second World War, he served as Swedish naval attaché at the embassy in London.

In 1943, Bertil had met his long-term partner, Welsh commoner Lilian Craig. However, in order to preserve his place in the royal succession, Bertil and Lilian did not marry for decades. They lived together discreetly, as a fully private arrangement, from the 1940s until their marriage was announced and took place in 1976. Their common base was a home in Sainte-Maxime, in the south of France.[2]

Since his life with Craig was not official, Prince Bertil's single status meant he was suggested as a match for, among others, Princess Margaret of the United Kingdom.[3] After the death of Gustaf VI Adolf in 1973, the new king, Carl XVI Gustaf, married a non-royal woman and approved the marriage of Bertil and Lilian, which took place at Drottningholm Palace on 7 December 1976.

Bertil was fond of cars, owning a rare Aston Martin DB2[4] and a Chevrolet Corvette.[5] Volvo asked him to open the Volvo Halifax Assembly plant in 1963 in Nova Scotia, Canada. A parking garage in Sainte-Maxime is named after him.

Prince Bertil was a keen supporter and practitioner of various sports, notably tennis and boules. In 1947, he was elected Chairman of both the Swedish Sports Confederation and Sweden's Olympic Committee. He was also a member of the fine-dining society La Chaine des Rotisseurs.

He died at his home the Villa Solbacken in Stockholm in 1997, with Princess Lilian at his side. Their grave is at the Royal Cemetery in Haga Park.

Military ranks

Honours

National Honours

Foreign honours

Arms
Bertil's coat of arms

On his creation as Duke of Halland, Prince Bertil was granted use of a coat of arms based on the Arms of Dominion of Sweden, with the arms of Halland in the third quarter.

Ancestry

References
  1. "Queen Ingrid of Denmark". Daily Telegraph. 8 Nov 2000.
  2. "HRH Princess Lilian of Sweden". Daily Telegraph. 10 Mar 2013.
  3. "H R H The Princess Margaret". Daily Telegraph.
  4. "Originally the property of HRH Prince Bertil of Sweden 1952 Aston Martin DB2 Drophead Coupé". Bonhams.
  5. "Restoring HRH Prince Bertil of Sweden's Corvette". GM Heritage.
  6. Sveriges statskalender för skottåret 1964 (in Swedish). Uppsala: Fritzes offentliga publikationer. 1964. p. 349.
  7. Hård af Segerstad, Pia, ed. (1969-10-18). "Dag för dag". Svenska Dagbladet (in Swedish). p. 13. Retrieved 2 October 2023.
  8. Nordenvall, Per (1998). Kungliga Serafimerorden: 1748-1998 (in Swedish). Stockholm: Kungl. Maj:ts orden. pp. 58, 444. ISBN 9163067447. SELIBR 8364835.
  9. Sveriges statskalender för året 1955 (in Swedish). Stockholm: Fritzes offentliga publikationer. 1955. p. 127.
  10. "Besök på ordenssalarna". www.phaleristica.com (in Swedish). 8 June 2016. Retrieved 18 September 2019.
  11. Sveriges statskalender för skottåret 1940 (in Swedish). Uppsala: Fritzes offentliga publikationer. 1940. p. 5.
  12. Sveriges statskalender för året 1950 (in Swedish). Stockholm: Fritzes offentliga publikationer. 1950. p. 5.
  13. Sveriges statskalender för året 1955 (in Swedish). Stockholm: Fritzes offentliga publikationer. 1955. p. 5.
  14. "Tildelinger av ordener og medaljer" [Awards of medals and medals]. www.kongehuset.no (in Norwegian). Royal Court of Norway. Retrieved 2022-02-17.
  15. Royal Thai Government Gazette (28 December 1960). "แจ้งความสำนักนายกรัฐมนตรี เรื่อง พระราชทานเครื่องราชอิสริยาภรณ์" (PDF) (in Thai). Archived from the original (PDF) on April 5, 2015. Retrieved 2019-05-08. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  16. "Många ordnar utdelade vid drottningbesöket" [Many orders awarded at the Queen's visit]. Svenska Dagbladet (in Swedish). 9 June 1956. p. A13. Retrieved 26 October 2022.
  17. "Visit of Sweden and official dinner". Retrieved 16 December 2020.
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