Princess Désirée, Baroness Silfverschiöld

Désirée was born on 2 June 1938 as the third daughter and child of Prince Gustaf Adolf, Duke of Västerbotten (son of Crown Prince Gustaf Adolf of Sweden and his late wife, Princess Margaret of Connaught) and his wife, Princess Sibylla of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (daughter of Prince Charles Edward, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and his wife, Princess Victoria Adelaide of Schleswig-Holstein).

Desiree was christened on 30 June 1938 at Solna Church in the Solna Municipality of Stockholm, Sweden. She was given the names: Desiree after her ancestor Queen Desideria and Sibylla after her mother, Princess Sibylla.

She grew up at the family home, Haga Palace outside Stockholm, with her three sisters; together they were known as the Haga Princesses.

In November 1960, Désirée accompanied her elder sister Princess Birgitta for a visit to the United States on behalf of their grandfather King Gustaf VI Adolf for the 50th anniversary of The American-Scandinavian Foundation. In their honour a ball was organised for the two princesses at the Renaissance Blackstone Hotel in Chicago by Mayor Richard Daley.[1]

The Silfverschiöld couple after their wedding.

Désirée's engagement to Baron Nils-August Otto Carl Niclas Silfverschiöld, (1934-2017) was announced on 18 December 1963, and the couple married on 5 June 1964 in Storkyrkan in Stockholm. As a result of her non-royal marriage, she lost her style of Royal Highness and her position as a princess of Sweden,[2] but was given the courtesy Princess Désirée, Baroness Silfverschiöld by the King. Under the Swedish constitution of that time, she, as a woman, and her descendants were not eligible to inherit the throne, and when this was later changed to absolute primogeniture the right of succession was limited to the descendants of her brother, King Carl XVI Gustaf.

Princess Désirée, Baroness Silfverschiöld's marriage has produced three children: Carl (b. 1965), Christina-Louise (b. 1966), and Hélène (b. 1968). In 1976, Hélène was a bridesmaid at the weddings of King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia, and of Prince Bertil and Princess Lilian.[3]

Since getting married, Silfverschiöld lives in the family's home at Koberg Castle and at Gåsevadholm Castle in Halland.[4]

Silfverschiöld is Crown Princess Victoria's godmother. Her grandson Ian was a pageboy at Victoria's wedding.[5]

Princess Désirée, Baroness Silfverschiöld, has occasionally attended Nobel Prize festivities and public royal-family events in Stockholm in a semi-official capacity, sometimes wearing tiaras and jewelry belonging to the royal family.[6] She also represented Sweden in first receiving Emperor Akihito of Japan when he arrived for a state visit in 2000.[7] She was widowed in 2017.[8]