Princess Sibylla of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha should have been Queen of Sweden, but fate intervened.
She was born in 1908 as the eldest daughter of Charles Edward, the last Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and Princess Victoria Adelaide of Schleswig-Holstein. On 19 October 1932, she married Prince Gustaf Adolf, Duke of Västerbotten, the eldest son of Crown Prince Gustav Adolf of Sweden (later King Gustaf VI Adolf) and Princess Margaret of Connaught.
They went on to have five children: Princess Margaretha (born 1934), Princess Birgitta (born 1937), Princess Désirée (born 1938), Princess Christina (born 1943) and the future King Carl XVI Gustaf (born 1946). Tragically, Prince Gustaf Adolf was killed in an aeroplane crash in 1947. This meant that Princess Sibylla would not be Crown Princess, nor even Queen of Sweden. Her most important task now became raising the future King of Sweden.
Roger Lundgren’s book Sibylla: Mother of a King takes a look at this rather overshadowed princess. The book has been translated from the original Swedish, and there are some instances where this is particularly noticeable. There are a few cases where variants of names are used sometimes within the same page, which can be confusing. A similar “problem” occurs when the author switches between nicknames and regular names.
Otherwise, I really loved this book, and I am glad it has been made available to English speakers. Princess Sibylla did a lot of good for the people of Sweden and raised five children in a challenging situation. The learn more about the woman behind the Princess has truly been a privilege.
Sibylla: Mother of a King by Roger Lundgren is available now in the US and the UK.
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