Women who were passed over – Sweden

Sweden introduced absolute primogeniture in 1980 and immediately gained a Crown Princess. Before this change, the Swedish monarchy used agnatic-cognatic primogeniture, which only allowed women to rule if there were no more male dynasts. Sweden was originally an elective monarchy, but it became hereditary during the reign of King Gustav I. Between 1810 and 1980, agnatic primogeniture was used, meaning women were barred from inheriting the throne.

As such, we will begin our list of women who were passed over from the reign of King Gustav I and assume that absolute primogeniture would be used.

Catherine of Sweden

Catherine was the eldest surviving child of  King Charles IX of Sweden and his first wife, Maria of the Palatinate-Simmern. She was born on 10 November 1584. Her three elder siblings, including one brother, had died young. Two younger siblings would also die young, leaving Catherine as the only child from her parents’ marriage. After her mother’s death in 1589, her father remarried to Christina of Holstein-Gottorp. This marriage gave her two surviving half-brothers and a half-sister. In reality, the throne passed to her younger half-brother, Gustavus Adolphus, who became the father of Christina, Queen of Sweden.

Catherine married John Casimir of Palatinate-Zweibrücken in 1615, and they went on to have five surviving children. She died on 13 December 1638.  Her eldest son, Charles, became the chosen heir of her niece, Queen Christina, and thus she became the mother of the King of Sweden.

Hedvig Sophia of Sweden

Hedvig Sophia was born on 26 June 1681 as the eldest child of King Charles XI of Sweden and Ulrike Eleonore of Denmark. Her younger brother became King Charles XII after the death of their father in 1697. On 12 May 1698, Hedvig Sophie married Frederick IV, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp, and they had one son together. Her grandson was Emperor Peter III of Russia. She was regent for her son between 1702 and 1708. She died on 22 December 1708.

Louise of Sweden

Louise was born on 31 October 1851 as the eldest and ultimately only surviving child of the future King Charles XV of Sweden and Louise of the Netherlands. Her little brother, Carl Oscar, died at the age of one year. Her father did make several attempts to have her recognised as his heir, but as he had a brother, the necessity of this wasn’t seen. In 1869, she married the future King Frederick VIII of Denmark, and they had eight children together. She died on 20 March 1926. Her father was succeeded by his brother, who became King Oscar II.

Margaretha of Sweden

Margaretha was born on 31 October 1934 as the eldest child of Prince Gustaf Adolf, Duke of Västerbotten, the eldest son of the future King Gustaf VI Adolf, and Princess Sibylla of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. She would be the eldest of four sisters and one brother, the future King Carl XVI Gustaf. Their father died in a plane crash in 1947, making her young brother the heir to their grandfather. On 30 June 1964, she married John Ambler, and they went on to have three children together. They separated in the 1990s but never officially divorced. Her husband died in 2008. When Sweden introduced absolute primogeniture in 1980, this was only done for the descendants of her brother.