Wales celebrates its very own Swedish princess
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She might be a Swedish royal and the Duchess of Halland, but Princess Lilian, who turned 93 on Saturday is also one of the more illustrious daughters of the town of Swansea in Wales. Newspaper Wales on Sunday has marked the princess’s birthday by looking into her background and ancestry.
Like very few other royals, Lilian was born into a working-class family. She grew up in “a tiny terraced house” in Swansea. She met Sweden’s Prince Bertil during the Second World War, but the couple were barred from marrying by successive Swedish kings Gustav V and Gustav VI Adolf (several other Swedish princes married without the king’s permission, forfeiting their titles and rights to the throne). It was only in 1976 that the current king (Bertil’s nephew) relented and allowed Lilian into the family.
Ancestry researchers quoted by the newspaper sound thrilled with their ‘discoveries’:
“We were charmed, we didn’t realise it was the most magical story. It’s a real-life fairytale. She’s loved in Sweden where she has a reputation for being a wonderful woman.”
Read the full article here.
September 3rd, 2008 at 8:17 am
Being from Swansea myself I am happy to know there is another Swansea Jack living in Stockholm….even though she is living in a palace and I am in a two-bedroomed….it´s cool all the same!
September 4th, 2008 at 11:30 am
Well that makes three of us then! I guess she must have lived next to the old vetch (that’s the only underpass I know of near the quadrant). I wonder how much she remembers of the old place!
September 5th, 2008 at 10:44 am
I love it, how do I find myself a Swedish princess to marry?
February 7th, 2009 at 2:08 am
Garden Street ran parallel to Wellington Street, between Plymouth St and Greenfield St. The nearest that I can say where it was is the back of Debenhams where the buses are for Cardiff and London. I think this is the underpass referred to.