"There is No Finer Person:" Princess Désirée, Baroness Silfverschiöld (1938-2026)

The Royal Palace announcement

 21 January 2026

"Princess Désirée has passed away.

HM The King’s sister Princess Désirée, Baroness Silfverschiöld, passed away peacefully in her home at Koberg in Västergötland on Wednesday, 21 January 2026, surrounded by her family. The Princess was 87 years old.

On the occasion of the death of Princess Désirée, the following statement is made by HM The King: 

With great sadness, I have today received the news that my sister, Princess Désirée, has passed away.

Many warm family memories were created in the home of the Silfverschiöld family in Västergötland – a place in Sweden that came to mean a great deal to my sister.

Together with my family, I send my condolences to Princess Désirée’s children and their families."

Marlene A Eilers Koenig collection (all images with the exception of the Getty photos)

Princess Désirée  Elisabeth Sibylla of Sweden was born on June 2, 1938, at Haga Palace, the third daughter of Hereditary Prince Gustaf Adolf of Sweden, Duke of Västerbotten,  and Princess Sibylla of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. She and her three sisters, Margaretha (1934), Birgitta (1937-2024), and Christina (1943) were known as the Hagasessorna (the Haga Princesses).  The princesses did not have succession rights to the Swedish throne, which was limited solely to males.

The line of succession in June 1938 was Crown Prince Gustav Adolf (grandfather), Hereditary Prince Gustaf Adolf (father), Prince Bertil, Carl Johan (uncles), and Prince Wilhelm (great-uncle), Prince Carl, Duke of Västergötland, and Prince Eugen.   The last two princes were the younger brothers of King Gustav V. Eugen never married, and Carl's only son, Prince Carl, renounced his rights upon marriage.  Prince Sigvard (son of the Crown Prince) and Prince Lennart (son of Wilhelm) had also renounced their rights when they married.  A Swedish prince could not marry a "private man's daughter" without losing his title and succession rights.  

In February 1946, Carl Johan also forfeited his rights and titles upon marrying a commoner.   The majority of males with succession rights were elderly, except for the Hereditary Prince and his younger brother, Prince Bertil.   

Five years after Désirée's birth, Sibylla gave birth to a fourth daughter, Christina.  At the time, there were no serious discussions in Sweden about allowing female succession.   On April 30, 1946, the nation breathed a sigh of relief when a son, Carl Gustaf, was born.   

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 The princess's baptism -- in the Lutheran Church -- took place on June 30, 1938, at the Solna Church in Stockholm.  The name Désirée was for the infant princess's great-great-great-great-grandmother, Bernardine Eugénie Désirée Clary, wife of Jean-Baptiste Jules Bernadotte, who in 1818 became the King of Sweden and Norway.   

The princess and her two older sisters joined the Swedish Girl Scouts in December 1946.   Désiree's early education took place in the palace before she and her sisters attended private school.  She was a good sportswoman, a "school champion in slalom skiing."  As a teenager, she also enjoyed Dixieland Jazz.

 Désirée was only eight years old when her father, Hereditary Prince Gustaf Adolf, was killed in a plane crash on January 26, 1947, at Copenhagen's Kastrup Airport.  The prince was returning home after attending a hunting party in the Netherlands, hosted by Prince Bernhard.

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On October 29, 1950,  King Gustav V died, and Désirée's grandfather succeeded to the throne as King Gustaf VI Adolf.  Her little brother, only nine months old when his father was killed, was now the Crown Prince of Sweden.  The family lived in the Royal Palace, a comfortable and familiar place for Princess Sibylla and her children.

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 Désirée and her sisters all enjoyed winter sports, often spending holidays with their Danish first cousins,  Margrethe, Benedikte, and Anne Marie.   

The future Queen Margrethe II once said of her cousins: "One more beautiful than the other."  She also thought they were "very advanced with nylon stockings and décolletages at the time, when the three of us from Denmark certainly were not. I can well remember our holy indignation over here."  

The three Danish princesses, however, had succession rights to the Danish throne, following a change to their constitution in 1953.

In December 1952, the 14-year-old princess and her two older sisters were invited to the opening of the movie, The Greatest Show on Earth.  One assumes the young princess was delighted to be included. Unfortunately, "the film was forbidden to youths under 15."  At the last minute, to no avail, the film company tried to obtain a special permit for the princess.   A "red-faced film official" had to call the palace to explain why Désirée could not join her sisters.   She returned home while Margaretha and Birgitta remained, and no doubt, told their crestfallen sister about the movie.

Désirée's confirmation in the Lutheran Church on July 2, 1954,  was marred when her mother, Princess Sibylla, drove over a railroad crossing when the red lights were flashing at Färjestaden Station on Öland.  Two months later, Sybilla, who admitted her action, was fined $300 for "reckless driving" by a local court.  She acknowledged she was driving to her daughter's confirmation.

She was known as the "pedalling princess" because she enjoyed riding her bike from Haga Palace to Stockholm, where she and her sisters would see movies or the theater.   On her 18th birthday, she graduated from the Franska School.  A photograph of the Princess was released, showing her wearing the "school hat," looking into a mirror.  One caption described her as "quite a grown-up and an attractive young lady."

A profile of the three eldest Haga Princesses in the Ottawa Journal in March 1957 noted that Désirée was "almost the exact opposite of her sisters in looks as in every other respect."  She had inherited "the French Bernadotte blood," and "is dark, graceful and lively -- very much a tomboy at times, so her friends say."

The writer noted that the princess "speaks with her hands," enjoys dancing, and has "sparkling good looks."

The international press, including the Associated Press, noted that there were more eligible princesses than princes in the late 1950s, but the statistics did not stop the speculation about who these princesses would marry.  In September 1957, there were reports that Désiree and the exiled King Simeon of Bulgaria were "linked romantically" because they were photographed together at an elk hunt in Oland, Sweden.  One U.S. gossip columnist wrote that the princess and the former king "may be readying an announcement."  He also described the princess as "dee-sirable."  

More than a year later,  there were reports that Désirée would marry the future King Constantine II of the Hellenes.  These reports were published in August 1958 when the princess joined the Greek Royal Family for a holiday in Corfu.  Unfortunately, Désirée, who was accompanied by Constantine's sister. Princess Irene suffered a fractured arm and dislocated knee when the jeep she was driving overturned.

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The rumors of an engagement persisted.  A few days after the accident, newspapers published a photograph of Désirée, with Constantine standing behind her at a fiesta on Corfu.  Neither royal house would confirm or deny that the future king and the Swedish princess were engaged ... or about to become engaged.  Several days after the accident, the princess returned to Sweden.    

In August 1959, the Swedish newspaper, Expressen, reported that the engagement between Désirée, 21, and 19-year-old Tino was about to be announced.  Palace sources told the paper that Princess Sibylla had agreed to the engagement "within the next few weeks.  The princess and two of her sisters, Margaretha and Birgitta, were about to leave for Greece, according to the Associated Press.

The three princesses spent two weeks on Corfu with Constantin and his family.  According to gossip columnist Cholly Knickerbocker, Queen Frederica's adviser, Mr. Pipinelli, traveled to Sweden to discuss the wedding, scheduled for June 1960, when Constantine turned 21.  Although it was rumored that Queen Frederika encouraged a marriage between her son and the Swedish princess, she did not include this in her memoirs.

[In 1964. King Constantine II married Désirée's first cousin, Princess Anne Marie of Denmark.]

In January 1958, the princess completed a nurse training course in Stockholm, where she learned child care.   Eleven months later,  the Palace announced that Désirée had enrolled in a two-year course to become a kindergarten teacher.  She joined 19 other young women at a cooperative training college and passed the final exams on her 22nd birthday.   The princess worked briefly as a preschool teacher in  Stockholm

She also earned a degree in textiles from Konstfack University of Arts, Crafts and Design. 

In the late 1950s, there was much speculation about whom King Baudouin of Belgium would marry.  The very eligible young king's invitation to 12 princesses to his ball on April 19, 1958, came as a "happy surprise for his people." Two of the princesses were Princess Birgitta and Princess Désirée.   Baudouin's late mother, Astrid, a princess of Sweden by birth, was a first cousin of Birgitta and Désirée's late father, Gustaf Adolf.   None of the dozen distaff royals charmed Baudouin, who married a Spaniard, Fabiola de Mora y Aragón, in 1960.

Although the press contributed to speculation about a royal marriage, Princess Désirée had found love with Count Greger “Teddy” Lewenhaupt, whose younger brother, Count Carl Adam "Noppe", was one of Carl Gustaf's lifelong friends.   Teddy and Noppe's father, Count Gösta Lewenhaupt, had served as Princess Sibylla's chamberlain.

Teddy and Désirée dated for several years, and the family believed they would marry.  Tragically, on  March 14, 1960, Teddy, 22, was killed in a skiing accident in Åre, Sweden.  

On March 12, two days before Teddy's death,  Princess Désirée and her three sisters, Margaretha, Birgitta, and Christina, were the belles of the ball hosted by King Gustav VI Adolf and Queen Louise.  The ball was "the most lavish social affair Stockholm ever staged.  The royal guests included Princess Sophie of Greece, Princess Astrid of Norway,  Princess Alexandra of Kent, Princess Irene of Greece, Princess Beatrix of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, Princesses  Beatrix and Irene of the Netherlands, Crown Prince Constantine of Greece, Crown Prince Harald of Norway, Prince Edward, Duke of Kent,  Prince Kraft of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, Prince Ludwig of Baden,  Prince Karl of Hesse, Prince Moritz of Hesse, Count Carl-Veit of Toerring-Jettenbac, King Simeon of Bulgaria and Duke Max in Bavaria.  Besides the European royals. 227 guests "in the same age group as the Swedish princesses and hailing from high Swedish society."  

The names of the Swedish aristocrats who attended the ball were not made public.

In November 1960,  Princess Désirée and her older sister, Princess Birgitta, paid an official 10-day visit to the United States.  In New York City, "protocol broke briefly" when a little girl kissed Prince Désirée.  The "unscheduled kiss was given -- and returned -- at the Bank Street School."  The princess, accompanied by her lady-in-waiting, embassy attaches, and school officials,  Meryl Schaffer, who, according to the New York Times, "too young to be awed," ran to the Princess, her "arms outstretched for a kiss."  Princess Désiree obliged.  Meryl's mother told the New York Times:  "Ever since she got up this morning, she's been saying, 'I'm going to kiss a princess because it's my birthday and I'm 4 years old.'"

They also gave their first news conference, acknowledging they had gone shopping, not for clothes but for phonograph record albums."

The two princesses also visited Philadelphia, Wilmington, Delaware, and Chicago,

A year after Teddy's death, she was introduced to Baron Niclas Silfverschiöld by one of her cousins, Marianne Flach, the daughter of Colonel Nils-Magnus von Arbin and Countess Dagmar Bernadotte of Wisborg.  Niclas owned two of Sweden's largest estates in Koberg. The first report of an engagement between Désirée was in September 1961, when Expressen published a story stating that the engagement would take place shortly after the Christmas holidays.  The American news agency, UPI, picked up the story, which was published in newspapers around the world.

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 The official engagement announcement was made on December 19, 1963.  The night before the wedding, King Gustaf VI Adolf hosted a ball for the couple and 250 guests.  More than four million people watched the wedding live on Swedish television.

Princess Désirée's marriage to Baron Niclas Silfverschiöld took place on June 5, 1964, at the Stockholm Cathedral.  She was escorted down the aisle to the altar by her grandfather, King Gustav VI Adolf.  Her gown was made of white ivory duchesse and was first worn by her older sister, Princess Birgitta, when she married Prince Johann Georg of Hohenzollern in May 1961. 

 Her bouquet included lilies of the valley and white orchids. She was the first "to wear the Bernadotte family veil", holding the Cameo tiara -- also worn by Princess Birgitta -- in place.

It was not a surprise that Birgitta shared her gown with her "darling sister."   

The 1000-plus guests included members of the Swedish Royal Family and "several members of the Government and Parliament.   Désirée's aunt, Queen Ingrid of Denmark, and their three daughters,  Princesses Margrethe, Benedikte, and Anne Marie, were also among the guests, as was Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone, who was described by The Times as the sister of Princess Margaret of Connaught, the first wife of then Crown Prince Gustaf Adolf. 

[Yes, The Times made this mistake.  Alice was Margaret's first cousin, not her sister.  More importantly, she was Princess Sibylla's paternal aunt.]

Four blind children from the school where the Princess had taught were given prominent seats in the cathedral."

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 The newlyweds posed briefly outside the cathedral, where Niclas kissed her on the cheek.   A wedding luncheon was held at the palace, where the king toasted his granddaughter and her husband, telling them that marital happiness was not only based on love, "but also on mutual confidence and mutual respect for each other as individuals."

When her grandfather, King Gustaf VI Adolf, asked what jewelry she wanted as a wedding present, Désrée replied: "Thank you, grandfather, but I think Niclas needs a tractor instead."

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 The honeymoon was spent at her uncle, Prince Bertil's villa in Sainte-Maxime on the French Riviera.

After the wedding, Désiree ceased to be HRH Princess Désirée of Sweden and a member of the Royal House.   According to several sources, she wanted to renounce her title, as she had not married a royal. Her grandfather insisted that she be styled Princess Désirée, Baroness Silfverschiöld.

She settled into a comfortable life at Koberg Castle in Västergötland.  Her brother often enjoyed hunting parties hosted by his sister and her husband. 

Her marriage and raising a family allowed the princess to relish her anonymity.   She once said: “I now see myself only as a mother and wife and do not attach much importance to my princessship. In principle, I also think it is wrong to rely on origins and kinship."

1965: Princess Margaretha holding her daughter Sibylla, & John Ambler.  Princess Désirée with her son, Carl, and her husband, Baron Niclas Silfverschiöld

The Princess had three children: Carl Otto Edmund (1965),  Christina Louise Ewa Madelaine (1866), and Helene Ingeborg Sibylla (1968). 

Although she rarely attended official engagements aside from the Nobel Prizes and family events, Princess Désirée and her husband visited the United States in the spring of 1976  as part of a 35-member group of Swedish landowners touring American agricultural facilities.   The group spent 18 days in cross-country tour in the United States.

When she turned 70, the princess agreed to an interview with Svensk Dam newspaper.  She spoke about walking her Labrador Bojan, family life, and cooking. 

"And I'm financially sound. Actually, almost a little silly that I'm going to use everything. What you cook from leftovers almost always turns out really delicious, and I always find something in the garden to use. The other day, I picked rhubarb and made a pie."

The reporter asked her what her dinner plans were for that day.  The princess responded: "I'll check the fridge and freezer and see what happens."   

She was also thrifty with her wardrobe.  The gown she wore to her cousin, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark's wedding in 1967, made another appearance at a gala event 50 years later.

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Baron Niclas Silfverschiöld died at Koberg on November 4, 2017.   He had suffered from cancer for several years.

In 2023, Princess Birgitta said her sister had suffered from meningitis, "so she should probably be happy that she's still alive."  One of Désirée's last public appearances was at Birgitta's funeral in December 2024.  

The four sisters were very close.  In 2016, Princess Désirée said, "We sisters talk with each other about such things that one cannot share with anyone else."

Princess Désirée lived at Koberg for more than 60 years.  She once said, "I am lucky. I am truly grateful to be healthy. And then there is joy in the children and grandchildren. I love my grandchildren, and I think they love their grandmother too."

She died at Koberg Castle with her family at her bedside.   

Princess Désirée is survived by her three children, Baron Carl, Baroness Christina, Mrs De Geer, and Baroness Helene, five grandchildren: Baroness Anna Silfverschiöld, Estelle, Ian, Fred De Geer, and Charles Dieterle. She is also survived by her sister, Princess Margaretha, Mrs. Ambler, and her brother, King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, and eleven nieces and nephews, including her goddaughter, Crown Princess Victoria.

A local woman in Koberg, who did not want to be named, described the princess to a reporter: "There is no finer person."

If you liked this article,  I would love a coffee or a hot chocolate.  So cold here - and will be inside for several days as the roads are awful.