Sigvard Bernadotte, Count of Wisborg

by Emily McMahon  © Unofficial Royalty 2013

 

Sigvard Bernadotte, Count of Wisborg, was born Prince Sigvard of Sweden on June 7, 1907, at Drottningholm Palace in Drottningholm, Sweden.  He was the second son of the future King Gustav VI Adolf of Sweden and his first wife, Princess Margaret of Connaught, a granddaughter of Queen Victoria.  He had four siblings:

Sigvard (left) with his parents and eldest siblings, 1912. source: Wikipedia

The family divided their time between homes in Stockholm and their summer residence at Sofiero Palace near Skåne. The family was a close one, and unlike royal parents of previous generations, Gustav Adolf and Margaret spent a great deal of time with their children. Sigvard’s mother died suddenly on May 1, 1920, shortly after undergoing mastoid surgery. She was eight months pregnant with her sixth child. The loss of Margaret was so devastating for the family that Gustav Adolf refused to let anyone speak of her out of grief. Three years later, Gustav Adolf married again to Lady Louise Mountbatten.

Sigvard was educated privately and later at the Lundberg School. He entered Uppsala University in 1926, studying political science and art history. Sigvard became the first Bernadotte to earn an academic degree in 1929, the same year he designed a church window at Lundberg. He continued his studies at Konstfack, a Swedish art and design college. He was among a group of painters selected to design the Stockholm Exhibit in 1930.

Sigvard (center) with his brothers Bertil (left) and Gustaf Adolf (right) in the 1930s. source: Wikipedia

Throughout his young adulthood, Sigvard was romantically linked to various European princesses. Maria Francesca of Italy and Juliana of the Netherlands were rumored to be nearly engaged to Sigvard. Even actress Greta Garbo was said to be involved with Sigvard. Although the two did know one another, it is unlikely they were more than friends.

In the early 1930s, Sigvard relocated to Germany (supposedly due to a romance with a commoner) where he worked as a set designer for several theaters. It was through his theater work in Berlin that Sigvard met his first wife, actress Erica Patzek. When Sigvard declared his intentions to marry Erica, his entire family and top Swedish government officials attempted to talk him out of it. Sigvard’s grandfather, King Gustav V, was so disgusted with the third marriage to a commoner within the family (following Gustav’s brother Oscar and grandson Lennart) that he stopped speaking with Sigvard for a time.

Erica and Sigvard married quietly in London in 1934. The marriage removed Sigvard from the line of succession and meant a loss of his titles and appanage. The couple, now Sigvard and Erica Bernadotte, relocated to Hollywood to establish Erica’s movie career (without success), while Sigvard designed posters for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

Sigvard and Erica divorced in 1943, after which he married Danish commoner Sonja Robbert. The couple had a son, Michael, the following year. After their divorce in 1961, Sigvard married Marianne Lindberg with whom he stayed until his death.

c.1944. source: Wikipedia

During the following two decades, Sigvard divided his time between Copenhagen, Stockholm, and New York working at Bernadotte & Bjorn Industrial, a design firm he founded with Danish designer Acton Bjorn. Sigvard remained well-known in Sweden for the work he did during that time, designing everything from machinery to appliances to cookware. He was particularly fond of designing items from silver.

In 1951, Grand Duchess Charlotte of Luxembourg conferred on him the title of Count of Wisborg. After marriages to commoners became a common practice among Swedish royals in the 1960s and 1970s, Sigvard decided to pursue the reinstatement of his princely title. Sigvard’s nephew, King Carl XVI Gustav, never consented to this, which caused a long-standing rift between the two. A lawsuit against the Kingdom of Sweden was ongoing at the time of Sigvard’s death.

Sigvard Bernadotte, Count of Wisborg, died on February 4, 2002, in Stockholm, Sweden. He was 94 years old, and for the last eight years of his life, had been the eldest living great-grandchild of Queen Victoria, and her longest-lived descendant. He is buried in the Royal Cemetery at Haga Park in Solna, Sweden. His widow, Countess Marianne, remained active with several Swedish charities, some of which she founded with her late husband. She was often seen at family functions, including the weddings of Crown Princess Victoria in 2010, Princess Madeleine in 2013, and Prince Carl Philip in 2015.

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