Princess Sibylla of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2015

Princess Sibylla of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha; Credit – Wikipedia

Princess Sibylla of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha could have become Queen Consort of Sweden if her husband had not tragically died in a plane accident. Sibylla Calma Marie Alice Bathildis Feodora was born on January 18, 1908, at Schloss Friedenstein in Gotha in the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, now in Thuringia, Germany. Sibylla was the second of the five children of Charles Edward, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Princess Victoria Adelaide of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg. Her father was the posthumous son of Queen Victoria’s youngest son Prince Leopold, so, therefore, Sibylla was a great-grandchild of Queen Victoria. Sibylla started her education at home and then attended the Gymnasium Alexandrinum in Coburg and the Kunstgewerbeschule in Weimar, Saxony.

Sibylla had an elder brother and two younger brothers and a younger sister:

  • Johann Leopold, Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (1906 – 1972) married (1) unequally 1932 Feodora, Baroness von der Horst, renounced his rights as head of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha; divorced 1962; had issue (2) 1963 Maria Theresa Reindl, no issue
  • Prince Hubertus (1909 – 1943) unmarried, killed in action during World War II
  • Princess Caroline Mathilde (1912 – 1983) married (1) 1931 Friedrich, Count of Castell-Rüdenhausen; divorced; had issue (2) 1938 Captain Max Schnirring who died in action during World War II; had issue (3) 1946 Karl Otto Andree; divorced; no issue
  • Prince Friedrich Josias (1918 – 1998) married (1) 1942 Countess Viktoria-Luise of Solms-Baruth; divorced; had issue (2) 1948 Denyse de Muralt; divorced; had issue (3) 1964 Katherine Bremme; no issue

Princess Sibylla (center) with her parents and siblings in 1918; Photo Credit – “Bundesarchiv Bild 183-R14326, Karl-Eduard von Sachsen-Coburg-Gotha, Familie” by Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-R14326 / CC-BY-SA. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 de via Wikimedia Commons

Sibylla’s father was affected by the Titles Deprivation Act 1917 which was passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom authorizing enemies of the United Kingdom during World War I to be deprived of their British peerages and royal titles. Besides being the sovereign Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Sibylla’s father had been born a Prince of the United Kingdom. Because his father Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany died before his son’s birth Charles Edward succeeded to his father’s titles at birth and he was styled His Royal Highness The Duke of Albany. In 1900, at the age of 16, Charles Edward inherited the ducal throne of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha from his uncle Alfred, the second son of Queen Victoria. Alfred’s only son, Prince Alfred died in 1899. Queen Victoria’s third son Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught, had renounced his claims to the duchy as did his only son, Prince Arthur of Connaught. Charles Edward was conflicted as to what side he should support in World War I, but he finally supported Germany and was a general in the German Army. On March 28, 1919, Charles Edward’s British peerages, the Duke of Albany, Earl of Clarence, and Baron of Arklow, were formally removed. In addition, Charles Edward and his children also lost their entitlement to the titles of Prince and Princess of the United Kingdom and the styles Royal Highness and Highness.

In November 1931, Sibylla was a bridesmaid at the wedding of Lady May Cambridge, a niece of Queen Mary, wife of King George V of the United Kingdom. One of the other bridesmaids was Princess Ingrid of Sweden, who introduced Sibylla to her brother Prince Gustaf Adolf of Sweden, Duke of Västerbotten. Prince Gustaf Adolf was the eldest son of Crown Prince Gustaf Adolf of Sweden (the future King Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden) and was therefore second in the line of succession to the Swedish throne. Sibylla and Gustaf Adolf, who were second cousins, became engaged on June 16, 1932.

The Nazi Party was gaining considerable power in Germany at the time. As Sibylla’s father was a prominent member of the Nazi Party, the wedding almost was a state affair. Adolf Hitler, who would soon become the German Chancellor, wrote a letter to Sibylla’s father congratulating the couple. The civil service was held on October 19, 1932, at Veste Castle in Coburg with the Nazi Mayor of Coburg officiating, followed by a large reception, which included a torchlight procession of 4,000 members of the Nazi party. The religious wedding was held on the following day at St. Moritz Church in Coburg. During the wedding festivities, numerous swastikas and other Nazi symbols could be seen throughout Coburg. The Nazi connection did not sit well with the Swedish people, and the groom’s grandfather King Gustaf V of Sweden, protesting Coburg’s close relation to the Nazi Party, refused to attend the wedding.

 

Sibylla and Gustaf Adolf had four daughters and one son:

The couple lived at Haga Palace and their daughters were nicknamed the Haga Princesses. Princess Sibylla participated in official duties but never felt at home in Sweden. She never learned to speak fluent Swedish and spoke German with her children. In addition, she had to deal with the distrust caused by the crimes of the Germans during World War II and the activities of her father in the Nazi Party.

Tragically, Prince Gustaf Adolf was killed in a commercial airplane crash on January 26, 1947, at the Kastrup Airport in Kastrup, Denmark near Copenhagen.  He was returning to Stockholm from a hunting trip and a visit to Princess Juliana and Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands. The plane had landed at Kastrup Airport for a routine stop before continuing to Stockholm. After the plane took off from Kastrup Airport, it climbed to an altitude of only 150 feet, stalled, and plummeted nose-first to the ground, where it exploded on impact. All 22 people aboard the plane were killed. Sibylla was a 39-year-old widow with five children ranging in age from nine months to 12 years old.

After her stepmother-in-law Queen Louise died in 1965, Sibylla was the senior royal princess in Sweden and acted in a supporting role for her father-in-law King Gustaf VI Adolf. She became more popular and continued the activities started by Queen Louise such as the ladies’ democratic lunches.

 

Unfortunately, Sibylla did not live long enough to see her son Carl Gustaf become king. Her last public appearance was on King Gustaf VI Adolf’s 90th birthday on November 11, 1972. On November 28, 1972, Sibylla died of colon cancer at the age of 64, less than a year before her son would become king. At her request, Sibylla’s remains were cremated and interred next to her husband at the Royal Cemetery at Haga Park in Solna, Sweden.

Grave of Prince Gustaf Adolf and Princess Sibylla; Photo Credit – Wikipedia

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