Princess Birgitta has spoken publicly about the recent controversy in the Swedish royal family.
Princess Birgitta is an older sister of King Carl XVI Gustaf. The King has recently made the news due to comments he made in a documentary about the Swedish succession. The heir to the throne is his eldest child, Crown Princess Victoria. However, when she was born, she had no succession rights and for a few months, her younger brother was first in line. The changes that made her heir took effect in January 1980, dropping Prince Carl Philip to second. King Carl Gustaf spoke of that, again, in the recent programme.
In the documentary, the King said ‘‘It is rather tricky to have laws that work retroactively. It seems crazy; I still think so. I mean, you can accept that the next generation … that’s OK, but my son Prince Carl Philip, he was born, and then they change [the law] and he is deprived of it all. That’s quite peculiar.”
It has been suggested that Carl Gustaf would prefer his son to be his heir instead of his daughter.
The King’s sister has voiced her thoughts on this issue. In an interview with Expressen, the Princess explained that the family is fine with the change in succession and Carl Philip in particular has no qualms with not being heir to the throne.
Princess Birgitta said ”There shouldn’t be any problems. We are born to what we were born. You have to abide by the rules of the family, it’s the same everywhere.”
Princess Birgitta has never had a claim on the Swedish throne as, until 1980, women had no succession rights. When King Carl Gustaf and Queen Silvia welcomed their first child, a daughter, in 1977, she was unable to succeed her father. Changes to the law began within months but would not take effect until January 1980. When King Carl Gustaf and Queen Silvia had a son, in May 1979, he became heir to the throne, However, it was already known that his position would change when the new rules came in. Prince Carl Philip was just seven months old at the time of the change, his older sister was three years old. Victoria’s heir is her eldest child, Princess Estelle.
