Princess Lilian of Sweden Dies at Age 97: Married Royal Lover Prince Bertil after 30-Year Secret Relationship
Princess Lilian of Sweden- who married royal lover Prince Bertil after a secret 30-year relationship- passed away on Sunday at the age of 97, according to a statement from the Royal Court.
Born Lilian May Davies in Swansea,Wales in 1915, Princess Lilian began her adult life as a Vogue model. Davies was married to British actor Ivan Craig when she first met her future husband, Prince Bertil, during WW2.
Bertil, who was working building radios to support the war effort at the time, allegedly met the prince at a cocktail party for her 28th birthday. The two became lovers shortly thereafter and Davies divorced her husband in 1945.
The two were kept from marrying by Sweden's strict rules of royal succession. For a royal family member to marry a commenor, they had to renounce their right to the throne. The current King Carl XVI Gustaf was less than a year old when he was coronated and Prince Bertil knew that he would have to act as Regent until the boy was old enough to act as king. Instead of shirking his responsibilities and causing a constitutional crises, Bertil and Davies kept their love a secret, living together in a villa in the south of France.
When King Carl XVI Gustaf took the throne in 1973, the rules surrounding the royal succession changed. The King was himself married to a commoner. The couple finally married 33 years after meeting in 1973.
Bertil died in 1997 at the age of 84 with Lilian at his bedside. Lilian stayed active in her royal duties until 2005, when her advanced age and the onset of Alzheimer's kept her out of the public eye.
"It is with sorrow that I have learnt that H.R.H. (Her Royal Highness) Princess Lilian is dead," Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt said in a statement.
A much loved and appreciated member of the royal family has now passed away,"