Princess Sibylla of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha

Sibylla was born on 18 January 1908 at Schloss Friedenstein in the city of Gotha, one of the two capitals in the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha in central Germany. She was the elder daughter and second child of Charles Edward, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and Princess Victoria Adelaide of Schleswig-Holstein. Her father was a posthumous son of Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany, the youngest son of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Prince Charles Edward had, at the urging of his grandmother, inherited the position of duke after his uncle in 1900. The same year he had married Princess Victoria Adelaide, who was a daughter of Friedrich Ferdinand, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein and Princess Karoline Mathilde of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg, sister of the Empress Augusta Victoria. Like the other princes of the German Empire, her father was forced to abdicate in November 1918, just before the end of World War I, when the German monarchies were abolished amidst the tumults of the German Revolution of 1918–1919. This also affected Princess Sibylla's position. In 1919, her father was deprived of his British peerages, as a consequence of the Titles Deprivation Act 1917, which authorized enemies of the United Kingdom during the First World War to be deprived of their British peerages and royal titles. He and his children also lost their entitlement to the titles of Prince and Princess of the United Kingdom and the styles of Royal Highness and Highness. Princess Sibylla grew up in Coburg with her siblings Hereditary Prince Johann Leopold, Prince Hubertus, Princess Caroline-Mathilde and Prince Friedrich Josias. The children received, as was common in aristocratic circles at the time, their initial schooling by private tutors and governesses. Later, Princess Sibylla attended the Gymnasium Alexandrinum in Coburg and wanting to become an interior designer, studied briefly at the Kunstgewerbeschule art school in Weimar. ==Marriage==

In November 1931, Sibylla was in London to attend the wedding of her paternal first cousin Lady May Cambridge as a bridesmaid. One of the other bridesmaids was her second cousin Princess Ingrid of Sweden, who introduced Sibylla to her brother, Prince Gustaf Adolf, Duke of Västerbotten. Their engagement was announced at Callenberg Castle in Coburg 16 June 1932. However, as the city of Coburg was already strongly dominated by the Nazi party at the time, the official celebrations there were Nazi influenced, which made a very bad impression in Sweden. ==Princess of Sweden==

The couple settled at Haga Palace, and their four daughters were to be commonly known during their childhood as the "Hagasessorna" (English: "The Haga Princesses"). Sibylla shared her husband's enthusiasm for sport and outdoor activities, and the couple owned a cottage in Ingarö and another one in Storlien. During her lifetime, she was appointed chairman of various organisations such as Sällskapet Barnavård ("The Childcare Society") in 1948 and the honorary chairmanship of the Hörselfrämjandet ("The Hearing Society") in 1935; the Sveriges flickscoutråd ("The Swedish Girl Scouts") in 1939; Kvinnliga bilkåren ("The Women's Automobile Force") in 1939; the Stiftelsen Solstickan ("The Solstickan Society") in 1941; and the Stiftelsen Drottning Victorias Vilohem på Öland ("The Queen Victoria Resting Home in Öland") in 1951. In 1938, she founded the Prinsessan Sibyllas S:t Martin-stiftelse ("The Princess Sibylla Foundation of St Martin"). ==Widowhood==

) in Solna, Sweden Sibylla became a widow on 26 January 1947 when Gustaf Adolf died in an airplane crash at the Copenhagen Kastrup Airport in Denmark. Their only son, Carl Gustaf, became second-in-line to the throne at the age of nine months and, later, Crown Prince at the age of four. In 1950, Sibylla moved from Haga to the Royal Palace of Stockholm. During the summers, she stayed at Solliden. During these years, she developed an interest in environmental issues. After her stepmother-in-law, Queen Louise, died in 1965, Princess Sibylla became the highest ranking woman in the royal family. She took over her duties in support of her father-in-law, King Gustaf VI Adolf. During these years, she enjoyed somewhat more popularity, as she was more exposed, and as her humour and sense of self-irony became more known and appreciated. She continued with the so-called "Democratic ladies lunches" for career women initiated by Queen Louise in 1962 as a replacement for the court presentation. Sibylla died, aged 64 of cancer, on 28 November 1972, in Stockholm less than a year before her son ascended to the throne. ==Ancestry==