The beautiful coalminer’s daughter had finally become a
princess at 61. She married her Swedish
prince in a simple ceremony, wearing a blue dress and carrying lilies of the
valley. The King and Queen of Sweden
attended the wedding. She was now
Princess Lilian of Sweden.
The Welsh beauty born in Swansea was always destined for
better things. She left school at 14 and
found a modelling career in London, where she modelled for Vogue. However, she worked in a factory making
radios and in a hospital during the Second World War. The then Lillian Davies married the Scottish
actor, Ian Craig, but she quickly fell in love with her handsome prince, Prince
Bertil, who she met at a cocktail party.
They intended to marry soon after she obtained her divorce.
The prince’s father, King Gustav VI of Sweden, forbade the
couple to marry, however, after the prince’s brother died in an aeroplane
crash. This must have been extremely
irritating because some of his brothers had renounced their rights to the
throne and married commoners. Queen
Sylvia and Princess Sybilla regarded the young woman as an interloper,
according to some reports, and she couldn’t attend official functions. She also refused the Queen’s invitation to
tea. *
The couple had a long and secret romance and lived together
in Sweden and France. They never had
children, because they were forbidden to marry.
This was a big regret for both of them, but the princess became very
close to the royal children.
The couple married in 1976, after King Carl XVI Gustaf gave
permission. He had also married a
commoner, and the princess became great friends with his wife, Queen
Sylvia. She was also the godmother of
Prince Carl Philip. Still beautiful,
Princess Lilian now enjoyed attending the royal functions and wearing gorgeous
jewels.
She recently died at 97, and she is buried next to her
prince in the royal Haga cemetery on the outskirts of Stockholm.
* Queen Elizabeth II
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