Princess Ingeborg of Denmark

Princess Ingeborg of Denmark (Ingeborg Charlotte Caroline Frederikke Louise; 2 August 1878 – 12 March 1958), was a Princess of Sweden by marriage to Prince Carl, Duke of Västergötland.

Princess Ingeborg was a daughter of Frederick VIII of Denmark and Louise of Sweden, she grew up in Copenhagen as a Danish princess. In 1897, she was married to her mother's first cousin Prince Carl of Sweden, Duke of Västergötland, and spent the rest of her of life in Sweden as a member of the Swedish royal family.

Her marriage produced four children, among whom were Märtha, Crown Princess of Norway and Astrid, Queen of the Belgians.

Princess Ingeborg was born on 2 August 1878 at her parents' country residence, the Charlottenlund Palace north of Copenhagen, during the reign of her paternal grandfather, King Christian IX. She was the second daughter and fifth child of Crown Prince Frederick of Denmark, and his wife Princess Louise of Sweden. Her father was the eldest son of King Christian IX of Denmark and Louise of Hesse-Kassel, and her mother was the only daughter of King Charles XV of Sweden and Louise of the Netherlands. She was baptised with the names Ingeborg Charlotte Caroline Frederikke Louise, and was known as Princess Ingeborg.

As a granddaughter of Christian IX, referred to by the sobriquet the "father-in-law of Europe", Princess Ingeborg was related to several European monarchs and rulers. She was thus a first cousin of the future King George V of the United Kingdom, Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, King Constantine I of Greece and Duke Ernest Augustus of Brunswick.

Princess Ingeborg had seven siblings, the two eldest of whom were Prince Christian (the future King Christian X of Denmark) and Prince Carl (the future King Haakon VII of Norway). She was raised with her siblings at the royal household in Copenhagen, and grew up between her parents' city residence, the Frederik VIII's Palace, an 18th-century palace which forms part of the Amalienborg Palace complex in central Copenhagen, and their country residence, the Charlottenlund Palace, located by the coastline of the Øresund strait north of the city. In contrast to the usual practise of the period, where royal children were brought up by governesses, the children were raised by Crown Princess Louise herself. Under the supervision of their mother, the children of the Crown Princess received a rather strict Christian-dominated upbringing, which was characterized by severity, the fulfillment of duties, care and order. In spite of this austere upbringing, Princess Ingeborg grew up to be a friendly, carefree and quick-witted young woman.^{[citation needed]}

In May 1897, Princess Ingeborg was engaged at the age of eighteen to Prince Carl of Sweden, Duke of Västergötland who was the third son of King Oscar II of Sweden and Sophia of Nassau. They were, therefore, first cousins once-removed. It had long been a public secret that Crown Princess Louise wanted one of her daughters to marry a member of the Swedish royal family, which thus indeed happened. In 1947, on the occasion of their golden wedding anniversary, her spouse admitted that their marriage had been arranged by their respective fathers, and Ingeborg herself added: "I married a complete stranger!" Although their marriage was arranged, the outcome was very much in accordance with the personal aspiration of the princess who after the wedding said: "I have prayed to God for a whole year to have Carl."

The wedding was celebrated on 27 August 1897 in the chapel of Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen. The wedding guests included members of the Danish and Swedish royal families, as well as the bride's paternal aunts, the Dowager Empress of Russia and the Princess of Wales. After the wedding reception, the newly married couple left the palace for the pier, where they embarked the Danish royal yacht, the paddle steamer Dannebrog, which early next morning sailed for Lübeck. They spent their honeymoon in Germany.