Silvia Sommerlath met the Swedish Crown prince Carl Gustaf XVI Bernadotte at the olympics in Munich. It was almost love at first sight and in 1976 Silvia became the Queen of Sweden. The Royal family has always been important for the Swedish people. After asking 50 persons about the Royal family we found out that 40 of 50 persons want to have a King and Queen. We just wish that we could see more of them and especially Queen Silvia who has such an important role. Silvia Sommerlath was born in Heidelberg, Germany, on December 23, 1943. She is the daughter of the late Walther Sommerlath and his Brazilian wife, Alice, née de Toledo. Silvia has three elder brothers: Ralf,Walther and Jörg. When Silvia Sommerlath was four years old the whole family moved to Sao Paulo in Brazil. They lived there until she was fourteen, then they moved back to West Germany.
Silvia graduated in Düsseldorf in 1963. Between 1965 and 1969 she studied at the Munich School of Interpreting and graduated in Spanish. After graduating she worked at the Argetinean Consulate in Munich. Silvia doesn’t only speak Swedish and German she also speaks English, French, Spanish and Portugease. Between 1971 and 1973 Silvia worked as a trainer for the Munich Olympics hostesses. She became the Deputy Head of Protocol of the Organising Committee for the Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria.
The Swedish Crown Prince Carl Gustaf went to Munich to see the Olympics. There he saw the hostess Silvia Sommerlath. She was a very happy and friendly young woman with a big smile. That wasn’t unique for the king since his work as a PR-man for Sweden was filled with happy people. But it was different with the Olympic hostess Silvia. The king fell immediately for her charm. Silvia was on her guard because she was brought up in a German old fashion way. A short time before the Olympics she had a painful relationship with a young man. Silvia had noticed the intrest Carl Gustaf gave her. But she didn’t care so much because many men often looked at her.
After the Olympics the Crown Prince couldn’t stop thinking about the beautiful German girl. He asked his adjutant to call her and ask for a date. Even though Silvia was a very busy woman, she agreed to meet him. They had a great time and they started to fall in love In 1972 Carl Gustaf took over the throne from his grandfather Gustaf VI because he had past away. In that moment his love for Silvia became more serious. He started to see a Queen in her. On Friday the 12th of March in 1975 Carl Gustaf asked her to marry him. Silvia said yes and Carl Gustaf gave her the ring of princess Sibylla, his mother.
On Saturday the 19th of June in 1976 Silvia was taken to the alter by Carl Gustaf. It was a big fairy tale wedding. Millions of people were watching the wedding by television. Silvia looked at her future husband with a big warm smile. She was now the new Queen Silvia Bernadotte.
After the wedding night at Stockholm palace, King Carl Gustaf and Queen Silvia travelled to Hawaii. The couple lived in a big lonely house for a week. They travelled further on from London to Africa. They had a long lovely honeymoon. On the 14th of July 1977 Silvia and Carl Gustaf had their first baby, Crown princess Viktoria. Two years later, the 13th of May 1979 they had their second child, prince Carl Philip. The third child came in June the 10th, 1982, it was a girl and she was named princess Madeleine
 The King and the Queen with all their children’s Viktoria, Carl- Philip and Madeleine
Queen Silvia works actively on behalf of the disabled. She is chairman of the Royal Wedding Fund, which supports research in sports and athletics for disabled young kids. She also has a fund called Queen Silvia´s Jubilee fund. They support research for children with different handicaps. The Queen has sponsored and personally been involved in publishing a book called "Go for it" The book has been written by etitors from Sweden, England, Germany and Spain. Queen Silvia has studied sign language so that she can communicate with persons with impaired hearing. In 1990 Silvia was awarded the "Deutsche Kulturpreis" for helping the disabled childrens. From the start in 1994, Silvia has been an honorary member in the international Mentor Foundation, for supporting young people against drug abuse. In 1996 Silvia was the Patron of the First World Congress against Commercial Sexual Exploitation of children. Silvia is very involved in children’s rights in the community. She has taken part in conferences and seminars both in Sweden and internationally. In 1999 Silvia took the initiative in founding the World Childhood Foundation. Silvia is also involved in a lot of other organisations and societies as the Swedish Amateur Athletic Association, the Children´s Cancer Foundation of Sweden and the Swedish Save the Children Federation. The queen has always something going on. She is always helping somekind of foundations or organisatons that work for people in need.
 The King of Sweden, Carl- Gustaf XVI and Queen Silvia
 © 2003 Freeway Writers: Karolina Sellin (sp04-26@park.se) and Jonas Lövdahl (sp04-18@park.se). HTML by: Sean Karlsson (te04-11@park.se). |