Celebrations for King Carl XVI Gustaf’s 72nd Birthday will take place in the Outer Courtyard at the Royal Palace in Stockholm on Monday, 30 April 2018.

HM King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden Photo: Anna-Lena Ahlström, Kungahuset.seThe seventh Bernadotte king, Carl Gustaf Folke Hubertus, Duke of Jämtland, was born on 30 April 1946 at the Haga Palace in Solna.

King Carl Gustaf has become Sweden’s longest-reigning monarch in Swedish history, overtaking King Magnus IV on 26 April 2018.

He was the youngest child and only son born to Hereditary Prince Gustaf Adolf and Princess Sybilla of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (one of Queen Victoria’s descendants).

Four generations; King Gustaf V, Crown Prince Gustaf (VI) Adolf, Prince Gustaf Adolf and Prince Carl (XVI) Gustaf on 7 June 1946, following Prince Carl Gustaf’s baptism in the Royal Chapel at the Royal Palace. Photo from the Bernadotte Library’s archive.

Carl Gustaf has four older sisters, Princess Margaretha Mrs Ambler (born 31 October 1934); Princess Birgitta (born 19 January 1937); Princess Désirée Baroness Silfverschiöld (born 2 June 1938) and Princess Christina Mrs Magnusson (born 3 August 1943).

King Carl Gustaf’s mother, Princess Sibylla during the 1930s.

However, Prince Gustaf Adolf was killed in a plane crash at Kastrup Airport in Copenhagen in Denmark on 26 January 1947, when Carl Gustaf was only nine months old. He and two companions were returning home to Stockholm after a hunting trip and a visit to Princess Juliana and Prince Bernhard in the Netherlands.

Prince Gustaf Adolf had been second in the line of succession, following his father Crown Prince Gustaf Adolf (later Gustaf VI Adolf).

Carl Gustaf did not find out about this tragedy until he was seven years old.

Carl Gustaf became the heir-apparent when his great-grandfather Gustaf V died in 1950 and he inherited the throne on 15 September 1973 when his grandfather King Gustaf VI Adolf died about ten weeks before his 91st birthday, from pneumonia.

His mother Sibylla passed away in 1972, a year before his accession.

King Carl XVI Gustaf and Silvia Sommerlath marry on 19 June 1976 in Stockholm.

He met Silvia Sommerlath at the Olympic Games in Munich in 1972 where she was working as an interpreter and hostess.

They married at Stockholm Cathedral on 19 June 1976 and moved to Drottningholm Palace in 1980.

King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia have three children and seven grandchildren.

He celebrated his Ruby Jubilee (40th Anniversary) as King of Sweden in 2013.

King Carl Gustaf and Queen Silvia are on an official visit to Japan from 22 to 25 April 2018.

The Bernadotte dynasty celebrates its Bicentenary in 2018 after its founder Carl XIV Johan became King of Sweden and Norway in 1818.

Programme

So if you’re planning to be in Stockholm on Monday, 30 April, here’s the programme.

11.15 am – The Royal Swedish Navy Band marches and begins performing a music programme.

11:40 am – The Royal Swedish Army Band follows.

11:45 am – The King comes out of the West Gate and walks forward and receives the guard as the Army Band plays a parade march. King Carl Gustaf receives the Commandant at the Palace.

11.48 am –  The Army’s music year performs a music program.

12.00 noon – A 21-gun salute will be fired from Skeppsholmen.

12:18 pm – King Carl Gustaf appears in the Outer Courtyard.

12.20 pm – The Royal Guards ride in after the Life Guards’ Dragoon Music Corp.

Children are given the opportunity to personally present flowers to the King.

The public will also have an opportunity to pay tribute to the King from the Outer Courtyard, with other members of the royal family.

Write A Birthday Greeting

Those wishing to send their birthday greetings or congratulations to King Carl Gustaf on the day at the Rikssalen in the South Vault from 1.00 pm to 4.00 pm.

Three generations. King Carl XVI Gustaf with his daughter Crown Princess Victoria and granddaughter Princess Estelle. Photo: Kungahuset.se

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