Princess Margaretha, Mrs. Ambler

Princess Margaretha, Mrs. Ambler (Margaretha Désirée Victoria; born 31 October 1934) is a member of the Swedish royal family. She is the eldest child of Prince Gustaf Adolf, Duke of Västerbotten, and Princess Sibylla of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and the eldest sister of King Carl XVI Gustaf.

Early life

Margaretha was born on 31 October 1934 at Haga Palace in Haga Park, Stockholm, as the first child of Prince Gustaf Adolf, Duke of Västerbotten, and his wife Princess Sibylla of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha; paternal granddaughter of Crown Prince Gustaf Adolf of Sweden and his late wife Princess Margaret of Connaught; maternal granddaughter of Duke Carl Eduard I, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and his wife Princess Victoria Adelaide of Schleswig-Holstein; she was born during the reign of her paternal great-grandfather King Gustaf V of Sweden. In January 1947, her father died in an airplane crash.

Although the eldest child, as a female, she was never in line to the throne according to the Swedish constitution current at the time. She was educated privately at the Haga Palace and then at the Stockholm dressmaking school, Märthaskolan (Martha School). Margaretha studied ceramics and textiles at Nyckelvik School. She is also trained as an occupational therapist at Karolinska Hospital.

Courtship and marriage

She took part in the ship tour organized by Queen Frederica and her husband King Paul of Greece in 1954, which became known as the “ Cruise of the Kings” and was attended by over 100 royals from all over Europe.

Around 1957 Margaretha had a relationship with Robin Douglas-Home, a Scottish aristocrat and the nephew of the future Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Alec Douglas-Home. He came to visit her in Sweden, but they never married. There was speculation in the press that this was due to Sibylla forbidding the match, but Margaretha's nanny and confidante Ingrid Björnberg states categorically in her memoirs that the breakup between the two was caused by Margaretha's reluctance to enter into an engagement with Douglas-Home.

She met her future husband, the businessman John Ambler, ten years her elder, at a dinner party in the United Kingdom in 1963 and their engagement was announced on 28 February 1964. They were married on 30 June 1964, in Gärdslösa Church, on the island of Öland. The Princess wore a wedding gown from the Stockholm couture school, Märthaskolan, where she had previously been a student, and a traditional wedding crown from Öland.

The couple for a time let Winslow Hall in Buckinghamshire. They settled at Chippinghurst Manor in Oxfordshire. As a result of her unequal marriage, she lost her style of ''Royal Highness'' and the King gave her the courtesy title of ''Princess Margaretha, Mrs. Ambler''. Under the Swedish constitution of that time, she, as a woman, and her descendants were not eligible to inherit the throne. Thus they still are not.

Ambler and her husband separated in 1994, but never divorced. He died on 31 May 2008.

The couple had three children:

* ''Sibylla'' Louise Ambler (born 14 April 1965 in London), married Freiherr Henning ''Cornelius'' von Dincklage (born 29 April 1971 in Esslingen am Neckar) in 1998. The couple had two children before separating in 2005:
** Freiin ''Madeleine'' Charlotte Margaretha von Dincklage (born 15 March 1999 in Munich), a goddaughter of Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden and bridesmaid at her wedding in 2010
** Freiherr ''Sebastian'' Eric Henning von Dincklage (born 8 September 2000 in Munich)
* Charles ''Edward'' Ambler (born 14 July 1966 in London), married Helen Jane Ross (born 3 March 1969 in Huddersfield) in 1999 and has two daughters:
** ''Sienna'' Rose Ambler (born 1 September 2000)
** ''India'' Tani Ambler (born 13 November 2003)
* ''James'' Patrick Ambler (born 10 June 1967 in Oxford), who served as page boy at the 1976 wedding of his uncle, King Carl XVI Gustaf. He married Ursula Mary Shipley (born 9 July 1965 in St Austell) in 2001 and has two children:
** ''Lily'' Elektra Ambler (born 28 February 2003)
** ''Oscar'' Rufus Ambler (born 10 September 2004)

Later life

In June 1960, Margaretha, with her first cousin Princess Margrethe of Denmark and her second cousin once removed Princess Astrid of Norway, toured the United States on the occasion of the first transatlantic flight by Scandinavian Airlines. During their visit, the three Scandinavian princesses toured Disneyland and Hollywood and also visited Paramount Pictures in Los Angeles where they met Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, and Elvis Presley.

Ambler lives near Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, in the UK. Apart from taking part in family events and milestones, she does not have any official role or obligations either on behalf of Sweden or the royal family.

Ancestry

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ambler, Margaretha
1934 births
Living people
20th-century Swedish people
21st-century Swedish people
20th-century Swedish women
21st-century Swedish women
Margaretha 1934
House of Bernadotte
People from Solna Municipality
Disinherited European royalty
Swedish people of German descent