Why Princess Birgitta wasn’t in the Swedish line of succession

The late Princess Birgitta of Sweden wasn’t in the Swedish line of succession.

Princess Birgitta was born in 1937 as the second daughter of Prince Gustaf Adolf, Duke of Västerbotten and Princess Sibylla of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Her siblings are Princess Margaretha (born 1934), Princess Désirée (born), Princess Christina (born 1943) and the current King Carl XVI Gustaf (born 1946). Her father was second in the line of succession behind his father when he died in an aeroplane crash in 1947.

At the time, women were barred from the throne, and Princess Birgitta and her sisters had no succession rights. When their father died, their nine-month-old brother became second in the line of succession behind his grandfather, who would become King Gustaf VI Adolf in 1950. He died on 15 September 1973, after which their brother became King.

King Carl XVI Gustaf married Silvia Sommerlath in 1976. At the time, discussions about introducing absolute primogeniture (inheritance regardless of gender) were ongoing in the government. Due to the complicated nature of changing the law, it took until 7 November 1979 for the Swedish Parliament to vote through the amendment to the Constitution. By then, Queen Silvia had given birth to a daughter, Princess Victoria and Prince Carl Philip (who was automatically styled as Crown Prince as the law had not taken effect yet). The new law went into effect on 1 January 1980 and made Princess Victoria the new heir to the throne.

However, the new succession law was limited to the descendants of King Carl XVI Gustaf, and so the King’s sisters, including Princess Birgitta, remained without succession rights.

Due to her descent from Princess Margaret of Connaught, a granddaughter of Queen Victoria, she was distantly in line to the British throne.