I love this royal romance which produced the ultimate fairytale princess

It’s the royal wedding you’ve probably never heard of and yet it
marked the crowning moment of a regal romance that has all the
drama of a Hollywood film. It involves an actress from Swansea and
a prince whose loyalty to his country’s crown is legendary. On
December 7th 1976, Bertil of Sweden finally wed Lilian Craig. The
bride wore blue, a brand new king and queen were the guests of
honour and just about everyone cried. There is my all time
favourite royal romance and there’s no reason why it shouldn’t be
yours, too.

Lilian Craig met Prince Bertil during World War Two and after
that conflict ended, their minds turned to marriage. But Lilian, a
divorcee with no royal blood who hailed from south Wales, didn’t
exactly tick all the boxes on the still strict list of who to marry
that dominated the Swedish Royal Court at the time.

Besides, the Swedish succession was precarious to say the least.
Only men could succeed. Two of Bertil’s brothers had already given
up their rights while his older brother, Gustaf Adolf, had been
killed in a plane accident in 1947 leaving a nine month old son and
four daughters. Bertil knew his marriage to Lilian could leave his
monarchy rather vulnerable. So the pair lived together and put
weddings on ice.

Until 1976. That nine month old boy had grown up to be King Carl
XVI Gustaf who wasn’t just devoted to his dutiful uncle, he was set
on changing royal rules, too. Carl Gustaf married Silvia
Sommerlath, his own non royal bride, in June 1976 and was in the
front row on December 7th that year when Bertil and Lilian did
their own ‘I doing’ at the Chapel at Drottningholm Palace.

The bride wore blue, a rather clever choice really as brides had
been using the shade for centuries before the 19th century vogue
for white. The dress itself was designed by Elizabeth Wondrak and
made of shantung silk. It’s very simple and very seventies, with
bell sleeves and a sleek silhuouette fanning out into a flared
skirt. Lilian, a bit of a style icon, chose a feathered hat rather
than anything sparkly for her hair, and added some rather classy
pearls to complete the look. Finally a princess herself, her first
outfit as a fully fledged royal was well worth that (very long)
wait.

Prince Bertil and Princess Lilian continued to love out their
fairytale for another two decades and, although their long wait to
wed meant they never had a family of their own, they were devoted
to the three children of King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia.
Bertil died on January 5th 1997 at the age of 84, safe in the
knowledge that the throne he had sacrificed so much to protect was
secure. Princess Lilian died on March 10th 2013. They are buried
together at the Royal Cemetery at Solna.

Lydia Starbuck is a pen name of June Woolerton who has
written extensively on royal history. Her book, A History of Royal Jubilees, is
available now. She is also the author of a popular cosy mystery,
All Manner of
Murder.