Spotlight On 2016 Pilot Launch Contest Winner Nicole Quinn

By Naomi Beaty
October 14, 2016

Nicole Quinn’s script An Act Of God has been named the Web Series winner in the 2016 ScreenCraft Pilot Launch TV Script Contest and we recently asked her to discuss her past, present, and future in writing.
A varied and prolific writer, Nicole’s feature film Racing Daylight, a love story across time, stars Melissa Leo and David Strathairn. Her short plays are published by Playscripts inc. The Gold Stone Girl trilogy, a feminist-dystopian fantasy, is available for Kindle and on Audible and iTunes.

ScreenCraft: Can you give me an overview of your writing experience and background? Where and when did your storytelling roots begin?

Nicole: I’m a storyteller.  It was confusing for me as a child because my stories were often called lying, which is maybe why it remains a guilty pleasure. I’m adopted, and because I know little concrete information about who I might have been, I’ve allowed myself to be anything. The abandoned child of clandestine spies was a favorite at age five. Pretending proved muscle building for my imagination. Convent boarding school and UC Berkeley added humanities to my understanding of the craft.

I was an actor first. I came to writing after the birth of my first child. I found that I liked it, and I could play all the characters in the piece without ever leaving home.  I got my WGA card in 1993 and collaborated with some amazing artists in the studio system at the time, John Singleton, Jodie Foster, Meg LeFauve, Carol Polakoff, while never getting anything made.

It’s hard to get anything made in the system, and stories that don’t fit a mold are even harder to get financed.  I didn’t want to spend my time issue rigging stories about race and gender. My interest is human stories, where those issues are part and parcel of the plot and not just gratuitous tokens to inclusion.

ScreenCraft: Tell me about your writing community…

Nicole: Our region is rich in artists, the Hudson Valley, specifically Ulster County, so it’s a wonderful place to collaborate. I sit on the board of the Rosendale Theatre Collective, a community owned single screen movie theater, and co-chair its programming committee. I belong to Actors&Writers where I get to perform in new works by talented professionals. The Woodstock Film Festival is here, BCDF Pictures, as well as Storyhorse Theater. Many theater, film, and television professionals make their homes here. It’s been possible to host table reads with some of the best talent in the world. There’s much cross pollinating, and it’s a bucolic landscape to boot.

ScreenCraft: Where did the concept of your Pilot Launch contest-winning web series, An Act of God, come from? How does it fit in with your body of work?

Nicole:The idea for An Act of God popped into my head when I was wondering how to get what goes on in someone’s head, while they’re thinking and not speaking, center stage w/o voice over. I was thinking about the short form model and what content might hold me on a small screen. Not an intimate and niche story, but something fast moving and set on the world stage. I was also considering how we consume media now, and how a story told in 10-10 min bites, when seamed together, would make a reasonable 100 min movie when consumed as long form on a larger screen, if you considered the scene breaks from the beginning. And so I was off.
I often write with actors in mind for the principal roles. Usually they are people I know, but not always. I didn’t know Giancarlo Esposito, but then a friend was working wardrobe in Texas on a film he was in and she asked him if I could send him a script, and he said yes. Two years later he showed up for his first costume fitting and I was totally shocked and amazed that this incredible artist responded to the work and came to give me the gift of taking my characters and making them his own. You never know if you don’t ask.
I write in whatever medium the story demands. I intended to write The Gold Stone Girl as a screenplay and eight years later I had a trilogy of novels. It was too big a story to be a movie, it wanted a longer form.  So now, I’m puffing it up as a limited series.  I like the whole story series, much more familiar on the BBC. A finite number of episodes to tell a great strong story, then it’s over and on to something new and equally engaging.

ScreenCraft: How do you typically approach stories? And can you give an overview of what your writing process involves?

Nicole: I’m a complete story nerd. I think story is everything. It’s history, it’s art, it’s human nature. Sometimes I think writers are like fly paper, or like flowers pollinated with memory as story floating around in the ether. Sometimes it’s a place, or a scent, a sound, a breeze. I tend to think in pictures, so I write what I see in my head. It’s word music, painting a landscape of language.

ScreenCraft: In your career as a screenwriter thus far, what craft or business lesson has made the biggest impact or was the hardest won?

Nicole: Believing in myself, my work, that’s been my hardest battle. Not giving up. When someone says you can’t do that, now it automatically translates in my head to, okay, you can’t do that. That doesn’t mean I can’t.
I like learning new things, and I find that if I think like a beginner there’s more possibility for genius. The more I think I know, the more limitations I tend to put on myself. Once I unshackle myself from doubt and fear, then anything is possible. It’s not like I’m inventing the wheel after all, they’re just stories.

ScreenCraft: What was your experience at ITVFest?

Nicole: ITVFest is yeasty. So much energy and excitement for media storytelling in all of its aspects. It’s also world inclusive and very diverse, not what I expected when I read Dover, Vermont.  So shame on me for my assumptions, and congratulations to ITVFest.
I’ve had meaningful conversations that were not all about the economics of the business, but about the bones of the craft, which is so much more interesting to me. I’m sure business conversations were to be had, but I tend to run from them. My tragic flaw.

ScreenCraft: Did you glean any surprising or useful storytelling or business insights from your time at ITVFest?

Nicole: Yes absolutely! I loved the VR, panel, where I learned a lot of useful info about this new landscape I’m considering how to write for. I loved the TV tent where I watched amazing short content both comedy and drama. All well produced and often introducing me to worlds I didn’t know. Exciting!

I chatted with John Rhodes and Dominique Holmes, with women writers from the workshop tents, stimulating and creative.

ScreenCraft: And what’s next for you, career- and project-wise?

Nicole: I’ve adapted Shakespeare’s As You Like It into a contemporary gender bending romp which I plan to shoot in my meadow (Arden) summer 2017 – Like You is the title. I’ve applied for funding to make the pilot of An Act of God, while I work on the pilot and series bible of a three season limited series adapted from my trilogy, The Gold Stone Girl, a feminist-dystopian fantasy.

I also narrate audiobooks, which is another form of storytelling I suppose. I have a new one out on October 18th, The Next, by Stephanie Gangi, a wonderfully literate modern ghost story.

The Next

The Next audiobook excerpt can be found HERE

Like You Reading

Will Rosalind find true love with Orlando after she becomes Troy?

Like You, a new screenplay from Hudson Valley writer/director, Nicole Quinn, (Racing Daylight), will be read as part of the Rosendale Theatre’s Artist’s New Work Forum.

reading cast includes: 

Mary Stuart Masterson as Rosalind, Jeremy Davidson as Orlando, with Michael O’Keefe, Emily Donahoe, Julie Novak, Sophia Skiles, and Wayne Pyle along with Actors&Writers company members, Denny Dillon, Mikhail Horowitz, Adam Lefevre, Nina Shengold, David Smilow, Joe White, and Lori Wilner. (subject to availability)

Adapted from Shakespeare’s As You Like It, Like You is a contemporary gender bending romp set in the pastoral forest of Arden. A summer 2017 local movie shoot is planned.

Disguised as a man, Rosalind, and her cousin Celia, escape forced marriage and religious persecution to find sanctuary among hippies, red necks, and realtors in the forest of Arden. 

Come and participate in the development of an indie film script. Then follow the project from script to screen!

At the Rosendale Theatre, 408 Main St, Rosendale, NY, Tuesday September 27, 2016, 7:15 p.m. Admission is FREE! 

THE NEXT

THE NEXT

OCTOBER 18, Hardcover and audiobook, narrated by Nicole Quinn

Is there a right way to die? If so, Joanna DeAngelis has it all wrong. She’s consumed by betrayal, spending her numbered days cyberstalking Ned McGowan, much younger ex, and watching him thrive in the spotlight with someone new, while she wastes away. She’s every woman scorned, fantasizing about revenge … except she’s out of time.

Joanna falls from her life, from the love of daughters and devoted dog, into an otherworldly landscape, a bleak infinity she can’t escape until she rises up and returns and sets it right – makes Ned pay – so she can truly move on.

Will Rosalind find true love with Orlando after she becomes Troy?

Like You, a new screenplay from Hudson Valley writer/director, Nicole Quinn, (Racing Daylight), will be read as part of the Rosendale Theatre’s Artist’s New Work Forum.

reading cast includes:
Mary Stuart Masterson as Rosalind, Jeremy Davidson as Orlando, with Michael O’Keefe, and Julie Novak, along with Actors&Writers company members, Sarah Chodoff, Denny Dillon, Davis Hall, Mikhail Horowitz, Adam Lefevre, David Smilow, Joe White, and Lori Wilner. (subject to availability)

Adapted from Shakespeare’s As You Like It, Like You is a contemporary gender bending romp set in the pastoral forest of Arden. A summer 2017 local movie shoot is planned.

Disguised as a man, Rosalind, and her cousin Celia, escape forced marriage and religious persecution to find sanctuary among hippies, red necks, and realtors in the forest of Arden.

Come and participate in the development of an indie film script. Then follow the project from script to screen!

At the Rosendale Theatre, 408 Main St, Rosendale, NY, Tuesday September 27, 2016, 7:15 p.m. Admission is FREE!

Farm Stand

 e-book and audiobook, coming soon!

A month in the country, it sounded restful to Adelaide. A month out of the city, just she and the kids. Farmers, the salt of the earth, good food, anonymity. It was hot that August, when racial tempers flared and lust flamed  across the corn fields. It was a summer that altered many lives connected by the Farm Stand. 

Modern History Sourcebook: Napoleon Bonaparte: Farewell to the Old Guard, April 29, 1814

http://legacy.fordham.edu/Halsall/mod/1814napoleon.asp

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A speech by from April 20, 1814, by Napoleon Bonaparte, after his failed invasion of Russia and defeat by the Allies.

Soldiers of my Old Guard: I bid you farewell. For twenty years I have constantly accompanied you on the road to honor and glory. In these latter times, as in the days of our prosperity, you have invariably been models of courage and fidelity. With men such as you our cause could not be lost; but the war would have been interminable; it would have been civil war, and that would have entailed deeper misfortunes on France.

I have sacrificed all of my interests to those of the country.

I go, but you, my friends, will continue to serve France. Her happiness was my only thought. It will still be the object of my wishes. Do not regret my fate; if I have consented to survive, it is to serve your glory. I intend to write the history of the great achievements we have performed together. Adieu, my friends. Would I could press you all to my heart.

Napoleon Bonaparte - April 20, 1814

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This text is part of the Internet Modern History Sourcebook. The Sourcebook is a collection of public domain and copy-permitted texts for introductory level classes in modern European and World history.

Unless otherwise indicated the specific electronic form of the document is copyright. Permission is granted for electronic copying, distribution in print form for educational purposes and personal use. If you do reduplicate the document, indicate the source. No permission is granted for commercial use of the Sourcebook.

(c)Paul Halsall Aug 1997

Napoleon Bonaparte's wedding certificate to be sold at auction The document, from the French military leader’s secret religious wedding to Josephine, is part of US billionaire Christopher Forbes’s collection

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jan/25/napoleon-bonaparte-wedding-certificate-sold-auction
  An illustration of French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte dancing with wife Josephine. Photograph: Getty
Press Association
Monday 25 January 2016 18.25 EST Last modified on Monday 25 January 2016 18.35 EST

The certificate from Napoleon Bonaparte’s secret religious wedding to Josephine in 1804, eight years after their civil marriage, will go under the hammer in March, the French auction house Osenat has said.

The document is signed and sealed by Cardinal Joseph Fesch, who presided over the wedding that took place at the behest of Pope Pius VII as a condition for his presence at Napoleon’s coronation.

It is part of a collection being auctioned off by the US billionaire, Christopher Forbes, that mainly comprises artefacts from the reign of Napoleon’s nephew and heir, Napoleon III.

Fesch, as France’s ambassador to Rome, negotiated the pope’s participation in Napoleon’s grandiose coronation in Notre Dame cathedral when he crowned himself on 2 December 1804.

The pope had refused to officiate unless Napoleon and Josephine underwent the Catholic wedding rite, and the emperor-to-be agreed in order to avoid a scandal. Fesch secretly performed the ceremony at the Tuileries palace chapel in Paris on 1 December that year.

Napoleon Bonaparte was initially smitten by Josephine de Beauharnais, whom he described as “worse than beautiful”, but the marriage did not survive their frequent separations while he was leading his various campaigns to conquer Europe.

The marriage was annulled in 1810, after the couple failed to have children.

WAMC Rountable: Nicole Quinn

http://wamc.org/programs/roundtable#stream/0
Roundtable with Joe Donahue and Sarah LaDuke
March 15, Nicole Quinn
on air: aprox 11:10 a.m.

 For:
Upwift presents: Reel Women In Film
The Linda WAMC’s Perfoming Arts Studio
Friday, March 18, 2016 from 8:00 PM to 11:00 PM (EDT)
Albany, NY

Upwift presents: Racing Daylight

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/reel-women-in-film-tickets-21731022072

Reel Women In Film
The Linda WAMC’s Perfoming Arts Studio
Friday, March 18, 2016 from 8:00 PM to 11:00 PM (EDT)
Albany, NY

Napoleon Bonaparte

This well executed miniature is likely from the studio of Jean-Baptiste Isabey, and may be signed by Isabey himself.

 The Walters Art Museum
Creative Commons License


William T. or Henry Walters [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.
Jean-Baptiste Isabey (French, 1767-1855) (Artist)
PERIOD
1800-1855
MEDIUM
watercolor on ivory   
(Miniatures)
ACCESSION NUMBER
38.57
MEASUREMENTS
H: 2 9/16 in. (6.5 cm)
GEOGRAPHIES
France (Place of Origin)

House of Bernadotte, 1818 – present

http://www.unofficialroyalty.com/royal-burial-sites/swedish-royal-burial-sites/house-of-bernadotte-1818-present/

by Susan Flantzer

The House of Bernadotte has reigned in Sweden since 1818 when Jean Baptiste Jules Bernadotte, a Marshal of France, assumed the throne as King Carl XIV John (Karl XIV Johan). His predecessor King Carl XIII was childless and the House of Holstein-Gottorp was becoming extinct. On August 21, 1810, the Riksdag (Swedish Parliament) made the decision to appoint Bernadotte as heir to the throne. The first four Bernadotte kings were Kings of Norway until 1905 when the union between Sweden and Norway was dissolved.

Wikipedia: House of Bernadotte
Royal Court: The Bernadotte Dynasty

House of Bernadotte
Carl XIV John, reigned February 5, 1818 – March 8, 1844
Oscar I, reigned March 8, 1844 – July 8, 1859
Carl XV, reigned July 8, 1859 – September 18, 1872
Oscar II, reigned September 18, 1872 – December 8, 1907
Gustaf V, reigned December 8, 1907 – October 29, 1950
Gustaf VI Adolf, reigned October 29, 1950 – September 15, 1973
Carl XVI Gustaf, reigned September 15, 1973 – present

All photos of Riddarholmen Church and its tombs were taken by Susan Flantzer in August, 2011. Please do not copy any photos that I have taken.  If you wish to use a photo please contact me.

Riddarholmen Church – photo by Susan Flantzer

Swedish monarchs from Gustavus Adolphus (died 1632) to Gustaf V (died 1950) are buried at Riddarholmen Church in Stockholm except Queen Christina who converted to Roman Catholicism, abdicated, and was buried at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. King Gustaf VI Adolf who died in 1973 is buried at the Royal Burial Grounds in Haga. Riddarholmen is one of the oldest buildings in Stockholm. It was originally built as a monastery in the late 13th century. During the Reformation, it was transformed into a Protestant church. Now it is used only as a burial place and a place for commemorative services.

Royal Court: Riddarholmen Church
Wikipedia: Riddarholmen Church

Interior of Riddarholmen Church – Photo by Susan Flantzer

The Bernadotte Chapel within Riddarholmen Church contains the tombs of the Bernadotte kings and their wives from Carl XIV John through Gustav V.

Bernadotte Chapel – Photo by Susan Flantzer

photo: Wikipedia

Carl XIV John, King of Sweden and Norway (reigned February 5, 1818 – March 8, 1844)

Wikipedia: Charles XIV John of Sweden

Jean Baptiste Bernadotte was born on January 26, 1763 in Pau, France. His parents were Jean Henri Bernadotte, a tax collector, and Jeanne de Saint-Vincent. Bernadotte joined the French army as a private in 1780 and by 1794, he was a general. He distinguished himself in Napoleon Bonaparte’s army and served as Minister of War. When Napoleon became Emperor of the French, he created Bernadotte a Marshal of France. In 1810, just as he was about to start a new position as governor of Rome, the Swedish Riksdag elected him heir to the childless King Carl XIII. The Riksdag wanted a soldier as king because of their worries over Russia. In addition, Bernadotte was popular in Sweden because of his considerate treatment of Swedish prisoners during the recent war with Denmark. Bernadotte became king on February 5, 1818 upon the death of King Carl XIII and reigned as King Carl XIV John.

On August 16, 1798, Bernadotte married Bernhardine Eugénie Désirée Clary, the sister of Joseph Bonaparte’s wife Julie Clary. His wife was known as Désirée and had previously been engaged to Napoleon. Bernadotte and Désirée had one child, King Oscar I of Sweden and Norway.

King Carl XIV John died on March 8, 1844 in Stockholm, Sweden at age 81 and was buried at Riddarholmen Church.

Tombs of King Carl XIV John and his wife Désirée Clary – Photo by Susan Flantzer

photo: Wikipedia

Désirée Clary, Queen Consort of Sweden and Norway from 1818 – 1844

Wikipedia: Désirée Clary

Born on November 8, 1777 in Marseille, France, Bernardine Eugénie Désirée Clary was the daughter of François Clary, a wealthy silk manufacturer and merchant, and Françoise Rose Somis. Originally engaged to marry Napoleon Bonaparte, Désirée married Jean Baptiste Bernadotte in 1798. The couple were often separated due to Bernadotte’s military duties. At times, Désirée did live with her husband in foreign countries during his military duties, but she loved Paris and always returned there. As Crown Princess, Désirée had difficulty adjusting to the Swedish court and despised the weather in Stockholm. She left Sweden in 1811 and did not return until 1823, five years after her husband became king. When she became Queen Consort of Sweden, she officially changed her name to Desideria, but she did not like the name and never used it personally. She did not learn to speak Swedish and was never happy in Sweden.

Désirée died at age 83 in Stockholm on December 17, 1860 and was buried at Riddarholmen Church.

photo: Wikipedia

Oscar I, King of Sweden and Norway (reigned March 8, 1844 – July 8, 1859)

Wikipedia: Oscar I of Sweden

King Oscar I was born Joseph François Oscar Bernadotte on July 4, 1799 in Paris, France. Napoleon Bonaparte was his godfather. When he was 11, his father Jean Baptiste Bernadotte was elected Crown Prince of Sweden and he moved to Stockholm with his mother Désirée Clary. Oscar was given the title Duke of Södermanland, and, unlike his mother, quickly learned Swedish and adapted to life in Sweden. In 1823, Oscar married Princess Joséphine of Leuchtenberg. The couple had five children, including two kings of Sweden, Carl XV and Oscar II.

King Oscar I died on July 8, 1859 at age 60 in Stockholm, Sweden and is buried at Riddarholmen Church.

Tombs of Oscar I and his wife Josephine of Leuchtenberg to the left of the window – Photo by Susan Flantzer

Joséphine of Leuchtenberg, Queen Consort of Sweden and Norway from 1844 – 1859
Queen Josefina is wearing the Cameo Tiara which was originally made for grandmother Joséphine, Empress of the French, and was worn by her descendant Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden at her wedding in 2010.

Wikipedia: Joséphine of Leuchtenberg

Princess Joséphine of Leuchtenberg was born on March 14, 1807 in Milan, Italy. Her father was Eugène de Beauharnais, the son of Empress Joséphine (who was Napoleon’s first wife) from her first marriage to Alexandre, Vicomte de Beauharnais who had been guillotined during the French Revolution. Her mother was Princess Augusta of Bavaria, a descendant of Gustav I of Sweden and Charles IX of Sweden, thereby insuring that future members of the House of Bernadotte were descendants of the House of Vasa which ruled Sweden from 1523-1654. Joséphine of Leuchtenberg brought to Sweden jewelry that had belonged to her grandmother Empress Josephine which is still worn members of the Swedish and Norwegian royal families. She is known by the Swedish form of her name Josefina.

Queen Josefina died in Stockholm on June 7, 1876 at age 69. She remained Roman Catholic, was given a Catholic funeral, and buried at Riddarholmen Church.

photo: Wikipedia

Carl XV, King of Sweden and Norway (reigned July 8, 1859 – September 18, 1872)

Wikipedia; Carl XV of Sweden

King Carl XV was born at Stockholm Palace on May 3, 1826, the eldest son of King Oscar I and Joséphine of Leuchtenberg. On June 19, 1850, he married Louise of the Netherlands, niece of King William II of the Netherlands through her father and niece of William I of Prussia, German Emperor, through her mother. The couple had two children, Prince Carl Oscar who died at age 1 and Louise who married King Frederick VIII of Denmark. Although no subsequent monarchs of Sweden have been his descendant, Carl XV’s descendants occupy or have occupied the thrones of Denmark, Luxembourg, Greece, Belgium and Norway.

King Carl XV died in Malmö, Sweden on September 18, 1872 at age 46 and was buried at Riddarholmen Church. He was succeeded by his brother King Oscar II.

Tombs of Carl XV and his wife Louise of the Netherlands – Photo by Susan Flantzer

photo: Wikipedia

Louise of the Netherlands, Queen Consort of Sweden and Norway from 1859 – 1872

Wikipedia: Louise of the Netherlands

Princess Louise of the Netherlands was born on August 5, 1828 in The Hague, The Netherlands. Louise’s father was Prince Frederik of the Netherlands, the second son of King Willem I of the Netherlands, and her mother was Princess Louise of Prussia, daughter of King Friederich Wilhelm III of Prussia. In 1850, she married the future Carl XV and adopted the use of the Swedish equivalent of her name, Lovisa. The marriage was an unhappy one. Her husband found Lovisa shy and unattractive and was frequently unfaithful to her. The birth of her son Carl Oscar, who died when he was a year old, left Lovisa unable to have any more children and therefore unable to provide an heir to the throne.

Lovisa died in Stockholm on March 30, 1871 at age 42 and was buried at Riddarholmen Church.

photo: Wikipedia

Oscar II, King of Sweden (and Norway until 1905), reigned September 18, 1872 – December 8, 1907

Wikipedia: Oscar II of Sweden

King Oscar II was born on was born at Stockholm Palace on January 21, 1829, the third son of King Oscar I and Joséphine of Leuchtenberg. On June 6, 1857 in Wiesbaden-Biebrich, Germany, he married Princess Sophia Wilhelmina of Nassau. The couple had for sons, including King Gustaf V who succeeded his father. Oscar was a writer, amateur musician, and a great supporter of Arctic exploration. His name and picture has been used on King Oscar brand sardines since 1902.

King Oscar II died on December 8, 1907 at age 78 at Stockholm Palace and was buried at Riddarholmen Church.

Tombs of Oscar II and his wife Sophia Wilhelmina of Nassau (on left) – Photo by Susan Flantzer

photo: Wikipedia

Sophia Wilhelmina of Nassau, Queen Consort of Sweden (and Norway until 1905) from 1872 – 1907

Wikipedia: Sophia of Nassau

Sophia of Nassau was born on July 9, 1836 at Biebrich Palace in Wiesbaden-Biebrich, Germany. She was the daughter of Wilhelm, Duke of Nassau and Princess Pauline of Württemberg. Sophia married the future Oscar II in 1857 and was received enthusiastically in Sweden because Oscar’s older brother and wife could not have any more children.

Queen Sophia died at Stockholm Palace on December 30, 1913 at age 77 and was buried at Riddarholmen Church.

photo: Wikipedia

Gustaf V, King of Sweden (reigned December 8, 1907 – October 29, 1950)

Wikipedia: Gustaf V of Sweden

King Gustaf V was born on June 16, 1858 at Drottningholm Palace, the eldest son of King Oscar II of Sweden and Sophia of Nassau. On September 20, 1881, Gustaf married Princess Victoria of Baden in Karlsruhe, Germany. Victoria and Gustav had three sons, including King Gustaf VI Adolf who succeeded his father. Gustaf V became king in 1907 and reigned for nearly 43 years.

At age 92, King Gustaf V died on October 29, 1950 in Drottningholm Palace due to complications of the flu and was buried at Riddarholmen Church.

Crown Prince Carl Gustaf of Sweden (behind him are his sisters Christina and Birgitta) at the funeral of their great grandfather King Gustaf V holding the hands of Queen Louise (left) and his mother Princess Sibylla (right) – Photo Credit: Wikipedia

Tombs of Gustav V and his wife Victoria of Baden – Photo by Susan Flantzer

photo: Wikipedia

Victoria of Baden, Queen Consort of Sweden from 1907 – 1930

Wikipedia: Victoria of Baden

Victoria of Baden was born at Karlsruhe Castle in Karlsruhe, Germany on August 7, 1862. Her parents were Grand Duke Friedrich I of Baden and Princess Sophie of Sweden. Sophie’s father was the deposed King Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden from the House of Holstein-Gottorp. With this marriage, future members of the House of Bernadotte now had descent from the two previous houses, Vasa and Holstein-Gottorp. Victoria suffered from poor health and spent much time away from Sweden in warmer climates. Her last trip to Sweden was in 1928 for her husband’s 70th birthday.

On April 4, 1930, Queen Victoria died at the age of 67 in her home, Villa Svezia, in Rome, Italy. She was buried at Riddarholmen Church.

photo: Wikipedia

Gustaf VI Adolf, King of Sweden (reigned October 29, 1950 – September 15, 1973)

Wikipedia: Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden

King Gustaf VI Adolf was born November 11, 1882 at the Royal Palace in Stockholm. His parents were King Gustaf V and Victoria of Baden. On June 15, 1905, Gustaf married Princess Margaret of Connaught at St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle. Gustaf and Margaret had five children, including Prince Gustaf Adolf who is the father of the present King of Sweden, Carl XVI Gustaf, and Ingrid who married King Frederik IX of Denmark. Another child, Count Carl Johan Bernadotte of Wisborg who was born in 1916, is still alive and is the only surviving great grandchild of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom. Margaret died in 1920 and three years later Gustaf married Lady Louise Mountbatten, but this marriage was childless.

King Gustaf VI Adolf died on September 15, 1973 at age 90 at Helsingborg Hospital, Sweden. He was buried at the Royal Burial Grounds in Haga, the official burial place of the Swedish Royal Family since 1922, alongside his two wives. King Gustaf VI Adolf was succeeded by his grandson, Sweden’s present king, King Carl XVI Gustaf.

Wikipedia: Royal Burial Grounds in Haga

xGrave of King Gustaf VI Adolf and his two wives, Crown Princess Margaret and Queen Louise. Photo: Wikipedia

Close-up of the grave of King Gustaf VI Adolf and his two wives, Crown Princess Margaret and Queen Louise. Photo: Wikipedia

photo: Wikipedia

Margaret of Connaught, Crown Princess of Sweden from 1907 – 1920

Wikipedia: Margaret of Connaught

Princess Margaret of Connaught was born on January 15, 1882 at Bagshot Park near Windsor in the United Kingdom. Her father was Queen Victoria’s third son, Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and her mother was Princess Louise Margaret of Prussia. She married the future King Gustaf VI Adolf in 1905. The marriage was a happy one, but was tragically cut short when Margaret died from an infection after a mastoid operation. She was eight months pregnant with her sixth child. Margaret was buried at the Royal Burial Grounds in Haga.

Funeral Procession of Crown Princess Margaret – her husband and some of her children can be seen in the middle.

photo: Wikipedia

Lady Louise Mountbatten, Queen Consort of Sweden from 1950 – 1965

Wikipedia: Louise Mountbatten

Lady Louise Mountbatten was born on July 13, 1889 at Heiligenberg Palace, Seeheim-Jugenheim in the Grand Duchy of Hesse. Her father was Prince Louis of Battenberg and her mother was Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine, daughter of Princess Alice who was Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom’s second daughter. At the time of her birth, Louise was Her Serene Highness Princess Louise of Battenberg. During World War I, when King George V of the United Kingdom changed the family name from Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to Windsor, he requested family members with Germanic names also change their names. Louise’s father had a successful career in the British Royal Navy and had been the First Sea Lord who is the professional head of the Royal Navy. Battenberg was changed to Mountbatten and Louis was created Marquess of Milford Haven in the peerage of the United Kingdom, and Louise came to be known as Lady Louise Mountbatten. Louise was a sister of Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, an aunt of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and was also a niece of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna of Russia (Tsar Nicholas II’s wife).

Queen Louise, aged 75, died on March 7, 1965 at St. Göran Hospital in Stockholm, following emergency surgery. She had been severely ill for some time. Louise was buried at the Royal Burial Grounds in Haga.

photo: Wikipedia

Prince Gustaf Adolf, Duke of Västerbotten

Wikipedia: Prince Gustaf Adolf, Duke of Västerbotten

Prince Gustaf Adolf would have been King had he not tragically died in an airplane crash at age 40. He was born on April 22, 1906 at Stockholm Palace, the son of the future King Gustaf VI Adolf and Princess Margaret of Connaught. In 1931, Prince Gustaf Adolf married Princess Sibylla of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. The couple had five daughters and one son, King Carl XVI Gustaf, the current king.

Prince Gustaf Adolf was killed in an commercial airplane crash on January 26, 1947, at the Kastrup Airport, Kastrup, Denmark and was buried at the Royal Burial Grounds in Haga.
You Tube: January 26, 1947 – Plane crash in Copenhagen

Grave of Prince Gustaf Adolf and Princess Sibylla – Photo Credit: Wikipedia

photo: Wikipedia

Sibylla of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Princess Sibylla of Sweden, Duchess of Västerbotten

Wikipedia: Sibylla of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha

Princess Sibylla of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha was born on January 18, 1908 in Gotha in the Grand Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Her father was Charles Edward, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, posthumous son of Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany, the hemophiliac son of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom. Her mother was Princess Victoria Adelaide of Schleswig-Holstein. Sibylla married Prince Gustaf Adolf in 1931 and became a widow at age 39 when her husband died in an airplane crash. Her youngest child of her five children, the future King Carl XVI Gustaf, was only nine months old.

Princess Sibylla died of cancer on November 28, 1972 in Stockholm, Sweden at age 64. She was buried with her husband at the Royal Burial Grounds in Haga.