Wasn't Birgitta still eligible, as she married a prince?
Birgitta was never eligible. NO female Bernadotte had ANY KIND of succession right until 1980 and from then only the decendants of the present king.
The Swedish parliament voted down several proposals to allow women to succceed to to the throne in the 1960's and 1970's. The ruling Social Democrats would rather have had a republic, but changed their approach when the king did actually have children in order to secure the rights of the firstborn daughter. When the process was initiated, it was not known if she would have siblings.
I should have added that the Swedish parliament (hypothetically) would have either submitted, perhaps, a referendum to the Swedish electorate on continuation of the monarchy per (king) Bertil's death by offering the crown to a distant relative of the royal family.
Moreover, I am completely unaware of the fact, according to you, that Swedish princesses, prior to 1980, were ineligible for succession. My understanding the Swedish princesses were ineligible because they married commoners or without consent of the king.
Queen Ulrika-Elenora and Queen Christina were queen regnants of Sweden. Furthermore, with that being said, I understood that Sweden was under semi-Salic law as is the UK and many other monarchies were at one time.
The heir presumptive was his uncle, Prince Bertil. His sisters have never had succession rights, so there would have been nothing to *restore.* The dynasty would simply have gone extinct, had he and his nephew, the new king, died without male heirs. Carl XVI Gustaf's other uncles renounced their rights for themselves and their descendants, when marrying commoners. And Parliament didn't change the law to permit female succession until 1980. But by then, the king had married and fathered two children.
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