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Prince Sigvard Bernadotte

1909–2004

Born
1909, Drottningholm Palace
Country of birth
Sweden
Died
2004, Stockholm
facts
12
sources
1
images and files
0

Facts and their sources

Tap a fact to see where it comes from.

A life in time

  1. Born · Drottningholm Palace

    Birth, Drottningholm Palace

  2. Died · Stockholm

    Death, Stockholm

What was it like?

The world around Drottningholm Palace, 1909: who ruled, who else was alive, how people lived. This is general history, not a record about the family, and every item shows where it comes from.

Prince was born around the same time as Astrid Lindgren, Ronald Reagan, and Mother Teresa.

Born around the same time

  • Astrid Lindgren

    1907 · Swedish writer of fiction and screenplays (1907–2002)

  • Ronald Reagan

    1911 · president of the United States from 1981 to 1989 and actor (1911–2004)

  • Mother Teresa

    1910 · Albanian-Indian Catholic nun and missionary (1910–1997)

  • Akira Kurosawa

    1910 · Japanese filmmaker (1910–1998)

  • Giuseppe Meazza

    1910 · Italian association football player and manager (1910-1979)

  • Frida Kahlo

    1907 · Mexican painter (1907–1954)

Fashion

Men's hats worn to scare predators

Herding girls wore men's hats to scare away bears and wolves, making the animals believe a man was approaching.

Tar used to protect bare feet

Some men used tar on the soles of their feet at the start of summer, allowing them to walk barefoot across rough terrain like stones and pine needles after the tar dried.

Music

Folk music performances at Skansen museum

At Skansen, an open-air museum opened in 1891, people could hear live performances of traditional Swedish instruments like the fiddle, nyckelharpa, and herdsman’s horn in a simulated peasant environment.

Widespread popularity of the fiddle

Although new instruments like the accordion and brass ensembles grew in popularity, the fiddle remained a widely played instrument, often found in almost every farmhouse by the turn of the century.

Getting around

Slow Steamboats and Public Distrust

Steamboats like the Egil were surprisingly slow for towing timber, averaging only two knots, meaning a trip could take up to 30 days. People often distrusted wood-fired steamboats, fearing they would catch fire or scare away fish.

Daily life

Cramped urban living conditions

Poor families often lived in a single room, sharing it with boarders to cover rent, while water had to be carried up stairs and toilets were located outdoors.

Daily household costs and diet

Kerosene for lighting could cost up to 10 öre per day for those doing sewing work, and children often relied on crusts of bread softened in coffee for breakfast.

Food

Affordable meat and staple snacks

Knackwurst sausages were a treat for some workers, available at markets for 25 öre for three. While meat was often scarce, other items like crispbread were staples across all social classes.

Everyday meals of poor Swedish families

For poor families, a common, inexpensive mid-day meal consisted of a large dish of boiled potatoes, often supplemented with salt herring bought from a local merchant. To save money, bread was baked at home and hung on a pole to dry, as families were discouraged from eating fresh bread.

Prices and wages
Around 1907–1907

Earnings of a laborer in 1907

In 1907, a common laborer in Stockholm earned 3.20 kronor per day, which would result in an annual income of 948 kronor if he avoided chronic unemployment.

Around 1913–1913

Prices of food and shoes, 1913

Around 1913, a pair of shoes cost 10 kronor and a pound of butter cost 1.20 kronor, while a pound of meat cost 60 öre.

Work

Common jobs in Sweden, 1900-1924

The majority of Swedes worked in agriculture as peasants, crofters, farmhands, or contract-workers, though industrial, forestry, and small-scale manufacturing jobs were also significant.

Early starts for livestock workers

Milkmaids and grooms often began their work at 3:30 to 4:00 a.m. and some grooms had only one day off every third or fourth Sunday.

News and letters

Modernization of rural mail delivery

Rural mailmen used bicycles starting in 1900 and motorized mail vans were first introduced in 1915.

Postcard popularity and cost

Sending a postcard cost 5 öre during its peak, and popularity was so high that 43 million cards were processed in Sweden in 1903–1904.

During their lifetime

  1. 1909

    Suffrage reform enacted in 1909

    In 1909, Sweden enacted a major suffrage reform that expanded voting rights.

  2. 1918

    Spanish Flu pandemic strikes in 1918

    The 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic caused 34,378 deaths in Sweden within one year, the country's highest mortality rate since 1880.

  3. 1921

    Women gain voting rights in 1921

    Women gained the right to vote in national elections in 1921.

  4. 1932

    Social Democrats take power in 1932

    The Social Democratic Party took power in 1932, beginning 44 years of dominance and implementing extensive welfare plans.

  5. 1947

    Pension and child allowance laws, 1947

    Laws establishing a national basic pension and national child allowance were passed in 1947.

Family

Parents

Spouses

Ancestors and children

Open the full tree

Four generations back to the right, the children to the left. The number beside a child counts the generations of descendants known after them.