Princess Lilian of Sweden dies aged 97

A photo taken on December 10, 2006 shows Swedish Queen Silvia (C) and Princess Lilian (L) during the Nobel Prize Awards ceremony in Stockholm. Swedish Princess Lilian, who waited over three decades to marry her lifelong love Prince Bertil, passed away at her Stockholm home on March 10, 2013 at the age of 97, the royal palace said in a statement.AFP PHOTO / SVEN NACKSTRAND

STOCKHOLM – Swedish Princess Lilian, who waited over three decades to marry her lifelong love Prince Bertil, passed away at her Stockholm home on Sunday at the age of 97, the royal palace said in a statement.

Welsh-born Lilian, the widow of King Carl XVI Gustaf’s uncle, was a married model when she met Bertil in London in 1943. She divorced her British actor husband Ivan Craig in 1945.

King Gustaf VI Adolf, the king’s grandfather, refused to give his blessing to a marriage between the prince and the commoner, forcing Lilian to stay in the shadows though the couple did live together.

It wasn’t until 33 years later in 1976, when Carl XVI Gustaf was on the throne, that the two were finally allowed to wed.

Popular royal Bertil, who was known in Sweden as “prince charming” because of his romance with Lilian, died in 1997 aged 84. The couple never had any children.

In 2010, Lilian withdrew from the public eye, suffering from Alzheimer’s disease.