H. R. H. Crown Princess Victoria Ingrid Alice Désirée, duchess of Västergötland, was born on July 14th 1977 at Karolinska University Hospital in Stockholm. She is the oldest child of King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia. Victoria is, according to the rules of succession of 1979 that became law on January 1st 1980, thus heir to the throne.

H. R. H. Princess Madeleine Thérèse Amelie Josephine, princess of Sweden, duchess of Hälsingland and Gästrikland was born on June 10^th 1982.

Princess Madeleine is the third child in succession, after princess Victoria and prince Carl Philip.

Anna Lindh was an extraordinary politician. Her intellect and strong personality guided her to the arena of global politics, but at the same time she valued her family life in Nyköping. The foreign minister of Sweden was a mother of young children and wanted her evenings work-free.

It was the combination of being a brilliant and strong politician while staying warm and down to earth that made her great. She was truly a leader who stood out from the rest. With her passing she left a big void and a nation in grief.

Greta Gustafsson was born on September 18^th 1905 in Stockholm. After public school she started working as a soap-girl and later as a cashier at the department store PUB in Stockholm. In 1922 she applied and was accepted to Dramaten’s acting school.

She started her movie career with a few commercials followed by her first actual movie part in “Luffar-Petter” from 1922. Mauritz Stiller saw her talents and gave her a role in “Gösta Berlings Saga” in 1924, around when Greta started using the name Garbo. It wasn’t long before Garbo and Stiller caught the attention of Louis B. Meyer who brought them to MGM in Hollywood. During her career Garbo starred in 27 movies and was, with barely any exceptions, highly celebrated for her performances. When the transition away from silent movies revealed Garbo’s slightly raspy voice her stardom rose to new heights. The mystique around the actress grew into Garbo-fever.

Greta Garbo passed away on April 15^th 1990 in New York. She lies buried at “Skogskyrkogården” in Stockholm where she was buried on June 16^th 1999.

Ingrid Bergman was born in Stockholm on August 29^th 1915. Her first acting role was in the movie “Munkbrogreven”, followed by the movie “Bränningar”. Ingrid’s first big test came with the movie “Swedenhielms”. In 1936 Ingrid starred in “Intermezzo” alongside Gösta Ekman senior.

When Intermezzo was remade in Hollywood three years later, Ingrid launched her career in America. During her Hollywood period from 1939 to 1950, Ingrid starred in an additional 12 movies.

After a fierce and mean gossip campaign against the couple Bergman/Rossellini, Ingrid bounced back with Anastasia in 1956. And what a comeback it was! She was awarded her second Academy Award for her performance. Her third, and final Oscar, Ingrid earned playing the Swedish missionary Greta Ohlson in “Murder on the Orient Express” of 1974.

Ingrid also made a few Swedish movies with Ingmar Bergman (no relation). “Autumn Sonata” in 1978 was Ingrid’s final feature film where she played the mother of Liv Ullman. Once again, Ingrid received great reviews and was particularly proud since she felt her career, as well as her life, was coming closer to the end. For a few years she had been battling cancer. Before her passing, Ingrid played Golda Meir in a made for TV-movie where she once more delivered an unforgettable performance. Ingrid Bergman is without any doubts one of the most remarkable actresses that Sweden, and the world, will ever see.

Lena Maria Jonna Olin, born 1956, had thought out a career as a doctor or a model. The daughter of Stig Olin has been married to director Lasse Hallström since 1994.

In the early nineties Lena had established herself as a Hollywood actress after the success of “The Unbearable Lightness of Being”. Lena has been nominated for an Academy Award and has starred against great actors such as Richard Gere and Johnny Depp.

The American audience have never really been able to handle Lena’s greatness and complexity. In 2002 she agreed to her first TV-role in the U.S. in the show Alias where she became known as “Irina Derevko”. We are happy that she is back making films in Sweden again as her film Bang Bang Orangutang is set to hit the theatres soon.

Astrid Lindgren was born in Vimmerby on November 14^th 1907.

Sickness and accidents certainly affected Astrid’s storytelling. When her daughter Karin was seven years old, lying sick at home she used to ask her mother to tell the story of Pippi Långstrump (Pippi Longstocking). Astrid who never held back an impulse, no matter if it was jumping of rooftops or making up stories, started to tell her tales of the remarkable red headed girl.

Her first manuscript was ready the day of her daughter Karin’s 10^th birthday in 1944. When the same manuscript landed on publisher Gerard Bonnier’s desk he was appalled. “Suger all over the floor, and a messy children’s chamber. No, I couldn’t take responsibility for that”, he said. Instead it was Rabén & Sjögren, now the most successful children’s book publisher in Sweden that released the first Pippi Longstocking book in 1945.

The success was immediate, as was the commotion. Parents were outraged, teachers were outraged, and certain critics warned for a moral decay in society. How could it be that Pippi Longstocking was seen as so dangerous?

Astrid Lindgren is, without competition, Sweden’s most translated author. Her books can be read in 86 languages and her international sales have reached an almost ungraspable 80 million copies.

Astrid Lindgren passed away in 2002 at the age of 94, leaving a nation in grief, but also an unparalleled cultural heritage in the shape of children’s literature.

ABBA was a Swedish pop-ensemble formed in 1972 that enjoyed immense success in the 1970s and early1980s. Their international breakthrough came with the victory in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1974 with the song Waterloo.

The name ABBA comes from Agneta Björn Benny Anni-Frid, and is often written with the first B reversed.

ABBA consisted of Björn Ulvaeus, Agnetha Fältskog, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid “Frida” Lyngstad, but as tensions grew the touring stopped in 1981 and the band dissolved. The final ABBA record, “Visitors”, was released in 1981. With over 350 million records sold all over the world, ABBA is without question the most successful music export ever to come out of Sweden.

Gun-Marie Fredriksson was born on May 30^th 1958 in Östra Ljungby but later moved to Halmstad, on the west coast of Sweden. In the early 1980s she started her career as a solo artist and later founded the band Roxette together with Per Gessle in 1986.

Marie is one of those artists whose music and lyrics manages to reach deep into people’s hearts. Many still think of Roxette when Marie’s name is mentioned but she has also released several solo albums. With an ability to write about life’s mysteries and meaning she has made thousands of listeners take her songs to heart as they often recognize much of themselves in her lyrics. Marie Fredriksson’s music has an ability to mix sorrow and joy and has therefore been featured at many baptisms, confirmations, and funerals. Her songs attract people of all ages since she has an ability to take us on a journey through life, always asking questions and always searching for answers.

Märta Birgit Nilsson, born 1918, daughter of farmers Nils Svensson and Justina Pålsson is a Swedish soprano singer who turned Royal Opera singer in 1954.

Birgit Nilsson studied at the Royal School of Music from 1941 through 1946. Her debut at the Stockholm Opera was as Agathe in Carl Maria von Weber’s “Der Freischütz” in 1946.

Birgit is on of Sweden’s most famous opera singers and can easily be referred to as a world-class soprano. She is especially recognized for her performances in the Wagner-operas Tristan and Isolde, Lohngrin, and the Ring. She also earned much recognition for her role as Salome, in the Richard Strauss opera with the same name, based on the Oscar Wilde drama, in which she performed from the year 1954. Her Elektra (also that by Richard Strauss) could easily be referred to as one of the best of the twentieth century.

The part most often performed by Birgit (209 times) was the one as Isolde. During the 1960s and 70s she was the world’s greatest Turandot, while also excelling as Aida, Tosca, and “Fältmarsalkinnan”. Se was a recurrent performer on the greatest stages in the world such as Bayreuth, Metropolitan, La Scala, and the Vienna opera.

Through her well managed singing style and varying repertoire she enjoyed an unusually long career (1946-1982) with the “dyer’s wife” in The Woman Without a Shadow as her last role.

Annika Sörenstam, born 1970

When Swedish golf took the leap towards the world’s elite it was the women who led the way. It was thus not strange that the first golfer who was awarded with “Svenska Dagladets bragdmedalj” was a woman. The award, which is recognized as the most prestigious any Swedish athlete can win, was given to Annika for her performance in 1995.

Annika’s career is nothing short of amazing. She took up golf at the age of twelve while also playing tennis. At the age of sixteen Annika focused all her efforts her golf game. When she turned pro in 1992 she enjoyed no immediate success, but it came three years later. In 1995 Annika won just about everything: the US Open, the US- and European tours, the money-race, and was named player of the year in both Europe and in the United States. The following year she reached the number one spot on the world-rankings, got engaged, and settled down in San Diego, California. Her own explanation to her unprecedented success is her stubbornness and her relentlessness. Of course, that alone is not enough. It takes both talent and diligent training to become the world’s number one. Annika is probably the greatest sports-star in Sweden right now and won in 2005 the unofficial World Championship of golf for the fifth time. 

Carolina Klüft is in spite of her young age (born 1982) already one of modern days greatest track & field athletes and the most talented young athlete in Swedish track & field for a very long time. She is extremely diverse as an athlete and is one of the few heptathletes who doesn’t struggle with a weak event.

Carolina has enjoyed an incredible development curve and always shows great enthusiasm when she competes. It is impossible not to see how much she enjoys competing in her sport. She has been the world’s number one heptathlete since September 2002.

At the age of 23 she has already won Olympic gold in 2004, World Championship gold in 2003 and in 2005, European Championship gold in 2002, Junior World Championship gold in 2000 and in 2002, Junior European Championship in 2001.

Anja has won 24 more since then and has now won the total World Cup two years in a row.

Magdalena Forsberg, born 1967

After being a cross-country skier at elite level without ever getting her big breakthrough she took the step into biathlon in 1993. “Magda” and Wolfgang Pichler started working together in 1995 and together they became the most successful pairing the sport, or maybe any sport, has ever seen.

Magdalena won the total World Cup 1997-2002, that is six years in a row, with a total of 42 victories. She also enjoyed victories in six World Championships, two silver medals, and four bronze medals. In the Olympics of 2002 she won two bronze medals.

Magdalena is the only Swedish athlete who has won “Jerringpriset” on four separate occasions and is by far the most successful female biathlete of all time.