Between 1947 and 1957 the Sommerlath family lived in Sao Paulo, Brazil, where Walther Sommerlath was among other things President of the Brazilian subsidiary of Swedish Uddeholm. The family returned to West Germany in 1957.

Silvia Sommerlath matriculated in Düsseldorf in 1963 and between 1965 and 1969 attended the Munich School of Interpreting, graduating in Spanish, after which she worked at the Argentinean Consulate in Munich. In addition to Swedish, the Queen also speaks German, English, French, Spanish and Portuguese.

Between 1971 and 1973 Silvia Sommerlath served on the Organising Committee for the Munich Olympics training hostesses. In 1973 she became Deputy Head of Protocol of the Organising Committee for the Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria.

FAMILY

It was at the 1972 Olympics that Silvia Sommerlath met Crown Prince Carl Gustaf. The engagement of King Carl XVI Gustaf and Silvia Sommerlath was announced on March 12, 1976, and they were married on June 19 that year in the Stockholm Cathedral.

King Carl Gustaf and Queen Silvia have three children: Crown Princess Victoria, born on July 14, 1977, Prince Carl Philip, born on May 13, 1979, and Princess Madeleine, born on June 10, 1982. Under the Swedish Order of Succession introduced in 1980, the throne passes to the eldest child.

The family lived in an apartment at the Royal Palace of Stockholm through 1981, after which they moved to Drottningholm Palace.

OFFICIAL DUTIES

Queen Silvia often accompanies King Carl XVI Gustaf on official journeys in Sweden and state visits abroad.

She is a regular visitor to national and local authorities and institutions, schools and universities etc., for information-gathering purposes. The Queen also frequently takes part in anniversaries, congresses and symposium openings and other official events.

Like King Carl Gustaf, the Queen belongs to the established Lutheran Church of Sweden.

SPECIAL INTERESTS, PATRONAGE, HONORARY DOCTORATES

Queen Silvia works actively on behalf of the disabled. She is Chairman of the Royal Wedding Fund, which supports research in sports and athletics for disabled youngsters, and in Queen Silvia's Jubilee Fund for research on children and handicaps. The Queen has sponsored and personally been involved in the publishing of a book entitled "Go for It" (Swedish, English, German and Spanish editions), with the aim of encouraging sports for disabled youth. The Queen has studied sign language so as to be able to communicate more effectively with the hearing impaired. In 1990 she was awarded the "Deutsche Kulturpreis" for her efforts on behalf of the disabled.

Queen Silvia has been, from its inception in 1994, an honorary member of the international Mentor Foundation, dedicated to supporting preventive measures against drug abuse.

The Silvia Home in Drottningholm, where medical personnel are trained to care for dementia patients, has been built up as a result of the Queen's own initiative and personal commitment.

As part of her strong support for children's rights in the community, the Queen has taken part in conferences and seminars, both in Sweden and internationally, and has also worked in other ways, for example, to combat the sexual exploitation of children. She was Patron of the First World Congress against Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children, in Stockholm in 1996. Acknowledgements of her work in that connection have included the Chancellor's Medal of the University of Massachusetts, Boston, USA.

In spring 1999 the Queen took the initiative in founding the World Childhood Foundation. The mission of the foundation is to work for better living conditions for children all over the world.

Queen Silvia holds honorary positions in a large number of organisations and societies, such as the Swedish Amateur Athletic Association, the Children's Cancer Foundation of Sweden and the Swedish Save the Children Federation.

In May 1990 Queen Silvia was awarded an honorary doctoral degree at Åbo University, Finland. In April 1993 the Queen was awarded an honorary doctoral degree at Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm and in June 1994 at the University of Linköping. In October 1999 the Queen was awarded an honorary doctoral degree in medicine at Göteborg University.

Time permitting, the Queen enjoys going to the theatre, the opera and concerts. The Royal Family enjoys skiing in the winter. They have a cottage in Storlien in the province of Jämtland which the King inherited from his parents. They spend a great deal of the summer at the Solliden Palace on the island of Öland, where they are able to cultivate various leisure interests: water sports, riding, outdoor life and gardening.