The 79-year-old was born Silvia Renate Sommerlath in Heidelberg in 1943. Between 1947 and 1957 she lived with her family in São Paolo in Brazil.
In 1972, as a hostess at the Olympic Games in Munich, she met King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden. She had lost her heart to the city and regularly comes to Heidelburg incognito. The Queen is patron of the German Swedish Society (DSG), of which she is patron.