Sofia Hellqvist was born in 1984 at Danderyd Hospital in Danderyd, to a Swedish mother, Marie Britt Rotman, a marketing manager in the plastics industry, and a Danish–Swedish father, Erik Oscar Hellqvist, employment counsellor at the Swedish employment agency. She was christened on 26 May 1985 in Tibble Church. She moved to Älvdalen at the age of six. She has two sisters, Lina Frejd and Sara Hellqvist. She attended Älvdalen Montessori School and Älvdal School. She studied the arts programme at Vansbro Education Centre.
Career
At the age of 20, Hellqvist was published in photos in the men's magazine Slitz wearing only a bikini bottom and a live boa constrictor around her upper body and was later voted Miss Slitz 2004 by readers. When her relationship with Prince Carl Philip was revealed in 2010, Expressen republished the photos. Following the Miss Slitz win, Hellqvist was cast in the Paradise Hotel reality show on TV4 where she made it to the final. In the show, she had a much publicised feud with Olinda Castielle and finally voted Castielle off the show. In 2005, she moved to New York to study accounting, specialising in business development. She has also studied global ethics, child and youth science, children's communication and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in theory, and in Swedish practice at Stockholm University. She is also a certified yoga instructor and worked as such in New York. Back in Sweden she studied in Stockholm, where she also worked part-time as a waitress and glamour model. Hellqvist was mentioned in some newspapers for having kissed American adult film starJenna Jameson while in Las Vegas to do a Swedish version of reality show Paradise Hotel.
Marriage and motherhood
In July 2010, the Swedish Royal Court confirmed the relationship between Hellqvist and Prince Carl Philip. In April 2011, the couple moved in together in Djurgården of Stockholm, which was confirmed by the palace. On 27 June 2014, the couple's engagement was announced, and in December, Hellqvist made an appearance at the Nobel Banquet with her future husband. In May 2015, it was announced that she would receive the title of princess. The couple married at Slottskyrkan in Stockholm on 13 June 2015. On 19 April 2016, Sofia gave birth to their first child, Prince Alexander, Duke of Södermanland. Their second child, Prince Gabriel, Duke of Dalarna, was born on 31 August 2017.
Charity work
In 2010, Hellqvist was one of the co-founders of non-profit organisation Project Playground, a charity that assists underprivileged children in South Africa. Princess Sofia is the honorary chair. To mark the occasion of Prince Carl Philip and Princess Sofia's marriage in 2015, the couple founded Prince Carl Philip and Princess Sofia's Foundation. The foundation's purpose is to counteract bullying. Princess Sofia is an honorary chair of Sophiahemmet since 2016. She succeeded Princess Christina, Mrs. Magnuson, who had been honorary chair since 1972. In April 2020, the Princess completed a three-day emergency online training course from Sophiahemmet University, created to help hospitals amidst the coronavirus pandemic. She will work as a volunteer at the Sophiahemmet Hospital in Stockholm, where she will support "doctors and nurses through kitchen shifts, disinfecting instruments and cleaning."
