STOCKHOLM (AP) — Welsh-born Princess Lilian of Sweden, whose decades-long love story with the king’s uncle was one of the better kept secrets of the royal household, has died. She was 97.

The Royal Palace says Lilian died Sunday in her home in Stockholm.

Lilian met Sweden’s Prince Bertil already in 1943, but the prince’s obligations to the throne and Lilian’s status as a divorced commoner prevented them from making their love public, and it would take more than 30 years before they could marry. The couple’s sacrifices and lifelong dedication to one another gripped the hearts of Swedes.

Prince Bertil died in the couple’s residence Villa Solbacken in Stockholm in 1997. The couple never had any children.