A Royal Wedding (1928) - Sepia Saturday 615

 M.001.02 - Municipal Building, New York City

Municipal building, New York City.
© by Irving Underhill, N.Y.

Irving Underhill (1872–1960) "was one of the most notable commercial photographers in New York City during the first half of the 20th century. He produced work that was featured in postcards and numerous publications while he was still alive, and that continues to be exhibited and receive recognition long after his death." [Wikipedia]

MUNICIPAL BUILDING, BY NIGHT,
NEW YORK CITY.

Facing City Hall at Park Row and Center Streets,

contains offices for all the city departments and is the

largest structure of its kind in the world. It is 34 stories,

580 feet high, including 30 foot statue of Miss Civic Pride

on tower. Foundation consists of 116 Pneumatic caissons

sunk 260 feet below water level. Total cost $ 13,000,000.

To: Herr Gustaf Emanuelson*, Storegården, Fristad
From: Gerda (Stockholm, 31.12.1928)

Ett gott nytt år!!! önskas Er alla med hälsningar från Gerda
A Happy New Year!!! to all of you, with best wishes from Gerda

[*At some point after moving back to the family farm in Fristad, Gustaf changed his last name back from Ekman to Emanuelsson, and then to Samuelsson. His father's name was Samuel Emanuelsson.]

. . .

The construction of Manhattan Municipal Building began in 1909 and continued through 1914. That means this card can't be an old one that Gerda had saved since she lived in America. She returned to Sweden in 1911, and after that I have found nothing to indicate that she revisited the US - until, perhaps, in 1928. This postcard seems to support the theory that she did visit New York in the autumn of 1928 - even if at the same time, it also seems to prove s that she was back in Sweden to post Christmas and New Year greetings from Stockholm. (Cf card, M.001.01 - Sturefors castle)

The reason why I want Gerda to have been in New York around December 1, 1928, is the wedding between the couple that were to be her next (and last) employers: the Swedish Count Folke Bernadotte (nephew to King Gustav V of Sweden) and his American wife Estelle Manville, from Pleasantville, New York.

Folke Bernadotte, Count of Wisborg, born 1895, was a Swedish nobleman, diplomat, and nephew to King Gustav V of Sweden. In WWII he was to become famous for negotiating the release of about 31,000 prisoners from German concentration camps - the so-called White Buses operation. A few years after the war, he was tragically assassinated in Jerusalem in 1948.

Before all that, back in 1928, on December 1, in Pleasantville, New York, Folke married Estelle Romaine Manville, born 1904 in Pleasantville; the only daughter of a wealthy American industrialist, Hiram Edward Manville, and his wife Henrietta Estelle Romaine. 

Folke and Estelle met in Nice on the French Riviera in the summer of 1928. It has been said that it was King Gustav V of Sweden himself who introduced Estelle to his nephew; and it seems to have been more or less "love at first sight". Their engagement was officially announced on August 3, 1928. 

From my own family context, I seem to recall hearing Gerda's position in the Bernadotte household being spoken of as 'housekeeper' at their home in Stockholm, Dragongården. However, from what I've gathered later, it seems it was't until a few years later that Folke and Estelle properly settled in Sweden and moved into that house - a 20-room villa in central Stockholm, which was to become their family home. (Nowadays it is the Chinese embassy in Stockholm). 

Because of this, I'm not quite sure when exactly Gerda started working for the Bernadottes. But the more I've learned about Gerda's life , the more likely I find it that she probably got employed as lady's maid to Estelle even before the wedding - although not very long before.

According to the list I have of Gerda's eimployments, she left Sturefors Castle on August 21, 1928. That's just 2½ weeks after Folke and Estelle got engaged. And I have no record of her having had another employment in between. 

Estelle - a young American girl, 24 years old, "out of the blue" about to marry a Swedish nobleman and diplomat, nephew to the king... What would people around her consider her in need of? I'm thinking: Someone to help her with the transformation from rich American girl to Swedish Countess. Like... a mature and experienced lady's maid, speaking Swedish, English and French, used to working for Swedish nobility as well as wealthy Americans - and with the reputation of being "an excellent traveller and packer and a neat needlewoman". Gerda (47 years old in 1928), although the daughter of a Swedish farmer, by now filled those requirements and more. Actually, the more I've learned about her previous employments, the more I think she may even have got "head-hunted" for the position. 

Besides the New York postcard above, another indication that Gerda might have been in the US for the wedding in 1928 is a newspaper cutting found among her postcards and photos:

HERE COMES THE BRIDE: - Miss Estelle Romaine Manville arriving at the church wearing wedding veil worn by the late Queen Sophie, grandmother of the bridegroom. 

THE ROYAL GUESTS! - Count Wachtminster, Countess Martha Wachtminster*, Countess Anna Bonde and Count Platen* (l. to r.) of the Swedish nobility, leaving church after ceremony. (By Pacific & Atlantic) 

*(Wachtminster = Wachtmeister, and Platen = von Platen, I think...)

Of course a cutting from a magazine doesn't necessarily prove that Gerda was there in person. But it is from an American magazine, not a Swedish one. I kind of doubt that Gerda got to attend the actual wedding ceremony, because from what I've read, only "250 of the couple's closest friends and family members" were present in the church. But it seems likely that  as lady's maid Gerda would have been there for the preparations, and also present "in the background" at the big reception held afterwards at the Manville estate Hi-Esmaro (with around 1500 guests attending). 

After the wedding, Folke and Estelle seem to have spent some time in America, incuding Christmas at Hi-Esmaro with Estelle's family - while  Gerda was evidently (with postcards to prove it) back in Stockholm for Christmas and New Year. I suppose that spending the honeymoon in the US, the newlyweds preferred to manage on their own most of the time. So Gerda may have been given some time off - and perhaps there were also things she could help arrange for them back in Stockholm. 

I have several photos of Gerda from the Manville estate in Pleasantville; but with most of them, I don't know the year. Below is one obviously taken in winter. Whether December 1928, I dare not say. But fashion-wise, I think it's possible. (Cf. a 1928 fashion website I found.)

Stories of how I managed (with the help of readers) to establish that this and more photos in Gerda's album were taken at the Manville estate in Pleasantville can be found in various early posts on the blog - several years ago now. For example: The Secret Garden in Pleasantville, N.Y. (1914-01-26)

Linking to: Sepia Saturday 615

SVENSKA

Vykort: Municipal Building, New York City

Till: Herr Gustaf Emanuelson*, Storegården, Fristad

Från: Gerda (postat i Stockholm, 31.12.28)

Ett gott nytt år!!! önskas Er alla med hälsningar från Gerda

*[Vid någon tidpunkt efter att Gustaf flyttat tillbaka till Storegården i Fristad ändrade han tillbaka sitt efternamn från Ekman till Emanuelsson, och ytterligare lite senare till Samuelsson. Hans fars namn var Samuel Emanuelsson.]

. . .

'Stadshuset' Municipal Building på Manhattan i New York började byggas 1909 och stod färdigt först 1914. Det betyder att det här vykortet inte kan vara från åren då Gerda bodde i Amerika, utan måste ha köpts senare. Gerda återvände till Sverige 1911, och jag har inte funnit något som pekar på att hon besökte Amerika igen förrän, kanske, 1928. Det här kortet verkar stödja min teori om att hon faktiskt var i New York då; även samma kort också bevisar att hon var tillbaka i Stockholm igen vid jul/nyår.

Orsaken till att jag gärna tänker mig att Gerda besökte New York hösten 1928, är bröllopet mellan Folke Bernadotte och hans amerikanska hustru Estelle Manville, från Pleasantville, N.Y. - som Gerda kom att tjäna hos under resten av sitt liv. Paret gifte sig den 1 december 1928 i St. John's Episcopal Church i Pleasantville.

Folke Bernadotte, greve av Wisborg, född 1895, var en svensk adelsman, diplomat, och brorson till kung Gustav V. Under andra världskriget, då han var vice ordförande i svenska Röda Korset, kom han att bli känd för att ha befriat 31.000 fångar från koncentrationsläger i Tyskland. (Efter kriget blev han tragiskt nog mördad i Jerusalem, 1948.)

Långt innan allt detta, den 1 december 1928, gifte han sig alltså i Pleasantville, New York, med Estelle Romaine Manville, dotter till den förmögne amerikanske affärsmannen Hiram Edward Manville och hans hustru Henrietta Estelle Romaine.

Folke och Estelle träffades i Nice på franska rivieran sommaren 1928. Det sägs ha varit kung Gustav V själv som introducerade them för varandra; och det blev ”kärlek vid första ögonkastet”. Deras förlovning eklaterades redan den 3 augusti 1928. 

Från min egen uppväxt tycker jag mig minnas att Gerda omtalades som ”husföreståndarinna” på Dragongården, paret Bernadottes hem i Stockholm. När jag senare sökt efter mer detaljer, så finner jag att det nog inte var förrän några år senare som Folke och Estelle på allvar bosatte sig i Sverige och flyttade in på Dragongården – en villa med 20 rum, som numera hyser kinesiska ambassaden.

Därför har jag inte känt mg helt säker på när  Gerda egentligen började arbeta för paret Bernadotte – om det var först när de flyttade till Dragongården, eller redan tidigare. 

Ju mer jag hittat om Gerdas liv, desto mer lutar jag nu dock åt att hon troligen anställdes som kammarjungfru till Estelle redan före bröllopet.

En ung amerikanska, 24 år gammal, som helt plötsligt ska gifta sig med en svensk greve, därtill nära släkt med kungen själv – vad för slags hjälp kan hon behöva i denna omställning?  Jag tänker mig: En mogen och erfaren kammarjungfru, som behärskar både svenska och engelska (och därtill även franska); van att arbeta för både svensk adel och ”nyrika” amerikaner; och välrenommerad för sin erfarenhet av  långa resor, med handhavande av packning och sömnad mm. Vid det här laget stämmer allt detta in på Gerda. Dotter till en lantbrukare, men nu 47 år gammal, och med många erfarenheter och långa utlandsvistelser i bagaget. Ju mer jag tänkt på det, desto troligare syns det mig att hon antagligen blev ombedd att ta den här tjänsten, snarare än att hon själv ”sökte” den.

Enligt Gerdas betyg, så lämnade hon sin anställning hos grevinnan Bielke på Sturefors den 21 augusti 1928. Det var 2½ vecka efter Folkes och Estelles förlovning. Och i listan över hennes anställningar finns inget som tyder på att hon skulle haft något annat arbete efter Sturefors, innan hon började hos paret Bernadotte. 

Förutom vykortet från New York ovan, så finns ytterligare ett ”indicium” på att hon kan ha varit i USA vid tiden för bröllopet: Ett medfaret tidningsurklipp med foton från detsamma, som hon bevarat i alla år tillammans med diverse foton och vykort.

Urklippet bevisar väl inte i sig att Gerda var med vid bröllopet - men det är från en amerikansk tidskrift, inte en svensk. Troligen var Gerda inte med vid själva vigselakten i kyrkan, för enligt uppgift var det bara 250 av ”brudparets närmaste familj och vänner” som deltog där. Men som kammarjungfru bör hon väl ha funnits med i föreberedelserna, och även i bakgrunden vid den stora mottagningen efteråt på Manvilles egendom Hi-Esmaro, då det lär ha varit 1500 gäster inbjudna. 

 

Efter bröllopet ska Folke och Estelle ha tillbringat sin smekmånad i USA, och även ha firat julen med Estelles föräldrar på Hi-Esmaro.  Gerda var dock uppenbarligen tillbaka i Stockholm vid jultid, eftersom hon sände jul- och nyårshälsningar till anhöriga därifrån (förutom New York-kortet till Gustaf, också kortet på Sturefors slott till sin styvmor Selma, jmf föregående inlägg).

 

Det förefaller dock inte så konstigt, om brudparet avstod från att ha sin svenska kammarjungfru med på smekmånaden i USA, där Estelle var på ”hemmaplan”.Jjag tänker mig att Gerda fick lite julledighet; men kanske att hon också hade saker att utföra för paret Bernadottes räkning i Stockholm. (De måste ju ha haft någonstans att bo i Stockholm även före Dragongården.)

Jag har flera foton på Gerda från Manvilles egendom i Pleasantville, men med de flesta vet jag inte när de är tagna. Fotot här är dock uppenbarligen taget vintertid. Om det är från 1928 eller något eller några senare vet jag inte – men modet ser ut att kunna stämma rätt bra med 1928.

Bland tidigare inlägg på den här bloggen (som jag startade 2012) finns flera som redogör för hur jag, med hjälp av läsare bosatta i Pleasantville som hört av sig, kommit att kunna fastställa att vissa foton i Gerdas fotoalbum måste vara tagna på Hi-Esmaro. Huset är rivet, men vissa murrester från trädgården finns kvar.

Exempel från januari 1914:  The Secret Garden in Pleasantville, N.Y.

 

Gerda in Egypt, 1932 / Sepia Saturday 595

(Temporarily side-stepping the postcard album chronology with this post...)

This week, Sepia Saturday 595 offers a prompt picture showing an unknown mother and child riding a donkey on a beach:

This made me think of a photo of Gerda (older half-sister to my grandmother), sitting on a donkey in front of a pyramid in Egypt:

As with most photos in Gerda's photo album, there is no date or comment to accompany it. I know she travelled to several foreign countries, employed as lady's maid to rich ladies; but I have very few details about all that. So when was she in Egypt? 

A couple of years ago, when sorting through a bunch of postcards which had not been fitted into the album, I found this one (below), which probably provides the answer:

To: Gustaf Samuelsson, Storegården, Fristad, Sweden

(For some reason, by now Gustaf had gone back to using his birth surname, Samuelsson)

From: Gerda. Sent from Cairo, 20th March 1932 (a Sunday)

Cairo den 20-3-32
Käre bror! Sänder dig en hälsning härifrån, reser igen om tisdag till vanliga adressen. Kära hälsningar, syster Gerda

Cairo 20.3.32 

Dear brother, sending you a greeting from here. On Tuesday I'll be leaving again for the usual address. Love, sister Gerda

From info I got back in 2013 from a grandson to Gerda's older sister, I know for certain that in March 1932, Gerda was in the employ of Estelle Bernadotte, married to the Swedish count Folke Bernadotte af Wisborg, nephew to the king of Sweden, Gustav V. In an email to me, he mentions a sort of ID document in French dated 9 March 1932, stating that then she's employed in Paris at Square Lamartine no 3 as "domestique au service du comte Bernadotte de Wisborg, neveu du Roi de Suède". 

So if on the 20th of the same month, Gerda is sending a postcard from Cairo, I'd say there is no doubt that she was there with the Bernadottes. It even seems likely that the French ID document was written for that journey.

When I google "Cairo 1932", I find Congrés de Caire or the First Congress of Arab Music, "a large international symposium and music festival that was convened by King Fuad I in Cairo, Egypt, from March 14 to April 3, 1932". [Wikipedia] 

I'm not familiar with the diplomatic relations between Sweden and Egypt at the time, but it seems to me that if this was an international event convened by the king of Egypt, it's not unlikely that Count Bernadotte was attending as representative for the Swedish royal family. (The dates seem to fit "too" well for it to be a pure coincidence.)

As for the photo of Gerda in front of the pyramid, I suppose that if they were in Cairo for a week, she was also given a bit of time off for sight-seeing - perhaps an outing to the pyramids together with other servants? (I'd love it if I could also find out who the men accompanying her in the photo were, but that's probably too much to hope for!)

When she writes that she'll be going back to "the usual address", I suppose that could mean either back to Paris (if they had just been making an excursion to Egypt from there), or back to Stockholm, Sweden. (The next card I have is from August 1932, and then she was back in Stockholm. But that leaves four months unaccounted for in between.)

---

Svenska:

Veckans inspirationsbild från Sepia Saturday (595) - en okänd kvinna och ett barn sittande på en åsna på en strand - får mig att göra en liten avvikelse från den kronologiska genomgången av Gustafs vykortssamling. Bilden leder mina tankar till ett foto i Gerdas fotoalbum, där hon sitter på en åsna framför en av Egyptens pyramider. Som vanligt saknas anteckningar om datum eller plats - fast platsen råder det ju i det här fallet inte mycket tvivel om!  

Jag vet att Gerda reste till flera avlägsna länder under sina anställningar som kammarjungfru hos välbärgade damer. Men när var hon i Egypten? 

För ett par år sedan, när jag gick igenom en bunt med kort som inte fått plats i Gustafs vykortsalbum, så hittade jag ett som antagligen ger svaret på gåtan - skrivet av Gerda till Gustaf, från Kario, daterat den 20.3 1932 (vilket var en söndag). 

Cairo den 20-3-32
Käre bror! Sänder dig en hälsning härifrån, reser igen om tisdag till vanliga adressen. Kära hälsningar, syster Gerda

För ett antal år sedan, 2013, fick jag en del kompletterande data om Gerdas anställningar i ett email från Bengt W, barnbarn till Gerdas syster Emma. Jag har fortfarande inte lyckats få klarhet i exakt när Gerda trädde i tjänst hos Estelle Bernadotte - om det var redan från 1928 när paret gifte sig, eller något senare - men BW nämner "ett sorts identitetsbevis på franska utfärdat 9 mars 1932 om att hon är anställd i Paris på Square Lamartine no 3 som 'domestique au service du comte Bernadotte de Wisborg, neveu du Roi de Suéde'."

Så om Gerda var i Kairo den 20 mars 1932, så råder knappast något tvivel om att hon var där tillsammans med paret Bernadotte. Det verkar t.o.m troligt att det där id-dokumentet skrevs specifikt for detta ändamål!

Men vad var då anledningen till att makarna Bernadotte besökte Kairo i mars 1932? När jag googlar på "Cairo 1932" så leder mig detta till en Wikipedia-artikel om en internationell kongress om arabisk musik, sammankallad av kung Fuad, och som pågick från 14 mars till 3 april 1932. Jag är inte bekant med de diplomatiska förbindelserna mellan Sverige och Egypten vid den tiden, men om denna kongress var ett initiativ av den egyptiske kungen, så förefaller det inte otroligt att Bernadottes var där som representanter för det svenska hovet. Datumen verkar stämma lite "för" bra för att vara ett rent sammanträffande.

När det gäller fotot på Gerda vid pyramiden, så antar jag att om de var i Kairo i vecka, så fick även medföljande tjänstefolk någon ledighet för att titta på sevärdheter - t.ex. en utflykt till pyramiderna. (Att lyckas få reda på vilka männen på ömse sidor om Gerda på fotot är, är dock antagligen inte att hoppas på.) 

När Gerda skriver att hon på tisdag reser tillbaka "till vanliga adressen", så antar jag att detta syftar antingen på Paris (om resan till Egypten bara var en utflykt från en längre vistelse i Paris), eller på Stockholm. (Nästa kort med tidsangivelse som jag har är från augusti 1932, från Stockholm. Men det är ju hela fyra månader senare.)

‘The Secret Garden’ in Pleasantville N.Y.

Follow-up of the serendipitous story mentioned in yesterday’s post (Sepia Saturday 25 Jan 2014).

A few months ago, in September 2013, I received an unexpected email with some photos attached, in response to a blog post I had written about a year earlier (4 Sept 2012 - Summer in Pleasantville, 1933).

The sender of the email was a young woman of Swedish descent herself, now living in Pleasantville, N.Y. The reason she wrote was that she was able to provide some evidence to support my guess about the location of two photos I believed must be from the Manville estate Hi-Esmaro in Pleasantville. (Which in turn also confirms that the boys in one of those photos from 1933 – see below – must be Gustaf and Folke Bernadotte, sons of Swedish diplomat Count Folke Bernadotte and his wife Estelle Manville-Bernadotte. Gerda was working for the Bernadotte family at that point in time, either as housekeeper or lady’s maid, or some position like that.)

Here is an abridged version of her email + my translation:

Jag bor i Foxwood, Pleasantville, New York. Jag och min 6-åriga dotter brukar promenera mycket i trakten och vi har ett favoritställe. Det är en gräsmatta med gamla murar runt. Det känns som en hemlig trädgård och man kan liksom känna att det måste varit en fin plats för länge sen. Jag har frågat grannar osv om de vet om det legat ett hus där förr, och den gröna ytan varit en trädgård, men ingen har vetat någonting. Jag har kollat i gamla böcker om Pleasantville och så fann jag Din blogg och de fantastiska fotona på din släkting. Jag tror att "vår" hemliga trädgård kan vara den som är på dina foton!

Hi, I live in Foxwood, Pleasantville, New York. My 6-year-old daughter and I have a favourite place that we often walk by. It’s a big lawn surrounded by old walls. It feels a bit like a secret garden and you can sense that it must have been a beautiful place a long time ago. I have asked people about it but no one seemed to know anything about it. So I looked in old books about Pleasantville, and then I also found your blog and the photos of your relative. I think our secret garden is the one in your photos!

“The entrance to the garden from the bottom of the hill.”

▲ “The lighter rectangle in the lawn may show the remnants of an old pond.” ▼

▲ Enlarged detail of the right-hand corner of the wall, compare Sofia’s photo below ▼

The wall surrounding the whole estate is still there as well:

▲Sofias’s photo above; below an old photo found online (also included in my Summer in Pleasantville 1933 post)▼

I still don’t know when exactly Gerda started working for Estelle Manville-Bernadotte – if it was after her marriage to Folke Bernadotte (Dec 1, 1928), or before. The only piece of fragile evidence I have that it might have been even before, is an old (American) newspaper/magazine clip about the Manville-Bernadotte wedding, kept by Gerda through the years.

The wedding between Estelle Romaine Manville and Folke Bernadotte, Count of Wisborg, took place on Dec 1, 1928, in the rather small Episcopal Church of St. John in Pleasantville. Only 250 guests attended the wedding service, but more than 1500 people were invited to the reception held at the Manville estate, Hi-Esmaro. This was the first time in history a member of a European royal family married on U.S. soil. The wedding expenses totaled $ 1.5 million.

Folke Bernadotte was assassinated on duty in Jerusalem for the United Nations mediating team in 1948, 53 years old.

Estelle, only 44 years old when her husband died, became a leading figure in the International Red Cross, and in the Swedish Girl Scouts movement. She did not get remarried until 1973 (to Carl-Eric Ekstrand); which was the same year that my great-aunt Gerda died. (Gerda lived to be nearly 92 years old, and she remained with Estelle Bernadotte long past normal retirement age.)

Gerda, Pleasantville, 1933

“Pleasantville juli 1933”

Jag visste att jag någonstans sett en koppling mellan Gerda och Pleasantville N.Y., Estelle Bernadottes hemstad… Här är den! Men det här fotot är från 1933, dvs 5 år efter Estelles giftermål med den svenske diplomaten Folke Bernadotte; alltså inte från Gerdas vistelse i USA i början av seklet, och inte heller i samband med bröllopet. Det tyder dock på att Gerda 1933 var anställd hos familjen Bernadotte.

Det finns fler foton av Gerda, men jag återkommer till dem.
Ville bara få in det här så att jag har det sökbart.

---

In English

I knew I’d seen the connection somewhere – Gerda and the name of Pleasantville N.Y., the home town of Estelle Manville Bernadotte. Here it is – a note on the back of this photo. But this is July 1933, i.e. five years after Estelles wedding to the Swedish diplomat Folke Bernadotte. So not from Gerda’s first period in the States at the beginning of the 20th century; and also not connected to the wedding (which took place in Pleasantville 1928). But it seems to confirm that in 1933, Gerda was employed by the Bernadotte family. 

There are more photos of Gerda; but I’ll come back to those. I just wanted to enter this one now so that I know where I have it!

 

Family photo

Estelle Manville Bernadotte (1944)

Estelle Manville Bernadotte (wife of Folke Bernadotte) in 1944, with kind permission from Patricia Allen DiGeorge of  http://www.LibertyLadyBook.com. 

My great-aunt Gerda was in Estelle Bernadotte’s employ for many years, but I still lack details of when or where it started or in what capacity (from what I recall being told, as chamber maid or similar).

Googling for more info on Estelle, I happened to land on Pat’s blogpost from 2010. I asked about the origin of this photo and got the reply that she got it from her parents’ wartime scrapbook. She kindly gave me permission to use it here, and even sent me a copy with higher resolution. Thanks very much Pat!

From the same blogpost I copy this:

On August 18, 1928 Time Magazine published this milestone:
Engaged. Count Folke Bernadotte, nephew of King Gustaf of Sweden; to Estelle Romaine Manville, Manhattan debutante, descendant of Jeoffrey de Magnavil, ally of William the Conqueror; in Pleasantville, N. Y.

Pat also links to Royal Musings where I find  more detailed information on the wedding:

December 1, 1928
Miss Estelle Romaine Manville, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. H. Edward Manville, was married today to Count Folke Bernadotte of Wisborg, a nephew of King Gustaf V of Sweden. This was "one of the most brilliant society gatherings in recent years," according to the New York Times. The couple were married in the "small, ivy-covered Episcopal Church of St. John in Pleasantville, New York.”

The Wikipedia article on Folke Bernadotte, referred to in my previous blog post here, says that the couple got married in “New York City”. But since the same W. article also says Estelle was born in Pleasantville (Westchester County, N.Y.), it makes sense that that’s where the wedding was held rather than in N.Y.City. As the quote above even has details of the name of the church, I assume that reference to be the correct one.

What annoys me just now is that I’m sure I also saw a press cutting from the Bernadotte wedding among the family papers but I think I must have left that behind at the House, because I can’t find it now among the things I took home with me last time. I must remember to look for it next time I go out there!

A New Estelle Bernadotte (23-02-2012)

Here is some contemporary news, which happen to be loosely related to the life story of my grandmother’s half-sister Gerda. I’ve posted about this elsewhere but I’m putting it in here too.

The Associated Press
Date: Thursday Feb. 23, 2012 10:52 AM ET

STOCKHOLM — Sweden's Crown Princess Victoria gave birth to her first child Thursday, a baby girl who will one day become queen, prompting banner headlines and 21-gun salutes across the country.

The girl, who is second in line to the Swedish throne, was born at 4:26 a.m. (0326 GMT), said Victoria's husband, Prince Daniel. She was 20 inches (51 cms) long and weighed 7.23 pounds (3.28 kg).

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Victoria, 34, is next in line to the throne held by her father since 1973. Sweden changed the constitution in 1980, three years after Victoria was born, to allow the eldest heir to inherit the throne regardless of gender. Before that female heirs were excluded. Sweden's last female monarch was Queen Ulrika Eleonora, who ruled for just one year until 1720.

Victoria married Daniel, 38, a commoner and her former personal trainer, in June 2010.

As is custom when an heir to the throne is born, the Swedish Armed Forces celebrated the news with two 21-gun salutes at noon in Stockholm and other cities.

Read more: http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/Entertainment/20120223/sweden-princess-has-baby-girl-120223/#ixzz1nELzQsvJ

This is the only picture made pucblic so far of Princess Estelle Silvia Ewa Mary, Duchess of Östergötland. With her parents Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel. (Photo from the Royal Family’s Facebook page.)

As soon as the birth was announced yesterday, name speculations started. Today the name was officially announced, and the TV hosts were obviously a bit surprised and bewildered at first about the choice of Estelle. It took them a while to get their bearings and find the background for it. I wonder if I was the only one reacting with an “Of course!”  and wishing I’d actually thought of making a serious guess of it…

In the introduction page to this blog (see tab at the top of the page) I mention that my p.grandmother’s half-sister Gerda was employed as chamber maid or similar to Estelle Manville-Bernadotte, American wife of the well-known Swedish diplomat Folke Bernadotte, related to/member of our royal family.

Folke Bernadotte (2 January 1895 – 17 September 1948) was grandson to King Oscar II of Sweden, who was King of Sweden 1872-1907 (and of Norway 1872-1905).

Folke Bernadotte also earned his own place in history as a Swedish diplomat noted for among other things his negotiation of the release of about 31,000 prisoners from German concentration camps during World War II. After the war, Bernadotte was unanimously chosen to be the United Nations Security Council mediator in the Arab–Israeli conflict of 1947–1948. He was assassinated on Friday 17 September 1948 by members of the Jewish nationalist Zionist group Lehi (commonly known as the Stern Gang or Stern Group).

On 1 December 1928 in New York City, Folke Bernadotte married Estelle Romaine Manville (born in Pleasantville, New York, 26 September 1904; died in Stockholm, 28 May 1984), whose family had founded part of the Johns-Manville Corporation. They had four sons, two of whom died in childhood, and seven grandchildren, all born after Bernadotte's death.

(Source: Wikipedia)

…

I have not yet found out at what point in history my great-aunt Gerda came to work for them. I’m hoping to maybe find some clue among the old postcards as I continue to examine these. If I don’t, I may try and think of some other way to find out, because I’m really getting very curious!

Anyway, my immediate reaction to the royal announcement today was that the name could hardly have been more perfectly chosen. It’s a stylish old name not worn out by recent popularity but not sounding too odd either. It’s got a French ring to it that goes well with the name Bernadotte. It’s got royal connection as pointed out above, but at the same time Estelle Manville was not born royal - just as the new little princess Estelle’s father Daniel was not! And it indirectly commemorates a member of the royal family whose life’s work really deserves to be honoured.

I’m sure my grandmother Sally would have loved it. She was a big fan of the royal family – partly, I suspect, because of her sister working for them! When I was visiting my grandparents in childhood, I used to read old weekly magazines from the 1940’s and early 50’s that my grandmother had saved. They had lots of articles and photos of the royal family then living at Haga Palace (which Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel have now taken over as their residence).

Our present King Carl XVI Gustaf (in the middle), with his four older sisters, at Haga in 1948 (from Wikipedia). Back then, the Swedish constitution did not allow girls to inherit the throne – so the nation kept waiting and waiting for that little prince…!