Denmark: Queen Margrethe to undergo surgery

The Danish Royal Court announced today that Queen Margrethe will undergo surgery on 22 February 2023 in order to solve her back problems. The press statement in full:

HM The Queen will undergo surgery

For quite some time, Her Majesty has been affected by problems with her back, and the situation has worsened recently. After consultation with Rigshospitalet’s specialists, The Queen has decided to undergo extensive surgery.

The operation is planned for Wednesday, 22 February at Rigshospitalet in Copenhagen, where The Queen will thus also be hospitalized afterwards. Consequently, a longer sequence of physical rehabilitation is expected.

This means that Her Majesty’s official program in the near future will be postponed, canceled or handled by other members of The Royal Family.

UK: Princess Eugenie of York's pregnancy announcement

Princess Eugenie of York announced at her official Instagram account earlier today that she and her husband Jack Brooksbank are expecting their second child in the summer of 2023.

Princess Eugenie, the younger daughter of the Duke of York and Sarah, Duchess of York, née Ferguson, married Jack Brooksbank on 12 October 2018 at St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle. They became parents to their first child, August Philip Hawke Brooksbank, on 9 February 2021. 

The Brooksbank baby will enter the line of succession to the British throne as no. 13. He or she will be the Duke of York's third grandchild and the 13th great-grandchild of the late Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.

Funeral service for former King Constantine II of the Hellenes

The funeral service for former King Constantine II of the Hellenes, who died on 10 January 2023, 82 years old, took place in the Metropolitan Cathedral of Athens on Monday 16 January 2023, followed by burial at the royal cemetery at Tatoi. 

I wrote last Wednesday that «It is expected that the funeral will be attended by members of Europe's current and past royal and princely families, including Spain, Serbia, Bulgaria and Romania». I had somehow feared that many reigning European royal families, except for those with the closest relations, would not be represented in order not to stepping on the toes of the Greek govenment, due to EU and NATO connections etc. I had obviously not thought through this fear or sort of analysis well enough. The funeral turned out to be an impressive gathering of people who wantged to say good bye to a former king and dear relative and friend.

I have tried to compile a survey of royals attending the funeral service, based on the official websites and other sources, such as various TV clips posted on Twitter during the day, Nobiliana.de etc.  Among the members of the Greek royal family attending the funeral were Queen Anne-Marie, Crown Prince Pavlos, Crown Princess Marie-Chantal, Princess Maria-Olympia, Prince Constantine-Alexios, Prince Achileas-Andreas, Prince Odyseus-Kimon, Prince Aristidis-Stavros, Princess Alexia, Carlos Morales y Quintana, Prince Nikolaos, Princess Tatiana, Princess Theodora, Matthew Kumar, Prince Philippos, Princess Nina, Princess Irene, the latter the younger sister of the late king, Prince Michael and his wife Marina Karella and their eldest daughter Princess Alexandra and her husband.

Other royal families

Belgium

• King Philippe and Queen Mathilde

Denmark

• Queen Margrethe II
• Crown Prince Frederik
• Prince Joachim
• Princess Benedikte

Jordan

• Queen Noor Al Hussein
• Princess Raiyah Bint Al Hussein
• Princess Sarvath El Hassan

Liechtenstein

• Princess Margaretha

Luxembourg 

• Grand Duke Henri

Monaco

• Prince Albert II

Netherlands

• King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima 
• Princess Beatrix

Norway 

• Crown Prince Haakon & Crown Princess Mette-Marit
• Princess Märtha Louise*

Spain

• King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia
• King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia (sister of King Constantine)
• Infanta Elena, Duchess of Lugo
• Infanta Cristina

Sweden

• King Carl Gustaf and Queen Silvia
• Princess Christina, Mrs. Magnusson*

United Kingdom**

• Princess Anne, the Princess Royal and Sir Tim Laurence

Former monarchies

Baden

• Margrave Bernhard and Margravine Stephanie

Bulgaria

• King Simeon II

Hannover***

• Hereditary Prince Ernst August and Hereditary Princess Ekaterina
• Prince Christian and Princess Alessandra

Iran

• Empress Farah Pahlavi

Romania****

• Radu Duda (Prince Radu)

Russia

• Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna

Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg

• Princess Alexandra

Schleswig-Holstein

• Prince Alexander

Serbia

• Crown Prince Alexander and Crown Princess Katherine

Other dignitaries

Greece

• Deputy Prime Minister Panagiotis Pikrammenos
• Culture Minister Lina Mendoni

According to eKathimerini.com about 200 people attended the funeral service, while 60 of them followed the coffin to the Tatoi royal cemetery. A mermorial dinner took place in Athens later on Monday.

* Princess Märtha Louise does not represent the royal house at the funeral service, cf. the official website, but rather herself. Because she is a princess I have put her in the official section. The same goes for Princess Christina, Mrs. Magnusson

** Lady Gabriella Kingston, who was one of the late king's godchildren, was present for the funeral service. As she is not a royal she is not listed here. It has been stated that she represented the Prince of Wales at the funeral.

*** Chantal Hochuli, formerly Princess of Hannover, mother of Prince Ernst August and Prince Christian, also attended the funeral service.

**** Nicholas de Roumanie-Medforth-Mills, formerly styled Prince Nicholas of Romania), also attended the lying in prior to the funeral service.

Updated on Wednesday 18 January 2023 at 07:45 (added Princess Raiyah in the Jordan section as well as footnotes *** and ****), then at  09:55 (updated footnote ****), last time updated on Monday 23 January 2023 at 09:25 (Schleswigh-Holstein added).

Royalty Digest Quarterly no. 4, 2022

The fourth and last issue of the Royalty Digest Quarterly in 2022 arrived just before Christmas. What a cover! The Albanian royal family. The red color is darker than the red color of the Albanian flag, but other than that it is perfect. I can't find any mentioning of who is who in the photo, but of course King Zog is in the middle together with four of his sisters, his mother Sadijé, née Toptani, and a nephew.

The article ALBANIA – the House of Zogu. Family Album is written by the Albanian Royal House expert Neil Rees and Ted Rosvall. The readers get the familiar introduction with a short history of Albania, including the short reign of Prince Wilhelm of Wied (I had forgotten that he is actually buried in the protestant church of Bucharest – I have been to Bucharest twice without knowing, so I would have to go another time!) and then the history of the short-lived Albanian kingdom and of the Royal House of Zogu. The photo album includes 40 images and in addition there is a family table as well. Some of the photos have been provided by the current head of the Royal House of Albania, Crown Prince Leka (b. 1982).

The Balkan monarchies have always interested me the most, and that certainly includes Albania. I have always wanted to see more of the country – so far I have only been on a day visit to the Northern city of Shkodër and the Rozafa castle ruins. I really wanted to go to Tirana when Crown Prince Leka married Elia Zaharia in 2016, but I was in Spain with my family at the time.

In 2009 I visited Cimetière de Thiais in Paris, France, where King Zog and some family membes were buried at the time. In 2012 the king's coffin was brought home to Tirana to be reburied in the Royal Mausoleum there. I would like to go to Tirana one day to visit the mausoleum and of course the city itself. And what about a few days at the beach of Sarandë, or maybe Vlorë?

The former grave of King Zog of the Albanians at the Cimetière de Thiais in Paris, France. Photo: © 2009 Dag Trygsland Hoelseth.

Over the years I have collected a few items connected to the  Royal House of Albania, one of them is the two-volume Oxhaku Famëmadh ZOGU. Album historik i përzgjedhur by Ramiz Lushaj (Shtëpia Botuese "Dardania", Tiranë, 1995). The two volumes are full of articles, documents and photos about King Zog and the Albanian Royal Family.  I am not bothered that most of the texts are in Albanian ... It is great to have the two volumes in my book collection.

But I am getting off track here. From the contents of the fourth issue:

• Marlene A. Eilers Koenig: A Delphinium Wedding. The Marriage of Lord Louis Mountbatten and Edwina Ashley, pp. 1–8.
• David Horbury: The Final Year. Queen Helen of Romania in 1947, pp. 9–20.
• Stefan Haderer: Loyal to the bitter end. Archduke Albrecht of Austria, Duke of Teschen, pp. 21–28.
• Neil Rees and Ted Rosvall: ALBANIA - the House of Zogu. Family Album, pp. 29–42.
• Richard Jay Hutto: "Aunt Muriel – a Queen's Mentor, pp. 43–48.
• Datiu F. Salvia Ocaña: Ladies' Royal Orders in Europe, pp. 49–56.
• Ove Mogensen: Tombs, Graves and Monuments in Baden, pp. 57–59.
• Coryne Hall: Little-Known ROYALS. Prince Francisco José of Braganza, pp. 60–61.
• Ted Rosvall: Debate. The Perils of Change, pp. 62–63.
• The World Wide Web of Royalty, p. 64.

The photo album was not the only article related to Albania. Queen Geraldine's "Aunt Muriel" was Muriel White (1880–1943) and married to Geraldine's father's first cousin Count Hermann von Seherr-Thoss (1879–1959) (and not Count Hans Christoph von Seherr-Thoss, as the article says, although he had those given names as well). Muriel followed Geraldine to Tirana when she got engaged and married to King Zog and was present for the birth of Zog's son Leka in 1939. Muriel has a really interesting story of her own, and the author of the article, Rick Hutto, is currently writing a book about her. 

In his Editor's Corner Ted Rosvall has this time compiled a list of the oldest European royals to succeed to the throne. Charles III of the United Kingdom was 73 when he succeeded, for instance, but he was not on top of the list ...  Missing in the list was Grand Duke Adolph of Luxembourg (1817–1905), who was also 73 when he succeeded to the throne in 1890, although a few months younger than Charles was at the time of succession. Rosvall focuses on kings in his list, but includes Grand Duke Ludwig I of Baden, so why not Adolph as well? Because he didn't inherit the throne of Luxembourg from his father, but due to the different succession laws that dissolved the personal union between Luxembourg and the Netherlands in 1890?

There are many good and well-researched articles in this issue, including Marlene Koenig's wedding article and David Horbury's detailed account of Queen Helen of Romania's experiences in 1947. I didn't know much about Archduke Albrecht of Austria (1817–1895), so I enjoyed that article as well. Ladies' Royal Orders in Europe was also an interesting read, although I miss a list of sources at the end of the article.

The column The World Wide Web of Royalty this time included genealogical news about the royal, princely or ducal houses of Bulgaria, Hohenzollern, Norway, d'Otrante, Russia/Prussia and Waldburg-Zeil-Hohenems.

And finally the readers got a reminder that it is on time to renew their subscription. Yes, I will get it done soon!

All in all several articles worth reading this time as well. If you are not subscriber yet, information about Royalty Digest Quarterly can be found at its editor's website Royalbooks.se. See earlier presentations of RDQ here. See also its Facebook page.

Updated on Sunday 15 January 2023 at 14.00 (typo corrected).

Former King Constantine II of the Hellenes (1940–2023)

Former King Constsantine II of the Hellenes, who was born in Psychiko, a suburb of the capital of Athens on 2 June 1940, died at the private Hygeia Hospital in Marousi outside Athens in the evening of 10 January 2023, 82 years old.

Constantine succeeded to the throne of Greece on the death of his father King Paul on 6 March 1964. After a failed counter-coup against the military rulers (the junta) in December 1967, the king and his family went into exile. In 1973 the junta declared Greece a republic. In 1974, following the downfall of the junta, the new leaders called a referendum to settle the question of the form of government. About 69 % of the electorate voted in favour of a republic. The King was not allowed back into the country before the referendum to defend his cause and was only able to hold a televised speech from London, but the republican majority was so strong that it is very doubtful that the outcome had been different if the king had been allowed to go home. The king's meddling in politics might have caused too many people to turn against him.

The former king and his family lived for many years at Hampstead, London. For many years the king was not allowed to visit his homeland, but the authorities let him make a brief stay in 1981 when his mother was buried at Tatoi, and could not stop him from visiting Athens during the Olympic Games in 2004 due to his role as a member of the International Olympic Committee. For many years the king was in conflict with the Greek authorities over property rights and citizenship. In 2013 the king received compensation (€12 millions) after winning the property case he had brought to the European Court of Human Righs. 2013 was also the year he returned to Greece for good, buying a house in Porto Cheli in the region of Argolis. As his health declined, he sold his villa and moved to Athens in 2021 to be closer to better health facilities there. 

King Constantine II died the day before the 100th anniversary of the death of his grandfather King Constantine I (1868–1923).

Marriage and family

King Constantine married in 1964 in Athens his 3rd cousin Princess Anne-Marie of Denmark, by whom he had five children and 9 grandchildren. His eldest son Pavlos (Paul) succeeds him as head of the Greek Royal Family.

Royal relations

Due to his Danish, German and Russian ancestry the king was related to all the other royal and princely families in Europe. He was a brother-in-law to Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, the elder sister of his wife, and to the former King Juan Carlos of Spain, who was married to his sister Sofia. He was a 2nd cousin to King Charles III of the United Kingdom and a 3rd cousin to King Harald V of Norway.

Condolences

The Greek prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has extended his sincere condolences to the king's family, but did not make much effort to hide his views on the history of the Greek monarchy and the late king's role in it. He has been quoted as saying that «The eventful life of former king Constantine marked and was marked by turbulent moments in the country’s modern history. The wounds were healed by the choices, the free conscience and the maturity of the Greek people. His passing is, on a human level, the formal epilogue to a chapter that was closed and done with the 1974 referendum.»

The Danish Royal Court has issued the following statement:

It is with great sorrow that HM The Queen and The Royal Family have received the announcement that HM King Konstantin II of Greece passed away on Tuesday evening.

At this time, The Royal Family’s thoughts are with HM Queen Anne-Marie and the entire Greek family.

King Konstantin was born in Greece in 1940 as the son of King Paul and Queen Frederikke. King Konstantin assumed the Greek throne after his father in 1964 and was married to the Danish Princess Anne-Marie the same year.

The Royal Couple lived in Rome and London respectively from 1967 to 2013, after which they again settled in Greece.

In 1974, the monarchy in Greece was abolished by a national referendum.

The flags at Amalienborg are flying at half-mast today.

The Office of Crown Prince Alexander of Serbia has released the following statement at its website:

With great sadness, Their Royal Highnesses Crown Prince Alexander and Crown Princess Katherine received the very sad news that their dear cousin, Godfather and friend, HM King Constantine II of Hellenes passed away yesterday, 10 January 2023, in Athens, Greece.

Relations between the Royal families of Greece and Serbia have always been marked with sincere and cordial friendship and deep family bonds. HM King Constantine II was the best man at TRH Crown Prince Alexander and Crown Princess Katherine’s wedding in 1985, and His Majesty was also the Godfather of the Crown Prince’s sons, HRH Hereditary Prince Philip and HRH Prince Alexander. Also, the daughter of the late King of Greece, HRH Princess Theodora, is HRH Crown Prince Alexander’s Godchild.

HRH Crown Prince Alexander and the Royal family of Serbia send their condolences and deepest sympathy to HM Queen Anne-Marie, late King’s sisters HM Queen Sophia of Spain, and HRH Princess Irene of Greece, his children HRH Crown Prince Pavlos, HRH Princess Alexia, HRH Prince Nikolaos, HRH Princess Theodora, and HRH Prince Philippos, and all the other members of the Royal family of Greece for their extremely sad loss.

During these most difficult moments, the Royal Family of Serbia shares grief and pain for the passing of His Majesty and sends prayers to the Lord to remember the late King in His mercy. HM King Constantine II will be greatly missed, but the memory of him will be kept forever, with great love and respect.

HRH Crown Prince Alexander was also in close family relations with the late HM King Constantine II. Crown Prince Alexander’s maternal grandfather HM King Alexander of Greece who married Aspasia Manos, was the brother of HM King Paul of Greece, HM King Constantine II’s father.

Crown Prince Alexander was a first cousin once removed to King Constantine.

Funeral service

The Greek government discussed earlier today whether «a state funeral is appropriate», but decided against it. The funeral will therefore be private. Considering the fact that the Greek government offers a state funeral to other former heads of state, as for instance when former president Karolos Papoulias died in 2021, it is quite telling that the late king was refused one. Although the king was a controversial figure, one could have hoped that the government would show more generosity towards a man who always had Greece and his people close at heart. Shouldn't the authorities show more confidence in its republic after so many years? 

The funeral service will take place in the Metropolitan Cathedral of Athens on Monday 16 January 2023, followed by burial at the royal cemetery at Tatoi. It is expected that the funeral will be attended by members of Europe's current and past royal and princely families, including Spain, Serbia, Bulgaria and Romania.

My Genealogical Year of 2022

Last week I wrote an article about my published articles and Slektshistoriewiki contributions in 2022. But of course there is more to a genealogical year than how many articles one has written during a year. One could also mention trips to see places you descend from, churches linked to your own family or other familes you have been researching, family graves, family reunions, genealogy conferences etc. And of course last, but not least, genealogical discoveries! Any brick wall breakings?

So how should I summarize my genealogical year of 2022? The pandemic caused many events to be cancelled or postponed. Norsk Slektshistorisk Forening (NSF) – the Norwegian Genealogical Society in English – traditionally hosts Genea-LAN – LAN-party for genealogists – once a year. The 2021 was called off due to the pandemic, but in March 2022 the situation was much better, so in the weekend of  26–27 March around 30 genealogists gathered in the society's library in Lørenskog just outside Oslo, the capital of Norway. The aim is to do research non-stop from 11 a.m. Saturday morning to around 3 p.m. on Sunday. Many work on their own projects, but also give time to help others solving their challenges. There are lectures, quiz and plenty of time to socialize. The first Genea-LAN party ever took place in 2012, and the event in 2022 was the ninth. Only the events in 2018 and 2021 were called off. It really was a nice weekend, and I look very much forward to the next LAN party, which will take place during the last weekend of January 2023.

The Norwegian Genealogical Society also invites to a genealogy get-together in the library every second Saturday except in the summer months and Easter. I have attended several of these Genealogial Saturdays during 2002, and I also attended the annual meeting on the last day of May. Unfortunately the NSF genealogical conference which was to take place in October was called off.

In May my family had visitors from California – my third cousin once removed Christy and her son Ryan on the Hoelseth side of my family – came to stay with us for almost two weeks. I had not seen them since I visited California in 2000, so it was really lovely to see them again.

On most of the weekdays they toured Oslo on their own, but I took a couple of days off to show them Sandefjord so that they could meet my parents and we also traveled to Åmot where the Holset farm is situated. The photo above shows the remaining buildings at the farm.

Holsethaugen («The Holset Hill») nearby, where there are law-protected graves from Iron Age. After the visit to Holset I also showed some my visitors some other family farms in the area and took them to the family grave at Åmot Cemetery before we traveled to Hafjell for the weekend. Before we returned to Oslo we also spent some time in Lillehammer. Christy and Ryan also celebrated the Norwegian constitutional day – 17th of May – with us.

In June the Norwegian Genealogical Society arranged a guided trip for the members to Finnskogen (literally «Forest of the Finns») on both side of the Norwegian-Swedish boarder, We visited several farms which were cleared and settled by Forest Finns during the late 16th and early-to-mid-17th centuries, and we had lunch at Karmenkynna hembygdsgård (museum) at Lekvattnet in the municipality of Torsby (photo above). To learn more about the Forest Finns, see the Wikipedia article. I don't have Forest Finn ancestry, but I have always been interested in the minorities living in Norway, and I feel I learnt a lot during the Finnskogen tour.

Yours sincerely at the Forest Finn farm of Juhola.

Time for the «genealogical tour of the year»! On 23 June I traveled with three other genealogists up to Sollia Church in the municipality of Stor-Elvdal. The church was built on the land of my 7-x-great-grandfather Engebret Jonsen Sollien (1697–1760). 

Inside the church there is a portrait made of my ancestor in 1745 by the artist Erich Wallin.

The Engebret Jonsen Sollien memorial at the Sollia Cemetery. Not the original grave/headstone, mind you. Vi visited numerous churches during the trip – besides Sollia we photographed the churches of Stor-Elvdal, Atneosen, Øvre Rendal (Rendalen municipality), Ytre Rendal (Rendalen municipality), Sjøli (Rendalen municipality) and Deset in Åmot municipality. I hope to include photos of these churches in a later blog article or at least in articles at Slektshistoriewiki, the Norwegian genealogy wiki.

We also stopped at several farms, including Deset søndre («Søgarden») in Åmot where the sister of my 4-x-great-grandfather Ole Tollefsen Holset (1789–1840), Ingeborg Tollefsdatter (1802–1860), lived with her husband Otter Knutsen. Ole and Ingeborg were great-grandchildren of Engebret Jonsen Sollien mentioned above. Finally we made a stop at Holset, which means that I managed to visit my ancestral farm twice this year. This time there were sheep grazing on the land. Fortunately of the friendly sort!

In July I made a genealogical discovery which ended in a small article. I wouldn't call it a groundbreaking discovery, but nevertheless great to have found one missing piece in the puzzle. I had known for many years that my great-great grandmother and ancestor no. 23, Johanne Lovise Ragnhildrød (1854–1946) became a widow around 36 years old when her husband, Gustav Anton Hansen (Helgerød), b. in Stokke in Vestfold in 1853, was lost at sea. From time to time I had tried to locate more information about him, but to no avail. The Norwegian National Library have among others scanned newspapers on its website and almost every day new items are added, which means that you have to remember to make new searches for your «brick wall ancestors» now and then. And this is what I did one wonderful summer day in July. This time I found a newspaper article from January 1891, containing extracts of the maritime declaration following the shipwreck of the bark Carricks, and where my great-great-grandfather Gustav was mentioned as one of the 10 seamen who had fallen overboard and drowned during a heavy storm in the Sargasso Sea on 1 December 1890. So now I know exactly what happened as well as the death date. Finally! The article about the bark and the shipwreck can be found here. In connection with this discovery I also found out that Louise and Gustav had a boy, Georg Ludvig, who was born in November 1882 and died in February 1883, 3 months old. Previously I had only registered one son as well as two daughters – my great-grandmother Gunda Helene (1879–1962) and her twin sister Anna Kristine. 

This summer my wife, daughter and I spent 15 days in France. First a week in La Grand-Motte and the second week in Cannes. The seaside resort of La Grand-Motte was built in the 1960s and early 1970s and many of the buildings are pyramidal in form. During our stay we made trips to Carcassonne, Avignon and Montpellier, but also had a few relaxing days on the beach. But of course I couldn't help myself – there was a cemetery in La Grande-Motte that had to be explored. Most of the headstones were like in other cemeteries in France, but of course some of the urn walls were shaped like a pyramid. Jean Balladur (1924–2002), the architect behind La Grand-Motte's pyramid buildings, is also buried at the cemetery. I might return with an article about  the cemetery later on.

Examples of La Grand-Motte's pyramids.

We spent the last day in Nice before returning to Norway. My wife and daughter went shopping while I went to the cemeteries! There are three cemeteries in the Caucade area in Nice – Cimetière de Saint-Marguerite, Cimetière Municipal de Caucade and Cimetière Orthodoxe Russe – and all within a walking distance from my hotel near the airport. It was a very warm and sunny day, so if you understand enough French to figure out how to get there by bus I would recommend it. I guess I would have figured it out if I really wanted to, but I really needed some exercise! The British Civil  Cemetery of Saint-Marguerite has graves of many British exiles and others. My only goal there was to find the grave of Charles Henry Spencer-Churchill (1828–1877), a grandson of the 5th Duke of Marlborough. The grave was almost hidden by a bigh bush, so someone needs to fix it up, as it wasn't easy to take a good photo of. If anyone wonders, Sir Winston Churchill (1874–1965) was a grandson of the 7th Duke of Marlborough, who again was a grandson of the 5th Duke of Marlborough, so here you roughly have the relationship between Charles Henry and Sir Winston, i.e. 3rd cousins twice removed. I hope I got that right ... There were many interesting graves at the British cemetery, but this will do for now.

 

My main goal for this cemetery excursion was to visit the Russian-Orthodox Cemetery, where quite a few exiled Russian royals and aristocrats are buried. All in all I took 180 photos from my visit there, but I will only publish a few of them. Just look at the view from the cemetery! Just breathtaking!

Grave of Prince Rostislav Alexandrovich of Russia (1902–1978) and his third wife Hedwig-Marie von Chappuis (1905–1997).

Tomb of Princess Catherine Dolgorukova, Princess Yurievskaya (1847–1922), the morganatic wife of Emperor Alexander II of Russia (1818–1881).

Grave of Princess Helen (Jelena) of Russia. née Princess of Serbia (1884–1962) (widow of Prince Ivan of Russia (1886–1918).

Obolensky family grave.

Grave of Prince Michel Obolensky (1912–1977) and Marivonne Obolensky, née Bourgeois-Gavardin (1915–1994).

Grave of Prince Michel Nicolaievitch Obolensky (1943–2009).

Grave of Prince Yaschwill (1931–2017), married to Princess Yaschwill, née Marie-France Dornberger (1939–). It should be possible to find more details about Prince Yaschwill, but that is not really the topic of this blog article. As said, I took 180 photos at the cemetery, but I can't include them all here. So many interesting family names ... 

I also walked through the municipal cemetery at Caucade. Even though I visited the cemetery on a Sunday, the office was open, and I was able to ask about a grave on behalf of a fellow Norwegian genealogist. It turned out that the persons I asked about were not buried there, but in a small town outside of Nice. 

In August I attended Svenska Släktforskardagarna – the Swedish Genealogy Convention – in Skövde. A large number of Swedish genealogical societies had their own stand in the conference hall, and there were many interesting lectures.

In early October my family and I traveled to Oxford, England to visit friends. Oxford deserves several blog articles alone, as there is so much to explore there, but this time I will only mention a visit to the Holy Trinity Church at Headington Quarry outside Oxford. The author  C.S. Lewis (Clive Staples Lewis (1898–1963) is buried at the cemetery there, and inside the church you can see the Narnia window, which features images from C.S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia.

All 28 photos: © 2022 Dag Trygsland Hoelseth.

In November my parents celebrated their 80th birthdays together with family and friends, so I was able to see many family members I hadn't seen in a while. Finally, in December my eldest niece, who lives in Toronto, came home to celebrate Christmas and I was thrilled to be able to meet my great-nephew, who was born in July this year, for the first time!

Updated on Wednesday 11 January 2023 at 08:15 ("Norwegian National Archives" replaced by "Norwegian National Library", some missing words in the paragraph about Prince Yaschwill added).

Gjallarhorn nr. 71, desember 2022

Gjallarhorn nr. 71, 2022 havnet så vidt jeg husker i min postkasse en gang i romjulen, så utgaven er relativt sett «rykende fersk». Omslagsbildene av blant annet ribbe og karamellpudding synes å være hentet fra Vestfold Slektshistorielags julebord senhøstes 2022. Gjallarhorn er felles medlemsblad for Vestfold Slektshistorielag og Buskerud Slektshistorielag. Bladet inneholder artikler med temaer fra begge de to tidligere fylkene (som gjenoppstår fra 1. januar 2024), men når det gjelder rent slektsforeningsstoff så dominerer Vestfold. Fra innholdsfortegnelsen:

• Torbjørn Steen-Karlsen: Dyre Sevaldsens etterkommere i Vestfold, del 4: Rasmus Vemundsensen Kimestad/Snekkestads etterslekt, s. 6–11.
• Liv Julsrud Pedersen: Fra svensk bergverksindustri til slekter i Svelvik i Vestfold, s. 12–16.
• Torbjørn Steen-Karlsen: Slektsforbindelser Lier-Eiker-Sande-Ramnes, del 4: Søndre Hassum i Slagen, Markebo, Pauli i Nykirke, Kongsberg, Liersund ved Drammen, s. 17–23.
• Torbjørn Steen-Karlsen: Horntvet i Lardal. Den mystiske Birgitte Nilsdatter, hennes 3 ektemenn og opphav, s. 24–35.
• Laila Hynne: Fra Fredrikstad til Larvik, s. 36–37.
• Kåre Torgersen: Felttoget i Norge 1940. Fortalt av Arnt Torgersen på kassett til Arne Torkildsen hjemme på Gml. Drammensveien 52 i 1994, ordrett avskrift, del 1, s. 41–47 og del 2, s. 47–54.
• Erik Bjune: «Herstad-bokens mor» – Ingeborg Bjerknes (1891–1971), s. 55–57.
• A. Kjær: Fortegnelse over Hartvig Krummediges norske Jordegods (Cod.AM. 880, 4to), s. 58–71.

I tillegg er det en del foreningsstoff, blant annet om grunnkurs i slektsgranskning avholdt av Buskerud Slektshistorielag samt referater fra medlemsmøter i Vestfold Slektshistorielag. Jeg var til stede på det siste medlemsmøtet avholdt 10. november 2022, da Tor Gervin holdt foredraget «Frelsesarméoffiseren og nr. 91 Stomperud». Frelsesarméoffiseren var foredragsholderens farfar Karl Martinius Hansen (1877–1948), mens faren Ernst Anker (Ancher) Hansen (1908–1978) var redaktør av Norsk Ukeblad, som utga Stomperud fra 1937. Ernst byttet ut Hansen med etternavnet Gervin i 1948. 

Torbjørn Steen-Karlsen bidrar nær sagt som vanlig med 3 omfattende artikler. Han beskjeftiger seg mest med kilder og slekt fra 16- og 1700-tallet, så har man aner fra Vestfold og Buskerud og ved egen forskning har kommet tilbake til der Steen-Karlsens artikler slutter så får man gjennom artiklene god hjelp til å komme seg videre. Arbeidet må selvsagt kontrolleres opp mot kildene, men artiklene danner et godt utgangspunkt. I Horntvet-artikkelen rydder Steen-Karlsen opp i sammenblandinger som Gullik Horntvet, bruker 1611–1622, som på grunn av Gullik-navnet har vært feilaktig koblet til Brønnumslekta i Sandar (Sandeherred) og Beganslekta i Lardal i diverse litteratur. Steen-Karlsens artikkel er derfor et ekstra viktig bidrag til ny slektsviten.

Overskriften til Laila Hynnes artikkel kunne kanskje ha vært mer detaljert. Artikkelen omhandler boktrykkeren Julius Anton Marentius Johansen (Fredrikstad 1857–Sandefjord 1940). Hynne har forbilledlig gått metodisk gjennom en rekke kilder for å kunne fremstille Johansens biografi og nærmeste slektskrets. Johansen jobbet blant annet for Østlands-Postens trykkeri i Larvik, men på sine eldre dager bodde han hos en av sine døtre i Sandefjord og det var der han altså døde i 1940. Han fikk 13 barn med 3 koner og det er etterkommere etter 6 av dem.

Fortegnelsen over Hartvig Krummediges norske jordegods burde nok ha vært ledsaget av en innledning som satte fortegnelsen i sin rette kontekst. 

Uansett, nok av lesestoff i herværende utgave. Litt bedre språkkorrektur og innledninger til artiklene vil nok gjøre bladet enda bedre. Nå gjenstår det for min del bare å fornye kontingenten for 2023.

Short English summary: This article is about the latest issue of Gjallarhorn, the newsletter of Vestfold Slektshistorielag and Buskerud Slektshistorielag (Vestfold Genealogical Society and Buskerud Genealogical Society).