Estelle Bernadotte

Estelle Romaine Bernadotte, born in Manville ( born September 26, 1904 in Pleasantville ( Westchester County, USA); † 28 MAY 1984 Uppsala ) was a married with the UN diplomat Folke Bernadotte U.S. Swede who became involved in international peace movements.

Private life

Estelle Romaine was the only daughter of industrialist Hiram Edward Manville and his wife Henrietta Estelle Romaine.

In the summer of 1928 she studied at the Côte d' Azur in Beaulieu -sur -Mer on the occasion of a banquet the nephew of the Swedish king Gustav V. know, Folke Bernadotte. On 3 August, the couple announced their engagement announced on 1 December of the same year they got married in her birthplace. This was the first marriage of a member of a European royal family on U.S. soil.

The family had four children, two of whom died in infancy:

  • Gustaf Eduard Bernadotte of Wisborg, ( born January 20, 1930; † February 2nd 1936 ) died of surgical complications
  • Count Folke Bernadotte of Wisborg (* February 8, 1931 ) ∞ 1955 Christine Glahns (* 1932).
  • Fredrik Oscar Bernadotte of Wisborg (* January 10, 1934; † August 30, 1944 )
  • Count Bertil Oscar Bernadotte of Wisborg (* October 6, 1935 ), ∞ 1, 1966 Rose-Marie Heering ( 1942-1967 ), ∞ 2 1981 Jill Georgina Rhodes - Maddox.

On March 3, 1973, she married her second husband Carl Erik Sixten Ekstrand, which she survived. She took his name, and was now called Estelle Ekstrand. Your retirement years she spent mainly in Saint -Paul -de- Vence in France. She died the age of 79 after a hip replacement in Sweden.

Public work

As the wife Estelle Bernadotte was involved in the philanthropic work of her husband, including his work with the International Red Cross and also in planning the 1945 carried out the rescue of prisoners of war from Germany (white buses).

Her husband was employed in May 1948 as a mediator in Palestine, to negotiate between Israelis and Palestinians. When he was shot on September 17, Estelle Bernadotte took over the teaching of Ralph Bunche as his successor and organized the peace efforts in the sense of her husband until the arrival Bunches.

Then devoted himself Estelle Bernadotte 1949 to 1957 the use of the Swedish Girl Scouts. At the request of Trygve Lie, she sat in the POW Committee of the United Nations. It was involved in the International Red Cross and UNICEF supported. Under the name of her husband, she set up a foundation for paralyzed children, which they later expanded for other disabilities in childhood.

Appreciation

The Swedish Princess Estelle of Sweden was named presumably in honor of Estelle Bernadotte.

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