Estelle Bernadotte

Who was Estelle Bernadotte?

Estelle Romaine Bernadotte, née Manville (September 26, 1904 – May 28, 1984), also known as Estelle Bernadotte, Countess of Wisborg (1928–1973), and Estelle Ekstrand (1973–1984), was an American-Swedish countess who was a leading figure in the International Red Cross and Girl Scout movement. She married Count Folke Bernadotte, a Swedish member of a United Nations mediating team. He was assassinated on duty in Israel in September 1948.

Bernadotte was born in 1904 in Pleasantville, New York. She was the only daughter of American industrialist Hiram Edward Manville and wife Henrietta Estelle Romaine, members of a family that had founded parts of the Johns Manville corporation.

In 1928, she was married to the Swedish diplomat Count Folke Bernadotte. According to members of the Bernadotte family, King Gustaf V of Sweden personally introduced Estelle Manville to his nephew, Count Folke Bernadotte, during a visit to Nice, France, in the summer of 1928. On August 3, 1928, it was widely reported that Mr. and Mrs. Manville officially announced the engagement of their only daughter to Count Folke Bernadotte.

The wedding took place on December 1, 1928, in the rather small St. John's Episcopal Church in Pleasantville, New York. At the wedding the bride wore a Swedish bridal crown in platinum and rock crystal and Queen Sophia's bridal veil in openwork lace. The veil was hold by a coronet in silver and crystals, which was specially made by the Swedish court jeweler. Prince Gustaf Adolf was the Best man and Prince Sigvard the Marshal. More than 1500 guests were invited to the festivities on the Manville estates, Hi-Esmaro. This was the first time in history a member of a European royal family married on U.S. soil. Wedding expenses totaled $ 1.5 million.

In May 1948, Estelle's husband Folke Bernadotte was appointed the United Nations' mediator in Palestine, the first official mediator in UN history. This appointment followed the immediate violence that followed the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine and the subsequent unilateral Israeli Declaration of Independence. In this capacity, he succeeded in achieving an initial truce during the subsequent 1948 Arab–Israeli War and laid the groundwork for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East. The specific proposals showed the influence of the previously responsible British government, and to a lesser extent the U.S. government. On Friday 17 September of that same year Folke Bernadotte was assassinated in Jerusalem by Zionists.

As her husband's widow, Estelle Bernadotte was active in philanthropic endeavours that he had supported, including the International Red Cross. She was president of the Swedish Girls' Guide and Scout Association from 1949 to 1957. She supported the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) and international conservation efforts.

On September 17, 1958, on the 10th anniversary of the assassination of her husband Folke Bernadotte, she became the first leader of the Folke Bernadotte Foundation, a charity that supports children with cerebral palsy. The foundation was created and supported by the Swedish Guide and Scout Association, the Swedish Red Cross, the Gothenburg Deaconess Society, and twenty other non-profit organizations, as well as by prominent medical and educational expertise. Under Bernadotte's leadership, the Folke Bernadotte Foundation widened its mission to help children and young people with other disabilities. Bernadotte was also the leader of the Folke Bernadotte Memorial Fund, a foundation whose mission is to increase understanding among young people at the international level.

In her later life she managed a care home for elderly women in Stockholm.

Bernadotte lived her later years in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France. She was survived by two sons and her second husband Carl Erik Sixten Ekstrand (married on March 3, 1973 at the Oscarskyrkan church in Stockholm). She died in 1984 in Uppsala after...