Count Christian Castenskiold, one of several European nobles who have become American citizens is featured in today's Los Angeles Times.
The Count, who was named for Christian IX of Denmark, is a cousin of King Frederik IX of Denmark and King Olav of Norway. Six months after he arrived on an immigration visa in 1951, he received a "very democratic summons from Uncle Sam, inviting him to join the army."
Christian spent 24 months in the service, "much of the time as a corporal driving a jeep in Stuttgart." This was a "far cry" from his time in the Second World War, where he served as a lieutenant in the Danish Royal Guard.
But the "blond handsome Chris" likes the contrast, just as he "likes his job" as the assistant to the western regional manager of Scandinavian Airlines Systems. He is fluent in Danish, Norwegian, Swedish, German and English.
The family's estate in Jutland was built in 1594. Count Christian Ludvig Gustav Fritz Castenskiold was able to return home and "resume the traditions and automatic position of leadership that were his birthright some 30 years ago."
Chris is the son of Princess Dagmar of Denmark and Count Jurgen Castenskiold. He was born in 1926. In 1952, he married Cecily Abbots, the daughter of a British father and a Danish mother in New York City. They live in Sherman Oaks, California, where Chris is "just another suburbanite, commuting from his home to his office in Beverly Hills like many another young husband."
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