I feel a little like Saturday Night Live's Seth and Amy when I read on another blog that Jan Bernadotte tied the knot for the seventh time. Really, Jan, really!
Count Jan Bernadotte had announced his engagement to a 53-year-old teacher, Gunilla Stenfors late last year. I thought: hmmmm how interesting. I guess that means Jan's 6th marriage to French-born Christiane Grandmontagne had finally been dissolved. I checked this out, and discovered that Jan was still married to Christiane, at least on paper, as the divorce had not been finalized.
Count Jan had announced that he and Gunilla would be married at the Hyltlinge Church on January 8. I checked several of the Swedish papers, and found nothing about a wedding. It was confirmed to me that Jan's sixth marriage was still extant on paper. I also learned that Jan and Gunilla knew several weeks ago that Jan's divorce was not finalized. In other words, despite the dramatic headlines published by the Swedish magazine, Svensks Damtidning, I knew that a wedding could not have taken place.
In the "exclusive interview," Jan states: "I didn't know I was already married."
Really, Jan, really! I knew you were not divorced. If you maintain good relations with all your former wives, as you claim, how could you not know that you and Christiane were still legally married, although to be fair, the marriage was not a success.
I believe it is customary for the husband and wife to receive official and notarized copies of divorce papers. Didn't Jan think it is a bit strange that he had not received a copy, and if he had not received a copy, why did he not pursue the matter?
Jan and Gunilla do not seemed bothered by the postponement.
"I feel so harmonious," Count Jan said, referring to his life with Gunilla, who is a teacher.
With "warmth in her voice," Gunilla responded: "Jan gives me the best a man can give. He gives me his time and it is such a gift."
Count Jan Bernadotte, 70, is the eldest son of the late Count Lennart Bernadotte (ne Prince Lennart of Sweden) and his first wife, Karin Nissvandt.
I am sure all the legal niceties will be worked out, and Jan and Gunilla will be able to have that wedding in front of 100 guests, after all, and ... live happy ever after!
http://royalbooknews.blogspot.com/2011/01/christiane-grandmontagnes-autobiography.html
2 comments:
craziness.
do you know any of the languages these articles you pass info along from are written in? aside from Britain, the other royal family i REALLY follow is from Denmark. i mean, i know the basics of all the main ones (Sweden, Spain, Monaco, Norway, Netherlands, etc.) but i could write at least 5 generations' worth of a family tree for each of those two families, probably much more for Britain. which to you i'm sure is laughable but to most people it's slightly impressive. :-P
anyway, with CP Mary's twins being born, i've found myself most frustrated with knowing that a magazine dedicated to royalty does exist in Denmark, but it's all Danish with no English website. if i know what an article's about i can put it into an online translator, but i don't know enough Danish to FIND articles to do that. i only know basic words - royal, boy, girl, prince, princess, queen, king, palace, that sort of thing. which doesn't do much good. at least i'm learning Russian, too bad their royal family's published information is mostly related to members who are/were alive before the Revolution. i could do a family tree for the Romanovs but can't list many people beyond the last Tsar's siblings, and obviously all his children didn't have children.
do you ever travel to these countries? i know you've been to Britain but i'd imagine you'd love to see the palaces in other places. i'm in love with Russia & would love to see the royal sights there, but i actually came to learn about royalty there AFTER falling in love with the culture, language, etc., the reverse of Denmark where i learned about the royals first & then became interested in the culture. the only European places i've been are England & France, but i'm dying to go to others. and i'd love to revisit Windsor and Versailles to take more pictures, although i found the Parisian people to be incredibly rude & at 17 i was literally picked up by a French guy (who clearly hadn't bathed in a week by the smell of him) who apparently wanted me out of his way so he could get a better view of the room we were in at Versailles.
anyway... all that to ask 2 questions... :-P
Michelle,
Billed Bladet is not available in English. I can read German and a little French. I use Google's translator for some articles.
The Australian papers are in English, and they often have stories about Mary.
Billed Bladet is not like Majesty or Point de Vue. It has a lot of royal stories, but also fashion, celebs, etc. You can get it by subscription, but it is not sold in North America. I have bought it several times when I've been in Iceland. I have never seen it for sale in the UK.
I've been to England many times, and have also traveled to other European countries, including Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany (both East and West) France, Austria, Liechtenstein, the Soviet Union, and Serbia, twice.
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