Baron I. Karl-Gustav E. Lagerfelt

Baron Israël Karl-Gustav "K-G" Eugène Lagerfelt (21 November 1909 – 11 December 1986) was a Swedish diplomat. He had a long career in the Swedish Foreign Service, beginning in the mid-1930s with postings in Helsinki, London, Paris, and Stockholm, where he rose to senior positions within the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. In 1950, he represented Sweden in delivering the Prosecutor General's report on the assassination of Count Folke Bernadotte to the government of Israel, and he later served as Sweden's diplomatic representative in Japan and as envoy in Tokyo.

From the mid-1950s, Lagerfelt held a series of senior international appointments. He was Sweden's Permanent Representative to several European institutions, including the European Coal and Steel Community and the Council of Europe, before serving as ambassador to Vienna and The Hague. He later became Sweden's Permanent Representative to the United Nations Office in Geneva and chaired the council of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.

Early life Karl-Gustav was born into the noble in Jönköping, Sweden, on 21 November 1909. His father, Baron Gustaf Adolf Lagerfelt (born 1880), was a captain in the Småland Artillery Regiment and served on the Jönköping city council from 1915 to 1919. His mother, Baroness Gertrud Ida Eugenia von Essen (born 1881), was the daughter of the chamberlain, Baron Carl von Essen, and Countess Charlotta Gustava Lewenhaupt. He also had a brother, Carl-Fredrik, who was two years younger.

Career Lagerfelt served in Helsinki in 1936 and in London in 1938, and also at the Foreign Ministry in Stockholm in 1938. He became second secretary in 1939 and first secretary at the Foreign Ministry in Stockholm in 1943. In the same year, he served as first secretary in London, followed by Paris in 1947, and again at the Foreign Ministry in Stockholm in 1948. He was appointed director at the Foreign Ministry in Stockholm in 1950 (acting from 1948). Lagerfelt served as diplomatic representative in Japan in 1951 and as envoy in Tokyo from 1952 to 1956,

Lagerfelt was the owner of the mansion Säbylund in Kumla Municipality until his son Johan bought the property in 1970.

There are still a few left of a breed of aristocrats who perhaps feel more at home in a bygone era than in the present, but who for that very reason also have a distance from the day-to-day political tumult and, at best, a certain breadth of vision. In a corresponding way, there are also a few remaining of a dying breed of civil servants who take pride in serving the King and the government—regardless of which party or parties the voters, in their folly, have seen fit to entrust with the task of assisting the King with counsel. Lagerfeldt was one of these. He belonged to both categories at the same time.

There is no doubt that K-G throughout his life, at every election, cast his vote for the Right Party—or, as it is now called to his chagrin, the Moderates. But he devoted his best energies to loyally serving Per Albin Hansson, Tage Erlander, and Olof Palme. [...] No government ever needed to doubt his loyalty. [...] K-G did not care for socialism. But social democrats he was happy to associate with. — Carl Lidbom title=Diplomat and tough trade negotiator — Svenska Dagbladet (13 December 1986) He was interred on the same day at Kumla Cemetery.

Awards and decorations

Swedish

Knight of the Order of Saint John in Sweden

Foreign

Honours Herald of Orders of His Majesty the King (Kungl. Maj:ts Orden).