Estelle Bernadotte

Life Estelle Romaine Manville 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.

Wedding In 1928, she was married to the Swedish diplomat 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 held 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. Wedding expenses totaled $1.5 million.

Professional life Bernadotte, with her two sons Folke (b. 1931) and Bertil (b. 1935), leaving for Folke Bernadotte's funeral. Picture taken at the entrance of the Bernadotte residence in Stockholm, September 26, 1948. 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, September 17 of that same year, Folke Bernadotte was assassinated in Jerusalem by the Israeli militant group Lehi.

In 1949, Bernadotte became the president of the Swedish Girls' Guide and Scout Association. Dressed in a girl scout uniform, Bernadotte greets the wife of the Swedish ambassador to Finland. Helsinki, 1949. Bernadotte talking with J. K. Paasikivi, the President of Finland. Helsinki, 1949. 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. Under Bernadotte's leadership, the Folke Bernadotte Foundation widened its mission to help children and young people with other disabilities.

In her later life, she managed a care home for elderly women in Stockholm. Her name Estelle Bernadotte of Wisborg appears as her written signature on the memorial plaque of her first husband, Count Folke Bernadotte, at the same cemetery.

Children Estelle and Folke Bernadotte had four sons, two of whom died in childhood. Count Folke Bernadotte of Wisborg, born in Pleasantville, New York, on February 8, 1931, in 1955 married Christine Glahns (born January 9, 1932). Count Fredrik Oscar Bernadotte of Wisborg, January 10, 1934, Stockholm – August 30, 1934, Stockholm. Count Bertil Oscar Bernadotte of Wisborg, born in Stockholm October 6, 1935, in 1966 married Rose-Marie Heering (1942–1967), and in 1981 married Jill Georgina Rhodes-Maddox.

Legacy There has been speculation that Princess Estelle of Sweden (b. 2012), second in the line of succession to the Swedish throne, was given her name in honor of Bernadotte. On February 3, 2012, King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden told a special cabinet meeting to announce the name of the princess that the name is very close to the heart of her mother and the family.