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Wedel Jarlsberg Frederick Hartwig Herman (07.07.1855-27.07.1942)
Norwegian aristocrat, lawyer and diplomat.
Fredrik Wedel Jarlsberg was born in Christiania (now Oslo), Norway. He was the son of Baron Frederik Joachim Wedel Yarlsberg (1819-1880) and Baroness Juliana Wedel Yarlsberg (1818-1872). From father to mother, he was the representative of a noble branch of Norway. He retained the title of Baron in Denmark, which did not cancel the titles of nobility after the separation of Denmark from Norway. Earlier in Norway, his family had been officially recognized as a baron. He studied law at the University of Christiania and obtained a doctorate in law. In 1879 he became a professor and then entered the diplomatic service. Wedel Jarlsberg was the Norwegian-Swedish minister in Madrid in 1891-1897 and 1902-1905. In 1882, Wedel became secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Stockholm. He arrived in Vienna in 1885 and in 1888 in London as Chargé d'affaires ai. In 1891 he became Swedish-Norwegian minister in a Spanish court. Wedel Jarlsberg was actively engaged in Norwegian-Swedish diplomacy and played a central role in the dissolution of the union between these countries in 1905. He was offered the post of Foreign Minister three times. He played a key role in the 1920 Svalbard Treaty, which granted Norway sovereignty over Svalbard. In 1898-1908, Wedel Jarlsberg founded a residence in Palsgard on the east coast of Jutland. At one time, a large park had been built here by English landscape architect Edward Milner. In 1908 he sold Palsgard and bought Skaugum in Asker. The estate was a large main building, which Wedel has redone in the French architectural style. He made a gift to Crown Prince Olaf during his marriage to Swedish Princess Martha in 1929. Wedel Jarlsberg married twice. In 1883 he married Alice Thekle Louise von Wagner (1861-1913) from one of Germany's industrial families. After his death, he married in 1916 the American heiress Mary von Andre, née Palmer (1859-1941). He became knight of the order of St. Olaf in 1892, as well as many foreign orders. Wedel Jarlsberg left his Parisian residence in Paris in 1940, when the German army invaded France. He and his wife moved to Lisbon, Portugal, where he died. District West Svalbard Island, west of Torelland and south of Van Keillenfjord. |
