Wachtmeister family

Wachtmeister
Wachtmeister
Swedish noble family
	Coat of arms of the Wachtmeister family
Country	Sweden
Current region	Northern Europe
Place of origin	Livonia

The Wachtmeister family (German pronunciation: [vaxtˈmaɪ̯stɐ]) is a Swedish noble family from Livonia, who immigrated to Sweden in the 16th century. The name Wachtmeister is German for 'sergeant'.

The family branched out in 1683, and was "introduced" at the Swedish House of Nobility in 1689,^[1] in a baronial and a comital main branch; Wachtmeister af Björkö no. 31 and Wachtmeister af Johannishus no. 25. The baronial branch was dissolved on the "sword side" (svärdssidan, literally "on the side of the sword" meaning without any male heirs) in Sweden on 11 July 1889, but survives in Germany, where the principal is the Prussian Count Axel-Dietrich von Wachtmeister (born 1941). A branch of the Wachtmeister af Björkö was elevated on 17 January 1816 into a Prussian, comital dignity.

History

The Swedish noble families of Wachtmeister, which originated from Hans Wachtmeister, who from Livonia came to Sweden and was ennobled in 1578. His grandson Hans became a Friherre with Björkö (in Karelia) in 1651 and is the progenitor of the baronial family of Wachtmeister af Björkö. Two of his sons became counts, namely Hans in 1687, progenitor of the comital family of Wachtmeister af Johannishus, and Axel in 1693, progenitor of the comital family of Wachtmeister af Mälsåker (in Södermanland), which dissolved on the "sword side" (svärdssidan, literally "on the side of the sword") in 1708. The aforementioned Friherre ("Baron") Hans Wachtmeister's grandson Karl Adam received count's dignity in 1799. His nephew, Friherre Karl Axel Didrik (1780–1837), who left Swedish service in 1806 with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and settled in Pomerania, became a Prussian count in 1816.^[2]

Count Hans Wachtmeister af Johannishus' grandson's son, the Lord High Steward Carl Axel Wachtmeister, adopted, with the support of a royal letter on 5 April 1808, after his mother he took up the entailed estate of Trolleberg, the name Trolle-Wachtmeister. This name, along with the Trolle coat of arms in conjunction with that of the Wachtmeister coat of arms, must be borne by his descendant of the Wachtmeister family, who holds the mentioned entailed estate (the right of the entailed estate was transferred in 1830 from Trolleberg to Ljungby, later called Trolle-Ljungby).^[2]

Wachtmeister af Björkö no. 31

Hans Wachtmeister (1609–1652), Major General, Riksråd and Master of the Horse
- Eva Juliana Wachtmeister (1639–1666), married to Count Bengt Gabrielsson Oxenstierna (1661–1666)

Wachtmeister af Johannishus no. 25

Hans Wachtmeister (1641–1714), admiral general of the Swedish Navy
- Carl Hans Wachtmeister (1689–1736), Admiral
  - Fredrik Georg Hans Carl Wachtmeister (1720–1792), officer
    - Carl Axel Trolle-Wachtmeister (1754–1810), Lord of the Realm, Lord High Steward, Minister for Justice
      - Hans Gabriel Trolle-Wachtmeister (1782–1871), Minister for Justice
        Axel Knut Trolle-Wachtmeister (1812–1907), County Governor
        Hans Gustaf Trolle-Wachtmeister (1846–1922), senior valet de chambre (överstekammarjunkare)
        Oskar Carl-Axel Fredrik Trolle-Wachtmeister (1893–1956), Hovjägmästare
        Hans-Gabriel Trolle–Wachtmeister (1923–2023), was married to Alice Viktoria Tornérhielm (1926–2017)
        
        Axel Fredrik Wachtmeister (1858–1889), married Engla Elisabeth Carlsson
        Georg Axel Albert Wachtmeister (1884–1971), married Djardul Flavia Ljungqvist and Karin Hount Johannesen
    - Hans Fredrik Wachtmeister (1752–1807), Rear Admiral
      - Carl Axel Wachtmeister (1795–1865), Chamberlain
        Carolina Lovisa Wachtmeister (1826–1910), married to Friherre Louis Gerhard De Geer, Prime Minister of Sweden
        Gerhard Louis De Geer (1854–1935), Prime Minister of Sweden
        
        Gerard De Geer (1858–1943), geologist
        Sten De Geer (1886–1933), professor
        
        Axel Fredrik Wachtmeister (1827–1899), Chamberlain
        Ulrika Charlotta Elisabet (1855-1913), married Count Magnus Gabriel de La Gardie (1839-1905)
        
        Carl Axel Baltzar Wachtmeister (1856–1935), First Crown Equerry
        Gustaf Axel Otto Wachtmeister (1887–1978), cabinet chamberlain
        Wilhelm Wachtmeister (1923–2012), diplomat
        Erik Wachtmeister (born 1955), Internet entrepreneur, married to Louise Wachtmeister (née Austern)
        
        Otto Carl Fredrik Wachtmeister (1897–1938), Hovjägmästare
        Brita Elisabeth (EÄ Elisabet) (Beth) Wachtmeister (1926–1972), married to Count Carl Carlsson Bonde af Björnö (1962–1972)
    - Gustaf Wachtmeister (1757–1826), General, Lord of the Realm
      - Claes Adam Wachtmeister (1795–1873), lieutenant colonel
        Axel Fredrik Claesson Wachtmeister (1855–1919), Minister for Foreign Affairs
        Nils Claes Ludvig Wachtmeister (1891–1960), Hovstallmästare
        Gunnila Wachtmeister (1923–2016), was married to Carl Johan Bernadotte
        
        Shering "Ted" Wachtmeister (1892–1975), jurist
        Bengt Fredrik Shering Wachtmeister (1921–2006),
        Yvonne Wachtmeister (born 1951), married Prince Ludwig Ferdinand of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg (b. 1942)
        Princess Anna of Bavaria (born 1978), married to Prince Manuel of Bavaria (born 1972)
        
        Prince August Fredrik zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg (born 1981)
        
        Nils Erik Gustaf Wachtmeister (1923–2003), Swedish Army colonel
        
        Thomas Axel Wilhelm "Tom" Wachtmeister (1931–2011), businessman
        
        Ian Wachtmeister (1932–2017), industrialist and politician
        
        Georg Carl Gustaf Wachtmeister (born 1940),
        
        Sten Ted Patrick Wachtmeister (born 1945), businessman
        
        Louise Violet Gunilla Wachtmeister (1899–1992), married to Ambassador Erik Boheman (1919–1927)
    - Claes Adam Wachtmeister (1755–1828), Admiral
      - Carl Johan Wachtmeister (1793–1843), Adjutant General
        Carl Wachtmeister (1823–1871), Envoy, Lord of the Realm, Minister for Foreign Affairs, married to Constance de Bourbel de Montpincon (1838–1910)
        
        Gotthard Wachtmeister (1834–1920), County Governor
        Johan Fredrik Wachtmeister (1869–1950), Swedish Army lieutenant colonel
        Carl Johan Wachtmeister (1903–1993), Swedish Army colonel and fencer
      - Christina Hilda Wachtmeister (1796–1871), married to Lieutenant General, Baron Bror Cederström (1780–1877)

Wachtmeister af Mälsåker no. 39

Axel Wachtmeister (1643–1699), field marshal
- Eleonora Margareta Wachtmeister (1684–1748), married to Count Hans Reinhold von Fersen (1683–1736)
  - Carl von Fersen (1716–1786), Överhovjägmästare
  - Axel von Fersen (1719–1794), Lord Marshal of the Riksdag of the Estates, married to Hedvig Catharina von Fersen (1732–1800)
    - Axel von Fersen (1755–1810), General, Marshal of the Realm of Sweden, Lord of the Realm
    - Sophie von Fersen (1757–1816), Lady-in-waiting
    - Fabian von Fersen (1762–1818), politician, officer, courtier
    - Hedvig "Hedda" Eleonora von Fersen (1753–1792), Lady-in-waiting

Others

Carl Wachtmeister (born 1989), footballer

References

^ Anrep, Gabriel (1887). Sveriges ridderskap och adels kalender för år 1888 (in Swedish). Stockholm: Kunskapsförl./Norstedt. p. 1095. SELIBR 3683597.
^ ^a ^b Westrin, Theodor, ed. (1921). Nordisk familjebok: konversationslexikon och realencyklopedi (in Swedish). Vol. 31 (New, rev. and richly ill. ed.). Stockholm: Nordisk familjeboks förl. pp. 221–222. SELIBR 8072220.

[1] Anrep, Gabriel (1887). Sveriges ridderskap och adels kalender för år 1888 (in Swedish). Stockholm: Kunskapsförl./Norstedt. p. 1095. SELIBR 3683597.

[Westrin_(1921),_pp._221-222-2] Westrin, Theodor, ed. (1921). Nordisk familjebok: konversationslexikon och realencyklopedi (in Swedish). Vol. 31 (New, rev. and richly ill. ed.). Stockholm: Nordisk familjeboks förl. pp. 221–222. SELIBR 8072220.

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