Marianne Bernadotte
Marianne Bernadotte | |
---|---|
Princess Bernadotte, Countess of Wisborg | |
Born | Gullan Marianne Lindberg 15 July 1924 Helsingborg, Sweden |
Spouse(s) | |
Issue | Robert Tchang Richard Tchang Marie Tchang |
Father | Helge Lindberg |
Mother | Thyra Dahlman |
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Gullan Marianne, Princess Bernadotte, Countess of Wisborg (née Lindberg, later Tchang; born 15 July 1924), also known as Princess Marianne Bernadotte, is a Swedish actress, fashion icon and philanthropist who in 1961 married
Bernadotte has been noted for her work supporting causes such as
Education and professional life
Having performed in her teens at a noted
Along with your director and your fellow actors you find your way through to your part. You build up your own little world, a concentrate, where everyone invests of h-self to hold the pieces together and thus be able to offer the audience something whole.
The theatre was closed for renovation in 1956, and after leaving there Bernadotte was trained by the NK department store and took over their gift shop. A few years later she took courses in Cultural Communication, French and Art at Stockholm University, became the Swedish representative of Sotheby's and in 1970 studied gourmet cooking at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris. After her husband's reconciliation with her widowed father-in-law King Gustaf VI Adolf in the 1970s, she and the elderly Swedish king especially enjoyed cooking together.
In 1983, Marianne Bernadotte graduated as Bachelor of Arts in Art history at Stockholm University. Her academic papers included work on the glass artist and sculptor Edvin Öhrström.
In July 2014, she had good reviews[1][2][3] after hosting the popular radio show Sommar on her 90th birthday.
High fashion
With her new husband Sigvard, Bernadotte met Pierre Balmain in Paris in 1962. She became particularly close and lifelong friends with Balmain and with his successor Erik Mortensen, and they as well as several other French houses of haute couture often for publicity dressed the easily fitted Bernadotte in their latest work.
In 1985 Marianne Bernadotte was named one of the 10 best dressed women in the world, by the
Bernadotte's taste in clothing is still appreciated and hailed by several of Sweden's top designers such as Pär Engsheden and Christer Lindarw. In 2017 Millesgården in Stockholm had a four-month exhibition called CHANEL BALMAIN DIOR MARIANNE BERNADOTTE - En stilikon with a large number of the most valuable and unique items in Bernadotte's high fashion wardrobe from the 1960s and on, mixed in with the museum's ancient nude and clothed statuary. The exhibition was opened by Bernadotte's grandniece Crown Princess Victoria[4] who twenty years earlier also with Bernadotte had opened an exhibition on the late Sigvard Bernadotte's design at the National Museum of Fine Arts.
Philanthropy
Adhering to the concept of Noblesse oblige, since the 1960s, Bernadotte has been deeply involved with concerns in the areas of physical handicaps, health, research and the arts.
One of her first involvements was publicity and funding work for the Swedish Permobil electric wheelchair designed by Per Uddén, who has credited her efforts in making it a field leader and "creating liberty for hundreds of thousands of people with mobility problems all over the world".
In the 1980s, Bernadotte joined several professors in launching an academy to coordinate international dyslexia research and support young researchers. As of 2006 she has an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Bologna's Institute of Psychology in recognition of her contributions to dyslexia research. She is also Honorary Chairman of The Swedish Dyslexia Foundation and Swedish Dyslexia Association and Honorary President of The International Rodin Remediation Academy (Stilikon ... p. 141).
In 1988, Professor Gunnar Lennerstrand wanted to start a Stockholm center for children's eye care. Bernadotte began fundraising efforts, procured valuable artwork from artist friends and was assisted by other prominent members of Stadsbrudskåren (Urban Women's Corps, which she has belonged to since it was founded in 1965) for an auction at Bukowskis in 1990 which brought in SEK 1.2 million. Just before that she and Sigvard Bernadotte had founded the Sigvard & Marianne Bernadotte Research Foundation for Children’s Eye Care which gives grants to researchers and has led to documentation and treatment of eye problems in the prematurely born. Since 1992 over 20 million SEK have been awarded by the foundation and a prize in Bernadotte's name has also been given for clinical research. She has also founded The International Research Foundation for Children’s Eye Care Inc. and The Marianne Bernadotte Scholarship Fund for Prominent Dyslexia Research and Education, and through these and other civic commitments actively supports public and voluntary service. The over 300 members of the Friendship Association of the Prince Sigvard Bernadotte and Princess Marianne Bernadotte Couple[5] include top Swedish business people who also contribute considerably to these charities.
Bernadotte took a similar initiative in establishing The Bernadotte Foundation for Children's Eyecare in New York,
In 1982, for her husband's 75 birthday, he asked for no gifts other than financial contributions to the recently founded Marianne & Sigvard Bernadotte Arts Fund which awards annual scholarships to young students of music, theatre, design and art, enabling young artists to develop their talents early in their careers. Such honorees who have succeeded well include actors Rikard Wolff, Björn Kjellman and Melinda Kinnaman, and designers Behnaz Aram and Sandra Backlund. Bernadotte personally introduces these talents every year at a well attended Stockholm ceremony on 7 June, Sigvard's birthday, and hands over their scholarships. The 20th anniversary award ceremony in 2012 was attended by their grandnephew Prince Carl Philip, Duke of Värmland, as well as Queen Noor of Jordan and former empress Farah of Iran. At age 92 she decided that the 2017 event instead should take place at Uppsala Castle, on the 110th anniversary of Sigvard's birth as a prince of Sweden and Duke of Upland (Bjers p. 31).
Since Sigvard's death in 2002, the charities have depended fully on Marianne Bernadotte's continuous commitment to them and her "forcefulness, imagination, initiative, endurance and charm" (Werkelid pp. 10–11).
Family and marriages
Bernadotte was born and grew up in Helsingborg, Sweden, the daughter of Helge Lindberg and his wife Thyra Dahlman. Her parents were divorced when she was a girl and she then lost touch with her father for many years, which she has described as a grievous, while also greatly admiring her strong mother for taking charge of her and her brother. Her brother Rune Lindberg suffered from dyslexia before it was an understood problem, and that plus her discovery much later, that members of the Swedish royal family also struggled with the affliction, led to her keen interest in the subject. The death of her second child as a baby, who went blind before expiring of vaccination complications, heightened her interest in children's eyesight and related problems involved in many dyslexia cases.
Her first marriage in 1947, while an actress employed at Dramaten, was to Gabriel "Toto" Tchang (1919–1980), the son of a former Chinese ambassador to Sweden, from whom she was divorced in 1957. They had three children:
- Robert Gabriel Tchang (1948–2012)
- Richard Antoine Tchang (1950–1952)
- Marie Gabrielle "Marielle" Tchang Lagergren (born 1953)
She married, secondly, on 30 July 1961 in Stockholm, the former Swedish prince
Swedish hotelier Bicky Chakraborty is married to Bernadotte's sister Ylva.[citation needed] She has several grandchildren and a great-grandson.
Honours
This section of a biography of a living person does not include any references or sources. (June 2021) |
- Sweden: Recipient of the 85th Birthday Medal of King Gustav VI Adolf
- Sweden: Recipient of the 50th Birthday Badge Medal of King Carl XVI Gustaf
- Sweden: Recipient of the Wedding Medal of Crown Princess Victoria to Daniel Westling
- Sweden: Recipient of the Ruby Jubilee Badge Medal of King Carl XVI Gustaf
- Sweden: Recipient of the 70th Birthday Badge Medal of King Carl XVI Gustaf
Comprehensive sources
- Stilikon & filantrop / Style Icon & Philanthropist Marianne Bernadotte by ISBN 978-91-87543-83-8(Swedish & English)
- Sommar 15 July 2014, Sveriges Radio Stockholm, an hour's worth of autobiographical recollections by Marianne Bernadotte (Swedish)
- Glimtar och scener by Marianne Bernadotte, ISBN 91-1-863442-7(Swedish)
Additional sources and notes
- ^ "Sommar i P1 15/7: Marianne Bernadotte | Göteborgs-Posten". Gp.se. 2014-07-15. Archived from the original on 2014-07-26. Retrieved 2017-01-06.
- ^ "Sören Sommelius om Marianne Bernadottes sommarprat - hd.se". hd.se. Archived from the original on 27 July 2014. Retrieved 2 February 2022.
- ^ "Vemodigt om ett societetsliv | Aftonbladet". Aftonbladet.se. 2014-07-15. Retrieved 2017-01-06.
- ^ Article 2017-03-17 in Swedish Elle
- ^ Website
- ^ "The International Research Foundation for Children's Eyecare, Inc". www.bernadottefoundation.org. Archived from the original on 16 November 2009. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
- ^ Introduction online of The Bernadotte Foundation for Children's Eyecare (2017)
- ^ ISBN 9789163350382.
External links
- Marianne Bernadotte at IMDb
- "Bernadottestiftelsen". Bernadottestiftelsen.se. 2014-06-20. Retrieved 2017-01-06.
- "Bernadotte Foundation for Children's Eye Care | Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP)". Bernadottefoundation.org. 2015-04-30. Retrieved 2017-01-06.
- "Kronprinsessan Victoria hedrar sin gammelfaster Marianne Bernadotte | Webfinanser - nyheter aktier it lyx bil nöje spel mobil räntor taxeringskalender". Webfinanser.com. Retrieved 2017-01-06.