SWEDEN - Courrier international: "Marianne Wiiburg Setterblad, the woman who keeps the Swedish nobility in line".

10 November 2024 Press review

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Marbled paper and coffee sets are among her dadas. But what most fascinates Marianne Wiiburg Setterblad, editor at Riddarhuset, a private institution representing the interests of the Swedish nobility, is keeping a register of her country's aristocracy. Reported by "Dagens Nyheter".

The door is heavy - let's hope Swedish nobility has some muscle. It smells of both new and old, of linseed oil paint. By spring, the Riddarhuset will have undergone a complete overhaul, but on November 17, the renovated reception hall will be inaugurated, and for the occasion, Swedish rapper Wille Crafoord (himself of blue blood, lineage no. 743) will perform a song entitled Riddarhuset. But in the meantime, a host of armorial bearings await in the boxes.

"It's so much brighter now," enthuses Marianne Wiiburg Setterblad, as she takes us on a tour of the premises. Modern lighting, freshly repainted walls, new-look ceilings and frescoes.

Marianne has been working here in the heart of Stockholm's Old Town since 2001. She is responsible for the Swedish nobility's gotha edition, which is published every three years. At the moment, she's putting the finishing touches to the 2025 edition. This is her eighth directory, so she's starting to get the hang of it.

"We started in February by sending out 18,000 letters asking people to inform us of any changes in their family. We received around 6,000 replies. Added to this is the information provided by the registry office, which we are integrating as we go along."

Thousands of pages of history

A real painstaking task. Marianne started out alone. Today, three people are lending her a hand. Thousands of pages of history, detailed family trees - professions, academic titles, dates of birth, marriages, divorces, children, everything is listed, with the exception of children of noblewomen who live unmarried or married a commoner. They are not included in Who's Who.

"It may seem unfair, but it should be pointed out that the register takes into account the lineage and not the family, and that noble titles are passed down through the father," comments Marianne. The directory lists all blue-blooded Swedes currently alive - the equivalent of an attendance sheet, in short. The archives are stored in the basement of Riddarhuset, where they have been kept for over two hundred and fifty years. A real goldmine for researchers and the curious.

The first nobiliary register was published in 1854, thanks to Gabriel Anrep, an eminent genealogist who is considered to be the father of the discipline [in Sweden]. Peut-être was inspired by the compendia of European royal families. The directory of the nobility was very useful at a time when the standsriksdagen [an ancient Swedish parliament representing the four states - nobility, clergy, bourgeoisie and peasantry] still existed, to find out who had the right to participate in aristocratic assemblies. "Some still attach great importance to it today, others don't care, and still others don't want to be part of it," reports Marianne.

A new chance

With a print run of 2,000 copies, the register is available for pre-order at 595 Swedish kronor [51.50 euros], followed by 890 kronor [77 euros]. Marianne is not herself a noblewoman, but her maternal grandparents lived at Ericsberg Castle, on the outskirts of Katrineholm [southwest of Stockholm], and she often visited it as a child. Perhaps it was during this period that she developed her interest in old stories. Even if, as is often the case, it was rather chance that guided her.

"All I knew after high school was that I wanted to study in Lund [in Skåne, southern Sweden]. I had a few older cousins who had done so - which played no part, by the way!"

With a friend, she moved to Skåne. They found an apartment, but were not admitted to university. However, Marianne managed to sneak into a cultural geography course. With Peau d'âne in her pocket, she became a project manager at the Heritage Department, where she came across an advertisement for a position at the Riddarhuset library. She applied and was turned down. But the person who gets the job doesn't fit the bill, and Marianne is offered another chance, which she takes successfully this time.

When the editor of Sweden's Who's Who retires, Marianne is offered another chance. She accepts. She was then 30. Today she's 50. Hasn't she grown tired of it all over the years? "No. But it has to be said that I've done other things on the side. I had three lovely children - whom I managed to fit in between two editions. I took some time off for personal reasons and worked on other projects with my own publishing house."

The publishing house in question, Hemera, unsurprisingly publishes specialist books on history, culture and art. These are either commissions or Marianne's ideas. It was her idea, for example, to republish Pinntorpafruns minnen ["The Memory of the Lady of Pinntorp"]. "The book had been written by my great-great-uncle in the 1940s and tells the story of Ericsberg Castle [formerly called Pinntorp] through the ghost that haunted it, that of Beata von Yxkull, better known as 'Pinntorpafrun' ['Lady of Pinntorp']. I felt that someone had to republish it. And then it hit me: why not do it myself? There'll be more like it in the future."

Does nobility still matter today? "No, none at all. Today, the nobility can no longer be seen as a homogeneous group - there are 28,000 individuals. What nobles have in common is that their family history is well documented. Which is good."

By Maria Huldt

Published November 10, 2024

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Marbled paper and coffee sets are among her dadas. But what most fascinates Marianne Wiiburg Setterblad, editor at Riddarhuset, a private institution representing the interests of the Swedish nobility, is keeping a register of her country's aristocracy. Reported by "Dagens Nyheter".

Thousands of pages of history

A new chance