There is a peculiar succession dispute going on in Sweden, the traces of which lead directly to the queen Silvia’s and the king Kaarle Kustaan to the court. A noble family accuses another publicly in a way that has not been seen in Sweden for a long time. Riita offers a rare view of the blue-blooded lifestyle.
The Count is at the center of the dispute Hans-Gabriel Trolle Wachtmeister heritage. The count was the largest landowner in the county of Skåne and one of the richest men in the Swedish nobility.
Newspapers have reported on the dispute, among others Dagens Nyheter, express, Kristianstadsbladet and several women’s magazines.
Royal couple: Dear friend
When Count Hans-Gabriel Trolle Wachtmeister died at the age of 100 in November 2023, the royal couple described him as a close and dear friend.
– We miss his warmth, humor and wisdom, Hovi commented on the obituary Swedish Dam – for the women’s magazine.
Silvia, Kaarle Kustaa and Hans-Gabriel took turns participating in each other’s and their families’ anniversaries. In addition, the Count’s late wife, the Countess Alice Trolle Wachtmeister worked for more than two decades as lady-in-waiting at the royal court. So she was Queen Silvia’s closest courtier.
Among other things, the duties of the High Court Lady include checking that the newborn firstborn resembles the heir to the crown.
Silvia, Kaarle Kustaa and all three children of the royal couple attended the funeral of Alice Trolle Wachtmeister in July 2017. The royal couple also attended the funeral of Count Hans-Gabriel Wachtmeister in November 2023.
The accounts followed the old order of inheritance
Count Hans-Gabriel Trolle Wachtmeister owned two of Sweden’s most recent charter estates: Trolle Ljungby Castle in Kristianstad and Årup Castle in Bromölla. Both castles are located in Skåne in southern Sweden.
The holdings include 12,000 hectares of land and forest. The operating company’s turnover is approximately 70 million kroner, i.e. 6.2 million euros annually, and it has 35 employees on its payroll.
Sweden’s statutory inheritance system dates back to 1686, and in practice it means that the eldest son inherits everything. Assets are not divided among possible siblings.
Count Hans-Gabriel Trolle-Wachtmeister had no children of his own, but he supported the canonical inheritance almost all his life. For a long time it was clear that the count’s nephew Claës Wachtmeister son Carl-Fredrik Wachtmeister inherited the count’s castles, estates and private property of around 600 million kroner, or a good 52 million euros.
After the count’s death, however, it turned out that he had changed his will. According to the will, the castles and estates would be divided between two different branches of the family.
The dispute started over hunting rights
The roots of the succession dispute go back to 2019, and at its center are two people connected to the Swedish court: Queen Silvia’s current lady-in-waiting Kristine von Blixen-Finecke and the King’s personal attorney Alex Calissendorff.
Newspapers Expressen and Dagens Nyheter say that in 2019, Count Hans-Gabriel Trolle Wachtmeister granted the hunting lease rights of his farms exclusively to a hunter hired on the farm.
Pigeons, pheasants, wild boars, roe deer and mouflons, i.e. wild sheep, live on the grounds of the castle. King Charles Kusta is known to have hunted at least pheasants there.
The hunting lease was exceptionally affordable and long-term. It was signed for 20 years.
The count’s intended heir, nephew Carl-Fredrik Wachtmeister, believed that his then 96-year-old great-uncle the count had been cheated. According to his accounts, the Count lost several million kroner every year with the lease.
Carl-Fredrik Wachtmeister wrote to the Swedish Statutory Succession Board and hoped that the agreement would be terminated.
– I am very worried because it is a grossly fraudulent hunting lease. My uncle has been tricked into signing it, Wachtmeister wrote.
The old Count got angry. In turn, he wrote to the statutory inheritance committee that “a potential heir is ahead of events”. He threw his nephew out of his home and fired him from the utility company and the board.
The hunting lease contained an extraordinary addendum in which Queen Silvia’s lady-in-waiting, a distant relative of the Count by marriage, Kristine von Blixen-Finecke, testified that the Count was “healthy and in full understanding”. Kristine is married to the count’s half-brother’s son, a freeman Hans von Blixen-Finecken with.
Kristine von Blixen-Finecke now took Carl-Fredrik Wachtmeister’s place on the board of the fleet management company. At the same time, King Kaarle Kusta’s personal lawyer at the time, Alex Calissendorffbecame the Count’s personal attorney.
Before this, the count had used the services of the same family of lawyers for years.
It was Alex Calissendorff who drew up the Count’s new will in October 2020, when the Count was 96 years old.
The count divided his inheritance in two
In his will, the count hoped that the state estate would be dismantled.
The Swedish Parliament decided to dismantle the system already in 1963. It was to be abandoned one farm at a time when the owners died – with certain exceptions. The preservation of statutory heritage premises is justified by the fact that the maintenance of the castles required the use of agricultural and forestry income from tiluis.
It was in Sweden at most more than 200 rule inheritance modes. If the count’s will remains valid, the number of farms will drop to two.
According to the count’s will, his nephew Claës Wachtmeister inherited half of the estates and Trolle Ljungby Castle. The brother’s son Hans von Blixen-Finecke and his wife inherited the other half of the estates and Årup Castle with its parks, forests and fields.
– As far as is legally possible, my strong hope is that [veljenpojanpoikani] Carl-Fredrik Wachtmeister will not take over any property directly after me, the Count wrote Dagens Nyheterin by.
The Wachtmeisters are trying to overturn the will
The value of the count’s property is estimated at three billion kroner, or about 265 million euros. The count’s nephew Claës and his son Carl-Fredrik Wachtmeister are now trying to annul the will through the courts.
– For me, this is about two things. The first one is keeping the accounts together. That equals 250 years of family history. It has great cultural value, Carl-Fredrik Wachtmeister tells DN.
– The second is that HG had a very clear line for 97 years of his life. He protected every millimeter of the rule legacy space at all costs. In his last years he was very old and sick. He turned his jacket and wanted to share the money. Something is wrong.
Claës and Carl-Fredrik Wachtmeister’s reasons for revoking the will are the count’s high age at the time of the change of heart, but also the fact that the author of the will is a colleague of the high court lady Kristine von Blixen-Finecke, who will benefit from the new will, and thus the executor.
Support from the count’s nephew
The attempt to cancel the will gets support from other family members. Especially the count’s nephew, a free lord Knut Ramelhas settled in to support the company.
According to him, the Count was no longer “fully present” recently. Ramel says that the count lent his house in Falsterbo in 2019.
– After he had been there for 12 days, he told me that he would have liked to stay longer than a day, Ramel says For Expressen and means that the elderly person no longer understood the passage of time.
In Ramel’s opinion, Hans and his wife Kristine von Blixen-Finecken, who benefited the most from the new will, have spread false and fabricated information about the previous beneficiaries.
– I think they have been hit by gold fever, Ramel says to Expressen.