The Oscar Heidenstam Foundation

 
Oscar Frederick Jeffery Gore Heidenstam
27th February 1911 - 21st March 1991

FAMILY TREE
by Malcolm Whyatt

Oscar was a British subject.  The origins of the 'Noble family von Heidenstam' is very distinguished belonging to the highest aristocracy in Sweden.  The proper name is von Heidenstam. The Von Heidenstam Family is recorded in the Palace of the House of Nobles, Sweden.  

Oscar was in fact, entitled to be known as The Hon. Mr Heidenstam but he kept this quiet as he never intentionally wished to court fame. To quote from Shakespeare's Twelfth Night 'Some men are born great; some achieve it and some have greatness thrust upon them'.  Also rather apt is the family motto; "par la grace de dieu' ‑ By The Grace of God.

The family is descended from Johan Peters, who in 1340 is recorded as owning one third of the province of Ditmarschen on the N. Coast of Germany between the Elbe and the Eider.  An ancester of Johan is said to have come originally from the Iberian Kingdom of Navarre; he had fought in the Crusades in Palestine, and on his return settled in Ditmarsh.  Hence the key and crescent in the family arms, showing that he fought the Infidel and entered Jerusalem as a crusader.  One of the descendants of Johan, was Hermies Peters who lived in Busenwarth in Ditmarsch; which was said to be inhabited by " a liberty loving race chiefly of mixed Saxon and Frisian descent".  When these subjects were finally subjugated by the Duke of Holstein allied with the King of Denmark in 1539, the descendants of Johan Peters settled in the town of Hiede. Throughout the 16th and 17th Centuries, several are mentioned as landowners, merchants, physicians and professors in Heide. 

The first descendant to come to Sweden was Dr. Peters Peters, (born in Heide in 1708).  In 1736, he graduated as MD at Frankfurth University and was appointed Court Physician to Carl Frederic Duke of Holstein in 1737.  He was made professor of Kiel University in 1744.   When in 1746, the brother of Duke Carl Frederic, Prince Adolph Frederic of Holstein‑Gotharp was elected by the Swedish Diet to succeed Frederic 1 King of Sweden, who was childless, Dr. Peters was invited by him to come to Sweden as his physician.

When Prince Adolph Frederic who married Princess Louise Ulrika of Prussia, sister of Frederic The Great of Prussia, he ascended the throne in 1751 and Dr. Peters was made First Physican to the court and finally raised to the nobility in 1770.  The letters of patent enobling Dr. Peters are dated 30th January 1770.   He took the name Von Heidenstam in memory of his native town of Heide.  Peter Von Heidenstam took his seat in the House of Nobles in 1775.

Since that time numerous family members have served in many countries and held high ranks eg: Officers of the Army, Navy, Police; as Physicians, Consuls and Diplomats.  One member of the family, was poet Verner Von Heidenstam, who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in about 1914 or 1915. His poetry was taught in schools and he may have written the words of the Swedish national anthem.