The family gathering, Stockholm 2028.

The weekend

Planning has started. Nothing is booked yet, so nothing is asked of you yet. The venue, the programme and the cost will be posted on this page as they are settled. Put the date in your calendar and look again later.

The family

The Wredes have lived around the Baltic Sea for centuries — in Germany, in Sweden and in Finland. The name begins in the north-west of Germany and travels north: soldiers, then officials, then farmers, engineers and everything since. A short version, in five stops.

• 1400s

  Westphalia. The family is first recorded in north-west Germany, where the name comes from.

• 1605

  Kircholm. Henrik Wrede gives his own horse to King Karl IX of Sweden in the middle of the battle, and is killed. The Crown grants his family the Elimäki estate in Finland. The Finnish branch, Wrede af Elimä, starts there.

• 1600s

  Stockholm. Fabian Wrede sits on the Council of the Realm and runs the Swedish Crown's finances. The Swedish branch settles in.

• 1814

  Bavaria. Carl Philipp von Wrede, a field marshal, is made a prince. The German line keeps its own path.

• Today

  Three countries. Wredes live in Germany, Sweden and Finland, and in a good many places beyond them.

Where we are

Three countries, three languages, one name. The branches have been apart long enough to be genuinely different, and close enough to still recognise each other.

• Germany

  Where the name starts. Westphalia first, later Bavaria and the rest of the country.

• Sweden

  In Crown service from the 1500s onwards. Stockholm is still the family's easiest meeting point, which is why 2028 is held there.

• Finland

  The Elimäki grant of 1605 made Finland a Wrede home, and it has been one ever since.

The arms

Per pale gules and or, a wreath set with five roses counterchanged.

A shield split red and gold, carrying a garland of five roses in the opposite colour. Four drawings of the one blazon — the written description is the arms; the picture is only ever an interpretation.