Wrede · Germany · Sweden · Finland
The family gathering, Stockholm 2028.
Friday 15 to Sunday 17 September 2028
Every branch of the family, in one city, for one weekend.
Scan to join the family WhatsApp group.
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.
- When
- The weekend of 15 September 2028. Friday evening to Sunday afternoon.
- Where
- Stockholm, Sweden. The venue is being chosen and will be announced here.
- Who
- Every branch of the family, and everyone who has married into it. Children are welcome.
- What
- A dinner, a day together in the city, and time to meet the people you have only seen on the family tree.
- Cost
- Still being worked out. We will publish the figure long before anyone has to decide.
The group
There is a family WhatsApp group. News about 2028 goes there first, and between now and then it is the easiest way to reach everybody at once. The code at the top of this page opens the invitation — point a second phone at it, or a printed copy. If you are already reading this on the phone you use for WhatsApp, use the button, because you cannot scan your own screen.
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.
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1400s
Westphalia. The family is first recorded in north-west Germany, where the name comes from.
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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.
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1600s
Stockholm. Fabian Wrede sits on the Council of the Realm and runs the Swedish Crown's finances. The Swedish branch settles in.
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1814
Bavaria. Carl Philipp von Wrede, a field marshal, is made a prince. The German line keeps its own path.
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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.
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Germany
Where the name starts. Westphalia first, later Bavaria and the rest of the country.
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Sweden
In Crown service from the 1500s onwards. Stockholm is still the family's easiest meeting point, which is why 2028 is held there.
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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.
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HeraldicVeined leaves, barbed and seeded roses. 
FlatNo outline. Each shape edged in the opposite tincture. 
LineOne colour, for print and letterheads. 
RoundelThe same wreath in a circle.