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We know the richly storied accounts of Swedish, Danish, and Norwegian royalty and nobility dating back over 1000 years to Viking times. But, what about Finland – did the Finns and Finland ever have their own King, or were they fated to ‘make do’ by sharing other people’s sovereigns?

Prince Friedrich Karl, Landgraf of Hesse, was the brother-in-law of Kaiser Wilhelm II, having married Kaiser Wilhelm’s sister, Princess Margarethe (grand-daughter of Queen Victoria) in January 1893.

At the fateful moments in 1918, Friedrich Karl was 50, married, with 6 sons (two sets of twins, one set died fighting in WW1).

Prince Friedrich Karl was elected King of Finland on 9 October 1918, but renounced the throne just 66 days later on 14 December 1918. He never even managed to get to Finland at all!

However, was he in fact ever legally elected? By whom? How? Under what circumstances, and constitution?

It’s time we delved into a little-known curious by-way of history, which in many ways resembles the way that Sweden acquired the Royal House of Bernadotte, in 1809/1810.

Professor David Goldsmith will take us through the maze of muddle, mishap and machination, which characterised the accession (or not) of Friedrich Karl of Hesse – the first, last, and never-King of Finland.

The talk is £5 for Members of the Anglo-Finnish Society and the Anglo-Swedish Society and £10 for guests.

A pre-talk reception and lunch will be held at Lincoln’s Inn at £35 per head including the drinks reception, a starter, a main course and and a glass of wine and table water. Desserts are an optional extra on the day paid for by attendees.

This event is organised in cooperation with the Anglo-Swedish Society.

Bookings closed. 

Sophia Jansson will give a talk about her aunt, the legendary Tove Jansson.

This event is organised in cooperation with the Embassy of Finland in London, the Finnish Institute and the Anglo-Swedish Society.

We are already operating a waiting list for this unsurprisingly popular event. 

Christmas Comes To Moominvalley – evening performance on Friday, 3 January 2025 at Jacksons Lane, 269a Archway Road, London N6 5AA

We have made arrangements for a group booking of tickets for Friday, 3 January 2025.

There will be an opportunity before the show for a short introduction to Jacksons Lane and after the show to meet the cast and directors with post-show drinks.

Bookings are no longer taken through us but you may still be able to book directly with the venue subject to availability. 

For more details of the show, please see: 

Christmas Comes to Moominvalley – Jacksons Lane Events – The Home of Contemporary Circus

Tuesday, 14 January 2025 at 6 p.m. at the Community Hall of St Anne’s Church, Soho, 55 Dean Street, London, W1D 6AF.

Film Projection and talk by Kirsten Adkins, a filmmaker based in Glasgow, of her film Singing the Wooden House (30 minutes): 

A journey to a border zone, in search of a wooden house provokes questions on selfhood and national identity, place and belonging and the lasting implications of flight and return.

Rajavyöhyke translates from Finnish to English as border zone. Signs that line an 800-mile border, cross the forests and lakes of Finland and Russia. They operate as a modest indication of who belongs, and where. In April 2023 I travelled with a camera to a wooden house near the border town of Imatra, in the region of Karelia. The area was fought over during the Winter War between 1939 and 1940, and the Continuation War between 1941 and 1944. My mother and her family, who lived in the house were neither Finnish nor Russian. They were exiled to Sweden, settled in Stockholm and they never returned: some 400,000 people were evacuated as the border between Finland and the Soviet Union shifted. With a new war in Europe, rajavyöhyke articulates an increasing tension between opposing geopolitical forces. This year, Finland joined NATO. Sanctions were issued against Russia and the wooden house now owned by a family from St Petersburg is once again abandoned. In November 2023, at the time of writing, Finland closed the entire border to Russia, for the first time in its history. There is an unsettling stillness and marked absence of people near the rajavyöhyke. A few voices carry across the lakes on the border – it is unclear whether they are Russian or Finnish.

Biography

Kirsten Adkins is an artist and filmmaker who has a professional background in documentary television. Kirsten’s filmmaking and writing practice is concerned with stories of home, belonging and migration. She is currently working on a forthcoming edited anthology (Routledge 2024), and curated project space that is concerned with ways that artists and filmmakers use hybrid practices in film, poetry, song and dance to provoke questions on place, identity and belonging. Her interdisciplinary practice is informed by her work in news and factual programmes at the BBC where she worked as a producer and director. Kirsten has exhibited, presented, published, and broadcast nationally and internationally. She teaches filmmaking and artists moving image at the University of Glasgow. See also: Kirsten Adkins

If you wish to attend please email the Hon. Secretary on secretary@anglofinnishsociety.org.uk – guests are welcome (subject to availability). The event is free but cash donations for refreshments will be welcomed on the day.