Carl Gustaf
Count Bonde af Björnö
Count Carl Gustaf Bonde af Björnö (28 April 1872 – 13 June 1957) was a Swedish Army officer, equerry and horse rider who competed at the 1912 and 1928 Olympics. Bonde was born in Stockholm, Sweden and was the son of landowner, count Gustaf Fredrik Bonde af Björnö and his English wife Ida Horatia Charlotta Marryat. After passing his studentexamen in 1892, Bonde became a sergeant in the Life Regiment Hussars in 1893 and second lieutenant in 1894 and lieutenant there in 1900. Bonde was a prominent horse rider. In 1912 he won the gold medal in the individual dressage competition with his horse Emperor. Bonde possessed a wide range of entailed estates, including Vibyholm Castle and Hörningsholm Castle in Södermanland, Katrineholm, Bordsjö, Askeryd and Herrestad in Småland and Sävstaholm and Toftaholm. He was a member of Halland County Rural Economy and Agricultural Societie's acquisition committee (Hallands läns hushållningssällskaps förvärvsutskott) and member of the Halland County landstorm. He was chairman of the Stockholm Harness Horseman's Association from 1900.
The Svea Life Guards (Swedish: Svea livgarde) was a Swedish Army infantry regiment that was active in various forms 1521–2000. The unit was based in the Stockholm Garrison in Stockholm and belonged to the King's Life and Household Troops (Kungl. Maj:ts Liv- och Hustrupper). Svea Life Guards, the Swedish Army's first guard infantry regiment, originated from the Trabant Corps that surrounded the first Vasa Kings and is said to have been formed in 1526. The Trabant Corps seems to have, at least in part, been included in the enlisted regiment established in 1613, which consisted mostly of Germans, which under the names of the King's Life and Court Regiment (Konungens liv- och hovregemente), the Yellow Regiment (Gula regementet) and the Yellow Brigade (Gula brigaden) participated in Gustavus Adolphus' campaign in Germany. The regiment's first two companies formed the king's lifeguard and consisted mostly of Swedes. The 60 survivors of the guard after the Battle of Lützen, followed the king's corpse to Sweden, after which the guard, whose staff has been increased to 148 men, united in 1644 with one established regiment in the Baltic governorates and one established regiment in Svealand into a large court regiment of which Magnus Gabriel De la Gardie was the commander.
Bonde af Björnö is a Swedish noble family (Swedish nobility), a branch of the noble family Bonde from Småland and Östergötland, elevated to count status on 22 August 1695 by Carl Bonde (1648–1699) and introduced at Riddarhuset on 6 November 1697 as grevliga family no. 41. The family would then, according to his fideicommission Björnö in Frötuna parish in Stockholm County, sign himself Bonde af Björnö. The family branched out from the extinct older branch of the baronial family Bonde, family number 20. The holder of Trolleholm's fideicommiss in Skåne must, according to a royal letter dated 16 May 1809, sign himself Trolle-Bonde and must carry the Trollevapnet along with his own coat of arms.
Awards: Collar, sash and star of the Royal Order of Vasa.
