Birgitta Ed, wife of Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, was ordained as a Lutheran pastor on Sunday. For the next year, she will work in the parish of Straengnaes, 80 km west of Stockholm. It was there that the ceremony was held, attended by the head of the government and the couple’s three daughters.
– In the church, first of all, I am not a person who is married to someone. Rather, the prime minister is married to me,” Ed told the Dagen newspaper.
The service was presided over by the Bishop of the Church Sweden John Dalman. Among the guests there was former prime minister of Sweden and foreign minister Carl Bildt. According to Expressen, the prime minister’s wife had tears in her eyes and was kissed by her husband after the ceremony.
The new pastor, after seven years of theological studies, will work in Straengnaes parish for the next year, although she and Kristersson recently moved into the prime minister’s residence in Stockholm before Christmas. The couple live permanently in Straengnaes.
After a family tragedy, she gave up her career for the Church
Ed was a PR consultant in the past, supporting the Swedish-Chinese trade. In 2003, she was responsible for the campaign for Sweden to introduce the euro. Then, in a referendum, the Swedes voted against the common currency. In an interview with “Dagen” she admitted that she had decided to abandon her previous career for the Church after a family tragedy, when her nephew committed suicide at Christmas.
Ed and Kristersson have three daughters adopted from China. In the cathedral in Straengnaes there is a tombstone of Princess Izabella Vasa (1564-1566), the eldest daughter of John III Vasa and Katarzyna Jagiellonka. Valuable polonica are stored in the cathedral library.
The prime minister’s wife is also a pastor Norway Jonas Gahr Store, Marit Slagsvold.
Main photo source: Michael Campanella/Getty Images