Apart from great Swedish explorers such as Sven Hedin, Erik Nordenskiöld, and Andrée, there have always been a lot of private individuals who have through initiatives of their own greatly enhanced our knowledge of the world. One such explorer was Count Eric von Rosen (1879-1948). Recently von Rosen was honoured with a stamp for his ethnographic work.

Born into one of Sweden’s wealthiest noble families, he could easily have spent a leisurely life at his Rockelstad estate. Instead at age 21 he embarked on his first expedition to Lappland. When the ethnograph Erland Nordenskiöld one year later embarked on his Chaco-Cordiller expedition in South America, Eric joined in and late on wrote two books about it, that clearly identified him as a serious explorer rather than a rich dillitant. In 1909 he concluded an exploratory expedition to the White Nile that later resulted in the Swedish Rhodesia-Kenya expedition to study the Batua people at Lake Bangweolo. His well-written books full of adventures were real best-sellers. The expeditions collected lots of artifacts as well as trophies that can still be seen at the Riksmuseet in Stockholm.

At his Rockelstad castle where his wife Mary von Rosen would wear a countess crown at formal dinners, the rather eccentric Eric fostered a large family. To further the ecumenical interest among his children he decided that one of his daughters would become a Catholic and erected a chapel for her on the estate grounds. One son became an artist. A daughter was one of the main volunteers helping Germany’s poor after World War II until now. The son Carl-Gustaf was the adventurous pilot who for many years was the head of the Ethiopian air force and later flew aid to the break-away state of Biafra during the civil war in Nigeria. Planes featured prominently in the family. Eric von Rosen donated a plane to Finland during the war with Russia. This plane was delivered with Eric von Rosen’s private symbol that was the ancient sign for the sun - ironically almost identical to the Nazi swastika. The German head of the air force Herman Göring once made an emergency landing at Rockelstad and ended up falling in love and marrying a niece of Eric von Rosen.