Joachim Wedell-Neergaard

Joachim Wedell-Neergaard, née Wedell-Wedellsborg (11 January 1862 – 4 January 1926) was a Danish diplomat, landowner and chamberlain. The son of Gustav Wedell-Wedellsborg and Louise Elise Henriette Bruun de Neergaard, on 19 June 1893 he was granted royal permission to carry the name Wedell-Neergaard. He had that same year succeeded his maternal grandfather as owner of Svenstrup Manor at Køge. He was president of the Danish Forest Association from 1906 to 1916. Early life and career He was born on 11 January 1862 in Næstved where his father Gustav, Baron Wedell-Wedellsborg (1829-1903), a son of Joachim, Baron Wedell-Wedellsborg, served as a first lieutenant in the Dragoon Regiment. His mother, Louise Elise Henriette Bruun de Neergaard (1837–64), a daughter of Joachim Bruun de Neergaard of Svenstrup Manor, died when he was just two years old. His father resigned from the army the following year to lease Overdrevsgård, a farm under his father-in-law's estate. Wedell-Neergaard completed his schooling in 1881 and graduated from the University of Copenhagen in political science (statsvidenskab) in 1886. He then worked for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, both at home and abroad. Landowner Wedell-Neergaard succeeded his maternal grandfather as the owner of Svenstrup in 1893. He immediately launched a number of construction projects and significantly improved the management of the land. He took a particular interest in forestry.