LEGO Historian Posted December 28, 2013 (edited) Royalty is a bit much as a description... but the LEGO owners do hob-knob with Danish royalty. I was doing research for my next forray in LEGO history for my Unofficial LEGO Sets/Parts Collectors Guide DVD download... and came across some new things that are still rather unknown among most AFOLs. Everyone knows that 66 year old Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen is the 3rd generation TLG owner. He and his wife Camilla have 3 children... 36 year old Sofie Kirk Kiaer Kristiansen, 35 year old Thomas Kirk Kristiansen, and 30 year old Agnete Kirk Thinggaard.... The 3 children each own 1/3 of Kirkbi AG, the sister company of Kirkbi A/S (the owner of TLG) This gets really complicated, but the end result is that the 3 children each owns 12.5% of the LEGO group of companies. Kjeld and Camilla.... (note: Kjeld just celebrated his 66th Birthday yesterday... December 27)... Kjeld's mother, the nearly 90 year old dowager LEGO lady herself.. Edith Christiansen is shown here with her daughter (KKK's older sister) 67 year old Gunhild Kirk Johansen, along with her husband Mogans Johansen. Gunhild and Mogans have 3 sons. Edith is the widow of the late (1920-1995) Godtfred Kirk Christiansen (managing director and owner of LEGO Co.), and daughter-in-law of the late (1891-1958) LEGO founder Ole Kirk Christiansen. Here are Gunhild and Kjeld exactly 60 years ago in 1953... on the box top of a (1953-55 era) 700/3A basic LEGO set... Edited December 29, 2013 by LEGO Historian Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BrickRally217 Posted December 29, 2013 Interesting! Yes, not many AFOLs know this stuff. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LEGO Historian Posted December 29, 2013 (edited) LEGO founder Ole Kirk Christiansen's 3 great grandchildren (Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen's 3 children)... left to right... 30 year old Agnete Kirk Thinggaard, 35 year old Thomas Kirk Kristiansen, and 36 year old Sofie Kirk Kiaer Kristiansen. Although Thomas is on the LEGO Board of Directors, none of the 3 are interested in running the family business, as did their father, grandfather, and great grandfather. As a reminder... when Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen was born in 1947... his birth certificate had a typo in the name field... Kristiansen instead of Christiansen. Later in life he started using the Kristiansen spelling. And Kjelds older sister Gunhild had 3 sons. The oldest of which is 30 year old Anders Kirk Johansen, who several years ago purchased the large 5 story palatial manor house near Copenhagen, called Rohden Manor. Anders spent many millions to restore this 42 room residence, where he and his 2011 married bride throw parties for Denmarks elite and even royalty (the Danish Crown Prince and his wife are family friends).... And here's the royalty connection. Just outside of a reception this image shows Sofie Kirk Kiaer Kristiansen and her husband Christopher Kiaer Thomsen (right) along with the Danish Crown Prince Frederik and his wife Princess Mary (left)... The Kristiansen/Johansen connection to the Danish Royal Family is not just friendship... but also vis a vis being the Godparents for their kids. Being from the Kristiansen/Johansen family... richest in Denmark... it also has its' social perks! One of the reasons so much about the LEGO founding family is so obscure is because they really do like to keep to themselves and not be in the limelight. However, when you're Denmarks richest family, and socialize with the Danish Royals... it becomes very difficult to stay out of Danish high society magazines... which is where much of my research has been done. Lots of Google translate from Danish to English! Edited December 29, 2013 by LEGO Historian Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LEGO Historian Posted January 1, 2014 Well did some more research on the Christiansen's (Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen's parents).... Godtfred Kirk Christiansen.... Born: July 8, 1920 ....in Billund Died: July 13, 1995 ....in Billund Edith Nørregaard Knudsen (Christiansen).... Born: May 29, 1924 ....in Vindblaes Godtfred and Edith were married on Oct. 29, 1944. Gunhild was born in 1946, and Kjeld in 1947. So Edith will be 90 years old in 5 months... I'm sure there will be a big celebration in Billund on May 29!! Here are Kjeld, his wife Camilla and his mother Edith seen from the back, facing Denmark's Queen Margrethe and Prince Henrik on a royal visit to Billund on Sept. 3, 2012... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Rook Posted January 1, 2014 Some good looking ladies there in the LEGO family. :) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LEGO Historian Posted January 1, 2014 (edited) <p>Here's a famous old image from 1951.... 3 generational LEGO leaders of the family... at LEGO founder Olke Kirk Christiansen's 60th Birthday. Shown here are 60 year old Ole Kirk, 41 year old Godtfred Kirk, and 3 1/2 year old Kjeld Kirk... Edited January 1, 2014 by LEGO Historian Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LEGO Historian Posted January 1, 2014 All of these LEGO family images are just a fraction of the images I'm using in a new chapter of my Unofficial LEGO Sets/Parts Collectors Guide on DVD download... on the "LEGO Founding Family". Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Legogal Posted August 24, 2014 It does not sound as if any of KKK's three children will be as involved as their dad in the company, which may be too large now to rely on family management any way. It is very cool how much they have managed to stay out of the international limelight considering how wealthy they are. It also appears that in Denmark it is not cool to flaunt extreme wealth. That is refreshing to hear after seeing how much trouble incredibly wealthy third and fourth generation family members have in many other countries. It was nice seeing KKK's mom Edith in the Lego House dedication event photos. Wonder if she ever played with LEGO, too? Wish she had been my grandma!!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
alanyuppie Posted August 25, 2014 On the contrary, I believe it would be very stressful indeed for them to raise their kids.Kids being kids... they would prefer a huge variety of toys (some competing/from rival company). Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AKSamurai Posted August 27, 2014 I'm surprised their homes and cars aren't made of legos. In all seriousness, they've built quite the empire, though I'm not a huge fan of the more recent licensed sets. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Steph 104th Posted August 27, 2014 Very interresting. Thank you for taking the time to convey all this information. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Steph 104th Posted August 27, 2014 (edited) Do you plan on doing more such articles Edited August 27, 2014 by Steph 104th Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
