Name Margrét Hallgrímsson | Occupation Business | |
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Children Björgólfur Thor Björgólfsson, Evelyn Bentína Björgólfsdóttir, Örn Friðrik Parents Margrét Þorbjörg Thors Hallgrímsson, Hallgrímur Fr. Hallgrímsson Grandchild Björgólfur Hideaki Takefusa Similar Björgólfur Guðmundsson, Björgólfur Thor Björgólfsson, George Lincoln Rockwell, George Lovejoy Rockwell, Björgólfur Hideaki Takefusa | ||
Margrét Þóra (Thora) Hallgrímsson (born 28 January 1930) is the wife of the businessman Björgólfur Guðmundsson and like him was a prominent figure in the cultural and business life of Iceland from around 2002–2008.
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Family and surname
Þóra was born in Reykjavík, the eldest daughter of Hallgrímur Fr. Hallgrímsson, chairman of Shell in Iceland and consul in Canada, and his wife Margrét Þorbjörg Thors Hallgrímsson, daughter of the businessman Thor Philip Axel Jensen.
Although ethnically Icelandic, Þóra's father Hallgrímur was born Canadian. His surname Hallgrímsson was not a patronym, but in fact his father's patronym, which his father had taken as a surname when moving to Canada. In turn, Þóra also inherited the surname, giving rise to the unusual situation of a female Icelander with a last name ending in -son.
Marriages
Þóra married Haukur Clausen, an Olympic athlete and later dentist, on 6 January 1951, by whom she had Örn Friðrik (born 13 July 1951), but they separated just a year later.
On 3 October 1953 Þóra married George Lincoln Rockwell, an officer in the American Navy and later founder of the American Nazi Party, moving with him to America. With him she had three further children: Hallgrímur, Margrét, and Bentína. In Roger Boyes's account,
Accounts of Þóra's divorce from Rockwell, which include Rockwell's own autobiography, and her return to Iceland vary. Her father Hallgrímur travelled to the USA in 1958 to bring his daughter home; according to Boyes, the family asked Björgólfur Guðmundsson to help convince Þóra to return to Iceland. Þóra moved back with her four children, divorced Rockwell, and in 1963 married Björgólfur. She had one son by Björgólfur, Björgólfur Thor Björgólfsson, but Björgólfur Guðmundsson also adopted Þóra's children by Rockwell.
Þóra's grandson, by her daughter Evelyn Bentína Björgólfsdóttir, is the footballer Björgólfur Hideaki Takefusa.
Controversy over biography
In 2005, Guðmundur Magnússon published the book Thorsararnir, on the history of the descendants of Thor Jensen. In the first version of the book was a chapter on Þóra's marriage with Rockwell. The book was published by the press Edda, but Björgólfur, who owned the publisher, had the author change the text. Moreover, he tried to buy the newspaper Dagblaðið-Vísir, which had discussed the matter, in order to close it down.
Appearances in popular culture
Þóra was the model for one of the characters in the novel Sakleysingjarnir by Ólaf Jóhann Ólafsson.