Rolf Seelmann-Eggebert: ARD noble expert at the age of 88 died

The former ARD noble expert Rolf Seelmann-Eggeber is dead. He died in Hamburg on Friday at the age of 88, reported the Citing the family. Seelmann-Eggebert commented on royal events for television for decades. Through his reports, he became a television legend in particular through the British royal family, reported, among other things, about the funeral of Lady Diana and the wedding of Prince William with Kate Live in front of an audience of millions.

With popular TV series such as “Königshäuser” or “Royality” and numerous other productions, he kept giving insights into the world of the European umbrella. Seelmann-Eggeber Was noble expert number one on German television.

From 1978 Seelmann-Eggebert was sent to London for the ARD, where he became a studio manager. He reported there in 1981 about the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana, which was followed live on television by numerous people. As a result, Seelmann-Eggebert specialized more and more in the aristocratic reporting and, as a commentator, reported almost all major events of the royal houses of Europe in the past decades. He was the only journalist in Europe to open all seven European royal houses and their heir to the throne for interviews.

Even when he could have calm down, the blue blood connoisseur still preferred space at the microphone. He commented on the long wedding kiss of Willem-Alexander and Máxima of the Netherlands (2002), brought Sweden’s heir to the throne Victoria under the hood (2010) and was also not missing as Kate and William (2011) the yes word.

Before his time in Great Britain, Seelmann-Eggeber first reported as a radio- then as a television reporter from Africa from 1968 to 1976. From 1982 to 1989 Seelmann Eggeber was program director of the NDR TV. Together with his son Florian, he ran his own TV production company Seelmannfilm in Hamburg. The journalist had withdrawn from the public since around 2020 and no longer gave any interviews.

He himself put his closeness to the nobility: “When I sit on the sofa with a king, everyone believes that I am close. But that deceives.” His popularity also simply explained to him: “Same Place, Same Face.” Or to put it another way: “If you do royal houses for 30 years, it is as much as if you take out the old coat in winter because it has become cold outside, and you know that you will keep you warm.”

NDR director Joachim Knuth praised him as an exemplary journalist. “Rolf Seelmann-Eggebert shaped our program crucially-as an aristocratic expert, but also in many other areas.” For more than six decades, he made reports and documentation for the NDR and was a moderator and commentator. “Whether he reported from crisis areas, accompanied the unequal distribution of global wealth or large -scale royal events – he always convinced the spectators through his profound knowledge and his tactful dealings with topics and people.”

Note: This article has been updated several times.