Sandi Toksvig: I didn’t know me officiating Abba star’s wedding would be public

Sandi Toksvig says she had no idea that pictures of her officiating at the wedding of Abba star Bjorn Ulvaeus, in a full priest-like outfit, would be made public.

Ulvaeus, 79, tied the knot for a third time earlier this year, when he married Christina Sas – who he met in connection with Abba’s last album Voyage – on September 21.

He posted photos from the day, one of which shows QI host Toksvig dressed in a red and gold robe as she conducted the ceremony.

Toksvig told ITV’s Good Morning Britain (GMB) on Monday: “So I first of all did not know it was going to be publicly known.

“So Bjorn is my friend, and he phoned me up and said, ‘Sandy, you would come to my wedding’. I said ‘Yes.’ He said, ‘You will do the wedding’. I said, ‘In what sense?’.

“And then I thought, I don’t know what to wear, because I’ve never done a wedding before, and so I found a shop online… so I could look the part.

“It was only about 120 people and it really was friends and family, but.. that picture, (it) made the front cover of the (Indian English-language paper The) Hindustan Times, I feel I’ve arrived.”

“I promise you, it was because we’re friends,” she added.

Ulvaeus was previously married to his fellow Abba member Agnetha Faltskog before they divorced in 1980.

He then was married to Lena Kallersjo from 1981 until they separated around two years ago.

Toksvig was also asked by GMB about being “the first female presenter of a British mainstream comedy panel show” when she took on QI in 2016.

She responded saying: “Where is the late night chat show host? I don’t know if they think women can’t stay up late or something, I don’t know what they think, we’ve got too many chores to do in the house.”

Toksvig, a former The Great British Bake Off host, also said that she was “unusual” to be 66, and fronting a TV show.

“There’s a huge way to go,” she added.