'Mama Mia!’: Sandi Toksvig's embarrassing gaffe at ABBA star Bjorn's wedding

The singer took a chance on asking comedian Sandi to officiate at his wedding in Copenhagen earlier this month - but it didn't go entirely to plan

Sandi Toksvig was left red-faced when she was asked to officiate at the wedding of ABBA star Bjorn Ulvaeus - then mixed up her Swedish and Danish.

The comedian and broadcaster, who is Danish-British, was the surprise guest of honour at the 79-year-old Swedish star’s third wedding to Danish Christina Sas, 51, earlier this month.

But not everything went to plan for the Great British Bake Off star, who was meant to speak in Danish, Swedish and English, at the plush ceremony in Copenhagen on on September 21.

Sandi, who wore a red clerical-style robe for the ceremony, remembers: "I talked to the congregation. I said to them ‘Once the ceremony is finished we are all going to relax and talk.’

"There were quite a lot of English people., I taught them phrases like what the Swedish is for ‘Don't worry’.

"But I said instead ‘Der er ingen ko pa isen’ and (what I actually said in Danish) was ‘There is no cow on the ice.’”

Sandi, who became friends with Bjorn after the pair collaborated on Mamma Mia: The Party! in 2018, was forced to correct her gaffe, but says newlyweds Bjorn and Christina saw the funny side.

Sandi revealed the details of her wedding mishap as she took to the stage at The Brighton Dome for the first night of her Friends of Dorothy 14-date UK book tour.

Coincidentally, it is the same concert hall where ABBA famously won the Eurovision Song Contest back in 1974 with their hit Waterloo, when Bjorn was married to his co-star, Agnetha Fältskog .

Speaking to the audience on her first night, Sandi said: "So now I will gift (my wedding mistake) to all of you. The next time something is worrying you just say to each other ‘There is no cow on the ice.’ It is fine."

Despite her error, Sandi, who is Danish, says she loved the wedding in her native Copenhagen with her own wife, Debbie, who she joined in a civil partnership in 2007.

Host of the BBC2 quiz QI, she says she can still walk through Copenhagen without being noticed by fans.

She said: "I have not performed very much in Denmark. It is lovely for me to go there and not make friends in the street if that makes sense with you.

"My wife gets a little bit of private time, so that is why we go there. I do love it very much."

ABBA star Bjorn met his new wife Christina in Nuremberg in 2021, around the time of the release of the band's Voyage album and they started dating in 2022.

The following year he announced his 41-year marriage to his second wife, music journalist Lena Kallersjo, 75, was over.

In February 2022 Bjorn and Lena, who share two daughters Emma, 42, and Anna, 38, released a joint statement confirming their split. They agreed to jointly share their £100 million assets.

From 1971 to 1980, Bjorn was married to Agnetha Faltskog and they had children Linda, 49, and Peter, 44, together.

• Sandi Toksvig is touring the UK with her new show Friends of Dorothy. To book tickets visit www.sanditoksvig.com