Yes, what should you think of that?! The Count of Bentinck, descendant of crowned heads, Imperial Count and Regent of Varel, gets married. The matter itself is not even delicate. He has been a widower for many years, so why not remarry? But, I'll tell you what: the count is marrying a commoner! Sarah Gerdes is the name of the good woman and - can you believe this? - she is the daughter of a moor colonist! And not only that! He is only marrying the lady now, after having an affair with her for many years. The couple has got three children over all the years, all of them out of wedlock. Sodom and Gomorrah, I say! Sarah Margarethe Gerdes from Steinhausen will now become Countess of Aldenburg-Bentinck at the wedding altar. Well, if that's not a climb!

The family history of the counts of Aldenburg-Bentinck has been shrouded in scandal from the beginning. Count Anton Günther had a liaison with the much younger Elisabeth of Ungnad, who came to Oldenburg as a refugee in the times of the Thirty Years' War. The result of this tete-a-tete beyond the count´s rank was the birth of the son Anton, who remained the only descendant of Count Anton Günther. The count would have loved to bequeath his entire estate to him, but that was against the law. At least Anton Günther was able to secure rule in Kniephausen and Varel for his son. Anton was also elevated to the status of an “Imperial Count” and was henceforth allowed to call himself “von Aldenburg”. He brought the splendor of a count's residence to the town of Varel. However, the Aldenburgers were only lucky for a short time. Anton died without heirs, but left behind a pregnant wife. Amazingly, against all odds, she managed to ensure that her son was able to take over his father's inheritance as Anton II. in 1706. But at least the estate was too small to be economically viable, and there were also the losses caused by the devastating Christmas flood in 1717. Anton urgently needed a financier and he found one in the Dutch Count Wilhelm of Bentinck, to whom he also married his daughter Charlotte Sophie. Although this marriage produced two sons, it was unhappy and soon divorced. The Countess was then relieved. From then on she devoted herself to her intellectual interests, and maintained correspondence with important persons like Frederick the Great or Voltaire. Furthermore she moved to Bückeburg, where she lived for years with her sweetheart from younger days Wolfgang of Schaumburg-Lippe and bore him two children. The fact that Wolfgang was married to her cousin at the same time apparently did not pose any obstacle. In Varel her descendants from the Bentinck family finally took over. In 1816 her grandson Count Wilhelm Gustav Friedrich wrote the next and last scandalous story of the dynasty marrying the moor colonist´s daughter Sarah Gerdes.
In 1854 control over Varel passed to the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg.