[2] The inscriptions are in the style Pr4,[2] and they were ordered by a former captain of the Varangian Guard named Ragnvaldr in memory of himself and his mother.
[1][2] Very few could return home with the honour of having been the captain of the Varangian guard, and his name Ragnvaldr shows that he belonged to the higher echelons of Old Norse society,[3][4] suggesting that he was probably even a relative of the ruling dynasty.
The inscription U 310 was made on the orders of Ingvar's second wife Estrid (Ástríðr, Æstriðr), who was not the mother of Ragnvaldr: Ragnvald's maternal grandfather Ónæmr is mentioned on two additional runestones in Uppland, U 328 and U 336.
[7] U 328 informs that Ragnvaldr had two aunts named Gyríðr and Guðlaug, and U 336 adds that Ulf of Borresta, who received three danegelds in England, was Ónæm's paternal nephew[7] and thus Ragnvald's first cousin.
Omeljan Pritsak notes that Ragnvaldr appears to have died simultaneously with his father Ingvar and uncle Ingifastr, and that their death should have happened before 1050.