Hedvig Sophia of Sweden
Hedvig Sophia of Sweden | |
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Riddarholm Church , Sweden | |
Spouse | |
Ulrike Eleonora of Denmark |
Hedvig Sophia Augusta of Sweden (26 June 1681 – 22 December 1708), Duchess of
Youth
Hedvig Sophia spent the majority of her upbringing at
Between 1697 and 1699, there was a Danish policy to create an alliance with Sweden through a double wedding between
Duchess consort
On 12 May 1698 at
She visited Holstein-Gottorp in 1698 and remained there for about a year. During Hedvig Sophia's stay in Gottorp, Frederick regularly visited his lovers in Hamburg and also brought some of them to Gottorp. Her Mistress of the Robes, Beata Magdalena Wittenberg, became involved in a physical argument with a male courtier who acted as the pimp of Frederick, an argument which ended with Wittenberg losing her wig and Hedvig Sophia's demand to return to Sweden.[4]
In 1699 she returned to Sweden, where she was second in line to the Swedish throne and presumptive heir. She resided mainly at Karlberg. Hedvig Sophia was an eager participant in the frequent partying that dominated her brother's court for a few years before the Great Northern War, and she spent most of her life at the Swedish court. Her marriage was the start point of a long series of festivities which lasted until her departure, and upon her return, another series of festivities was launched which lasted until the outbreak of the war.
Hedvig Sophia was regarded to have political influence over her brother the monarch: on 1 October 1702, count Magnus Stenbock gave his spouse countess Eva Oxenstierna the task of using her influence in the parliament to contact Hedvig Sophia and ask her to make Charles XII to end the war and ask for peace.[5]
Regent
On 18 October 1702, Hedvig Sofia became a
In Sweden, she worked to have her son accepted as an heir to the Swedish throne, and the "Holstein Party", as it was to be called after the death of her brother, was also the most successful contestant under her leadership until her death in 1708. As a widow, she was the object of plans to arrange a new political marriage. Among the candidates were the Crown Prince of Hanover, that is the future King George II of Great Britain.[2] However, she refused a new arranged marriage. She was by then involved with the young courtier count Olof Gyllenborg.[2] She was acquainted with Gyllenborg since before her marriage, and after the death of her spouse, he made it known to her that he was in love with her through a poem with the message that it was better to confess to a love than to let it die.[2] That relationship was open public knowledge at court and seems to have been accepted, though much disliked by her grandmother, Hedwig Eleonora of Holstein-Gottorp.
At the Swedish royal court, Hedvig Sophia was described as a beauty with an interest in fashion, and referred to as "The Happy Princess".[10] She was the center of the social life at court, and it was said that all pleasure of court life ended after her death. She was an accomplished singer: during the Great Northern war, she appeared as a singer at concerts at court, while her sister, Ulrika Eleonora, played the clavier.[11] Like her sister, she repeatedly asked her brother for permission to visit him on the battle field during the war, which was common for many other women to do, but he refused them every time.[12]
In 1708 she died of smallpox, which she had contracted by nursing her son through the illness. The relationship between her and her brother, King Carl, was very deep. In July 1709, her brother, who recently had become a refugee of his military catastrophe at
She is perhaps most well known for the extensive correspondence between her and her brother King Carl XII, who spent much of his life on war campaigns abroad. When he died in 1718 and left no heirs to the throne, the late Hedvig Sophia's only child, Duke
Hedvig Sophia was the paternal grandmother of Emperor Peter III of Russia.
Issue
Name | Birth | Death | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Charles Frederick, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp | 30 April 1700 | 18 June 1739 | married Grand Duchess Anna Petrovna of Russia and had issue. |
Ancestors
Ancestors of Hedvig Sophia of Sweden | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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References
- Anteckningar om svenska qvinnor (in Swedish)
- Wilhelmina Stålberg: Anteqningar om Svenska kvinnor (In English: Notes on Swedish women) (in Swedish)
- Dansk biografisk Lexikon / VII. Bind. I. Hansen - Holmsted
- Lundh-Eriksson, Nanna: Den glömda drottningen. Karl XII:s syster. Ulrika Eleonora D.Y. och hennes tid. Affärstryckeriet, Norrtälje. (1976)
- Norrhem, Svante (2007). Kvinnor vid maktens sida : 1632–1772. Lund: Nordic Academic Press. Libris 10428618. ISBN 978-91-89116-91-7
- Nanna Lundh-Eriksson (1947). Hedvig Eleonora. Stockholm: Wahlström & Widstrand. ISBN
Notes
- ^ Paul Meijer Granqvist in Carl X Gustaf "den förste pfalzaren" Askerbergs, Stockholm 1910 p. 140
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Nanna Lundh-Eriksson (1947). Hedvig Eleonora. Stockholm: Wahlström & Widstrand. ISBN
- ISBN 978-91-89116-91-7
- ^ Berättelser ur svenska historien / 27. Karl den tolftes regering. H. 7. Karl den tolfte och hans samtida
- ISBN 978-91-89116-91-7
- ^ Hedvig Sofia, urn:sbl:12762, Svenskt biografiskt lexikon (art av Sven Grauers), hämtad 2015-01-22.
- ^ Hedvig Sofia, urn:sbl:12762, Svenskt biografiskt lexikon (art av Sven Grauers), hämtad 2015-01-22.
- ^ Hedvig Sofia, urn:sbl:12762, Svenskt biografiskt lexikon (art av Sven Grauers), hämtad 2015-01-22.
- ^ "Hedvig Sofia Riksarkivet SBL". Archived from the original on 2013-10-14. Retrieved 2013-10-15.
- ^ Lundh-Eriksson, Nanna: Den glömda drottningen. Karl XII:s syster. Ulrika Eleonora D.Y. och hennes tid. Affärstryckeriet, Norrtälje. (1976)
- ^ Lundh-Eriksson, Nanna: Den glömda drottningen. Karl XII:s syster. Ulrika Eleonora D.Y. och hennes tid. Affärstryckeriet, Norrtälje. (1976)
- ^ Lundh-Eriksson, Nanna: Den glömda drottningen. Karl XII:s syster. Ulrika Eleonora D.Y. och hennes tid. Affärstryckeriet, Norrtälje. (1976)
- Ulrica Eleonor 1710-06-12 as quoted by Eric Linklaterin The Life of Charles XII 1960
External links
- Media related to Hedvig Sophia of Sweden at Wikimedia Commons