Hedwig Elizabeth of Holstein-Gottorp
Queen consort of Sweden and Norway
Hedvig Elisabeth Charlotte of Holstein-Gottorp, as Queen
Tenure	1809–1818
Spouse	Charles XIII
Issue
Louise Hedwig Carl Adolf, Duke of Värmland
Father	Frederick August I, Duke of Oldenburg
Mother	Princess Ulrike Friederike Wilhelmine of Hesse-Kassel
Born	22 March 1759(1759-03-22)
Died	20 June 1818 (aged 59)

Hedwig Elizabeth Charlotte (Swedish: Hedvig Elisabeth Charlotta; Eutin, 22 March 1759 – Stockholm, 20 June 1818) was the queen consort of Charles XIII of Sweden, and also a famed diarist, memoirist and wit. She is generally known in Sweden by her full pen name (above), though her official name as queen was Charlotte.

She was the daughter of Duke Frederick August of Holstein-Gottorp, Bishop of Lübeck and Duke of Oldenburg, and Princess Ulrike Friederike Wilhelmine of Hesse-Kassel. She grew up in Eutin and married her cousin, the future king, Charles, Duke of Södermanland, in Stockholm on 7 July 1774 when she was fifteen years old. The marriage was arranged by King Gustav III to provide the throne of Sweden with an heir. The king had not consummated his marriage and had decided to give the task of providing an heir to the throne to his brother.

[edit] Royal duchess and socialite

Hedvig Elisabeth Charlotte of Holstein-Gottorp, during her time as a royal duchess. Portrait by Alexander Roslin

The wedding was celebrated very luxuriously (she arrived in Stockholm by gondola). She was noted for her beauty — her waist measured a mere 48 cm (19") and her shoe size 31 (girls' size 13) — and, as the marriage of the king had not been consummated after nine years, there were hopes that she would provide an heir for the throne. In 1775, there were signs that she was pregnant. It was hoped that the question of succession was solved, and prayers were held in the churches. However, the signs soon proved to be false, and although her husband did admire her looks, he never showed much interest in her; at the time of their marriage, he was in the middle of his relationship with Augusta von Fersen. The news of the false pregnancy also made the king decide to consummate his marriage and provide an heir to the throne himself.

She became an important member of the vivacious court of Gustav III, where she was called "Little Duchess" and was noticed for her beauty and vividness and a center of social life with her wittiness and ease with words. With these qualities she fulfilled the ideal of the aristocratic society of the time, and she is actually much more noted in history for her role in the court of Gustav III, than she is for her period as a Queen. In contrast to the shy queen, Sophia Magdalena of Denmark, "Duchess Lotta" was lively, witty and flirtatious and was as such an example on the personality that was fashionable of an ideal woman of her time, and was in many ways the female center of the court. She participated in the amateur theatre which were an important part at the royal court at the reign of Gustav ^[1]. With her cheerful and charming personality, she was described as someone who could ease things up when people got depressed, and she was also the confidante of many. by some, however, she was criticised for being to easy going and vivacious and not dignified enough for her position.

Her marriage was an aristocratic marriage of the time, and both she and her husband had numerous extramarital affairs. Among her alleged lovers were Count Axel von Fersen, alleged lover of Marie Antoinette. She was also rumored to be bisexual, rumors inspired by her intimate friendship with countess Sophie von Fersen and, true or not, repeated her entire time as royal Duchess, by both Francisco de Miranda in 1786 and later by Frederica of Baden. She did have a son but he died very early.

She did not dislike her husband's affairs, rather she was grateful that it made it possible for her to live more freely. At one point, she expresses her frustration that her husband's lack of mistresses made him more attentive.

As long as he had his mistresses, things were better, but since the last one was exiled because she allowed herself to be insolent towards the king, and he have not provided himself with a new one, his temperament has gotten worse, and I have daily been subjected to outbursts because of this, which has occurred even in front of the staff. This hostility have increased so much during the winter that I have reached the end of my patience. ^[2]

This improved after her husband had his next mistress. She expresses her opinions about sexuality when she describes how surprised she was about the fact that the King did not destroy the documents about his mothers alleged affair with count Tessin (1783). She expressed feminist ideas with her words about love and sexuality: No one can resist the demands of Love, and that there was no words more true than that of Eros:

Here is your true master, He is, He was, and He always will be, and continues by criticizing the double standards, and that it is sad to be a woman because of this: While men have their complete freedom, she is always burdened by prejudice and circumstance. I am convinced that most women would ask for nothing more than to be transformed to men, so they could enjoy complete freedom.^[1]

In 1792, her husband was appointed regent, but the actual power was in the hands of his favorite, Count Gustaf Adolf Reuterholm, whom she mentions in her memoirs with great dislike and irony Although more interested in politics in these years, she had no influence on her husband. Neither she not her husband was at very good terms with king Gustav IV Adolf, especially after an intrigue in 1803, when they were both humiliated by him. In 1809, she and her spouse was placed on the throne after the aristocratic coup disposing the nephew of her spouse.

[edit] Queen

When her husband was informed he was King, she told him that she will become his reliable adviser and confidante, but promised that she would keep away from the matters of the state. During his reign, she was to visit him in his bedroom every morning to talk to him. In her diary, she writes that she was embarrassed of having taken the place of others: she felt deep sympathy for the ex-queen Frederica. She was crowned with the king the 29 June 1809. At the coronation, she was described as acting with grace and dignity without losing her usual vividness and cheerfulness.

Queen Hedvig Elizabeth Charlotte held salon, the so called "Green table", were women discussed politics while sewing.

She gave her protection to the first university for the blind and deaf in Sweden (1809) after hearing the performance of the blind musician Charlotta Seuerling; she was very active and interested in the institute for blind and deaf, and gave it a lot of attention with its founded, the pedagogue for blind and deaf, Per Aron Borg. She also restored the funding to the theatre. She was quite popular as a queen.

[edit] Political influence

Hedvig Elizabeth Charlotte was by her contemporaries believed to exercise a great political influence, though she herself denied this. She played an important part from the coup in 1809 until the arrival of Jean Baptiste Bernadotte in 1810, when she played a part in the discussions of the succession question, which dominated the political scene during this period. She was a member of the so called "Gustavian party", who worked for the installation of the deposed King's son, ex- Crown prince Gustav, as the heir to the throne. She was active for the deposed royal family during their arrest and worked for their release.

During the coup of 1809, when her husbands nephew was deposed, she felt great sympathy for the deposed queen, Frederica of Baden, often visited her in her house arrest and worked for Frederica's son to be acknowledged as heir to the throne. During a dinner, General Georg Adlersparre told her, that Jean Baptiste Bernadotte had asked whether she had any issue, and was interested when he found she had not. She said that the throne already had an heir in the deposed King's son. Adlersparre was upset and expressed the opinion of his party that no one of the instigators of the coup would accept this, as they feared that the boy would revenge against them when he became King, and that they would go as far as take up the old rumor that the deposed King was in fact illegitimate and the son of Queen Sophia Magdalena and Count Adolf Fredrik Munck af Fulkila to prevent this.^[3].

She and her husband was expected to adopt an heir to the throne. The candidates for this post was the French General Jean Baptiste Bernadotte, Prince Peter of Holstein-Gottorp, and the Danish Prince Charles August of Augustenburg. In all of the cases she feared that Sweden would loose its independence and became a part of the French Empire, Russia (as Peter of Holstein was married to a Russian), or Denmark. During a meeting in the garden with Adlersparre, she said: I am very happy to be Swedish and I would not wish to be either French, Russian or Danish.^[3].

Augustenburg was decided upon, and he was expected to bring Norway to Sweden as a replacement for Finland.

During the change of the constitution of 1809, she discussed with several statesmen, though it is unknown wether she had any influence: she mentions, that she disliked the parties' dividings but also absolute monarchy, and wished for the people to decide about the matters concerning them through "elected representatives" ^[3].

Before Augustenburg had arrived, the King suffered a stroke, and she took over his tasks and met the councils of state in his place. The Gustavian party then asked her to accept the post of regent, exclude the newly adopted heir Augustenburg and adopt the former Crown Prince Gustav as heir ^[3]. But she declined.

During these days, there was a fear of a coup: Adlersparre, who arrived in Stockholm after having prepared the arrival of Augustenburg, met her outside the bedroom of the king. She described their meeting in her diary. Adlersparre asked: "Perhaps I do no longer dare to approach Your Majesty?" "Why is that?" "I fear that Your Majesty is angry with me?" She laughed and answered: "How can you make me such a question? Why are you here?" He said that he had come to ask the King for instructions concerning the prince of Augustenburg, and inquire of the general opinion of the behalf of the Prince, and she told him to tell the Prince not to have any prejudices towards people. After having been told by the King to bring Augustenburg to Sweden, he asked her, if she did not think that Augustenburg seemed to her as an honest man; she said yes, but added, that he had not yet arrived, nor given any direct reply whether he wished the throne of Sweden. He answered: "Perhaps he will not come, and then Your Majesty can play the same role as that of the Empress of Russia." By that, he referred to Catherine the Great, who deposed her husband and ascended the throne herself. "I have never wished for power, I have not as she murdered my consort or any Prince Ivan, nor could I do such a thing. I do not wish to be spoken to in such a tone". "Your Majesty is correct, it is most certainly no fortune to be a regent."^[3].

The feared coup never took place, but the situation may have developed differently, if the King had died during his illness. Statesman Carl Johan Adlercreutz wrote later, that if the King had died, the matter would have been different: If King Charles XIII had died, before the peace with Denmark was made and Kristian August was still in Norway, queen Charlotte, who eagerly supported the plans of the Gustavian party, would have played a considerable part.^[3].

[edit] Fersen murder

Augustenburg arrived and was described by her as good-hearted but rough and embarrassed in female company; she told him that she did not meddle, and he told her that he would be willing not to marry and to adopt Prince Gustav as heir. Augustenburg died in 1810. The aristocratic opposition to the Gustavian party planted the rumor that he was murdered.

Pamphlets were planted in the city that he was murdered by the Gustavians, and that the queen deserved to be hanged. Axel von Fersen was lynched suspected by the murder while the guard stood by without intervening. The mob then wished to get a hold of the sister of Fersen, Countess Sophie Piper: Piper was the intimate friend of the queen, and was said to influence her. The mob was told that Piper was with the queen at Haga Palace. The queen was left alone by the King without guards at Haga with her ladies-in-waiting, and there was a fear that she would be attacked. She was told not to come in to town, and boats were send to evacuate them, if the lynch mob were to march to Haga. She decided to go to town without an escort. Her lady-in-waiting Countess Wilhelmina Taube asked her not to: she answered: "You are a coward, Mina! You are afraid; I will go alone! I do not fear death. I can defy it, and I will die as Marie Antoinette. Let us leave!"^[3]. She was persuaded not to, and told the women to leave. They asked to stay, and she made herself ready for evacuation and burned some papers. In the end, though, nothing ever happened. She arranged for a state burial for Fersen, and show supported the clearing of Piper's name, despite the opposition of the anti-gustavian aristocrats.

[edit] Relation to Bernadotte

The election of a new heir was now held in Örebro. She supported Prince Gustav first, Prince Peter of Holstein second. It was decided, that the queen should not attend because of the general belief that she would interfere, and she was to stay at Strömsholm Palace^[3]. When Jean Baptiste Bernadotte was elected, the government sent her Fredrik August Adelswärd as their representative to tell her this. He said that her realized she was disappointed, as Berandotte was not royal, but asked her to pretend to be happy for the sake of the King's health, as he was worried that she would be displeased. She answered, that she would be happy with anyone, as long as he could bring stability, and declared that she would be a good friend to him. After this, she asked for permission to go to Örebro, and added: I do not meddle in politics, although everyone may say otherwise.^[3].

Her four years younger adoptive son, Jean Baptiste Bernadotte, the newly elected heir, made a very good impression on her when they met, and she was won over by his personal charm towards her. Their relationship was to be a very good one; he asked her for advice, and often discussed the matters of state with her. ^[3]. In 1811, she was asked by the government to suggest to the King that Bernadotte be appointed regent, which she did. Her fondness of him grew during his success in 1813–14. In 1814, she became queen of Norway.

Her conflict with Desiree Clary, on the other hand, is known. Desiree made a short visit in Sweden (1810–11), but soon left for France again. The queen saw Desiree as good-hearted, generous and quite nice, but also as shallow, spoilt child who hated any demands put upon her and could not handle any form of representation - but the worst thing was, that Desiree was : A French woman in every inch, who disliked everything which was not French; she did not appreciate anything, she complained about everything which was not French, and : consequently, she is not liked^[3].

Bernadotte ordered for the removal of everything reminding of the deposed royal family, and her Gustavianism made the anti-gustavianists direct the suspicions of Bernadotte to her; she was forced to stop her correspondence with ex-queen Frederica (1813), but her relationship with Bernadotte remained good. In 1817, governor Olof Rudolf Cederström attempted to implicate her in an alleged poison attempt against the life of the Crown Prince and his son.

She died soon after her husband in 1818. During a dinner with her adoptive-son the king, she had a severe fit of pain in her stomach and fainted, and died very quickly.

[edit] Legacy

Hedwig Elizabeth Charlotte is mostly known for her famous diary, which in its more objective parts is a valuable historical source that describes the Swedish Royal Court between 1775 and 1817. Beginning in 1902, it was published in nine parts, as written in French and initially (until 1800) directed as letters to her close friend, Countess Sophie von Fersen, sister of Axel von Fersen. The diary also has been criticized for considerable bias and reflects a personal negativity, bordering on animosity, toward her powerful brother-in-law King Gustav. Large parts of it have been assumed to be private entertainment for her friend rather than factual accounts intended for publication.

[edit] Children

1. Lovisa Hedvig (– 2 July 1797)
2. Carl Adolf, Duke of Värmland (Stockholm, 4 July 1798 – Stockholm, 10 July 1798)

[edit] Styles

• 1774–1809: Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Södermanland (commonly "Little Duchess" and later "Duchess Lotta")
• 1809–1818: HM Queen Hedwig Elizabeth Charlotte of Sweden (commonly "Queen Charlotta")
• 1814–1818: HM Queen Hedwig Elizabeth Charlotte of Norway (the first queen of Sweden and Norway since the Middle Ages)

[edit] References

• Herman Lindqvist (2006). Historien om alla Sveriges drottningar (History of all the queens of Sweden) (Swedish). Norstedts Förlag. ISBN 9113015249.
• Herman Lindqvist: Historien om Sverige. Gustavs dagar (History of Sweden. The days of Gustav) ((Swedish))
• Ingvar Andersson: Gustavianskt (The Gustavian age) ((Swedish))
• http://runeberg.org/sverhist/9/0412.html
• Ingvar Andersson (1979) (in Swedish). Gustavianskt (The Gustavian Age). Fletcher & Son Ltd. ISBN 91-46-13373-9. 
• http://runeberg.org/svlartid/1901/0486.html
• Cecilia af Klercker (1903) (in Swedish). Hedvig Elisabeth Charlottas dagbok II 1783-1788 (The diaries of Hedvig Elizabeth Charlotte II). P.A. Norstedt & Söners förlag. ISBN 412070. 
• Cecilia af Klercker (1927) (in Swedish). Hedvig Elisabeth Charlottas dagbok VII 1800-1806 (The diaries of Hedvig Elizabeth Charlotte VIII). P.A. Norstedt & Söners förlag. ISBN 383107. 
• Cecilia af Klercker (1939). Hedvig Elisabeth Charlottas dagbok IX 1807-1811 (The diaries of Hedvig Elizabeth Charlotte IX). P.A. Norstedt & Söners förlag. ISBN 412070. 

[edit] External links

• Ducal House of Holstein-Gottorp then Ducal then Grand-Ducal House of Oldenburg
• Royal House of Sweden and Royal House of Norway
• Historiska personer - An image of how she looked during her grand days as a duchess
• Historiska personer - Short biography in Swedish

[edit] Succession