Hedvig Eleonora of Holstein-Gottorp

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Hedvig Eleonora of Holstein-Gottorp
Queen consort of Sweden
Hedvig Eleonora of Holstein-Gottorp
Tenure 1654–1660
Spouse Charles X
Issue
Charles XI
Father Frederick III, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp
Mother Duchess Marie Elisabeth of Saxony
Born 23 October 1636(1636-10-23)
Died 24 November 1715(1715-11-24) (aged 79)

Hedwig Eleonora of Holstein-Gottorp (23 October 1636 – 24 November 1715) was the queen consort of King Charles X of Sweden and queen mother of King Charles XI. She was regent in Sweden three times and the de facto First Lady of the royal court for 61 years, from 1654 until her death in 1715.

Contents

[edit] Queen Consort

Hedvig Eleonora was a daughter of Duke Frederick III of Holstein-Gottorp and Marie Elisabeth of Saxony. She was married to King Charles X of Sweden for political reasons on 24 October 1654. Queen Hedwig Eleonora was a very strong willed and domineering woman, whose temper was feared in the royal castles. She entirely dominated the Swedish court until her death as one of the most notable of the queens of Sweden. She was the chief royal administrator during her husband's absences (and he was absent most of their marriage), a role she filled again during the absence of her grandson Charles XII in the Great Northern War. She did, however, accompany her husband to Poland in 1656 and to Denmark in 1658.

[edit] Queen Regent

After the death of her husband in 1660, Hedvig Eleonora became a member and chair of the Regency Council of Charles XI (1660–1672). She served in the same capacity during the reign of Charles XII for a couple of months in 1697, then served as regent during the Great Northern War in 1700–1713, although she was never much interested in politics. During the Great Northern war, she received foreign ambassadors with boredom and greeted them with silence or laughed at them. In 1713, she made her granddaughter Ulrika Eleonora regent.

Hedvig Eleonora's indifference to politics came as a great relief to the lords of the guardian government. She was satisfied to have the position as the country's First Lady and royal symbol, presiding over the court and, formally, over the government. She simply signed documents that were given to her, among them the decree which acknowledged the old serfdom in Latvia and Estonia (then Swedish provinces) in 1671. She concurred with the anti-Danish and pro-French foreign policy during the regency years. During the regency of 1700–1713, she gave her support to the son of Princess Hedvig Sophia of Sweden in the question of succession to the throne before Princess Ulrika Eleonora.

In 1661, she was considered a possible consort for King Charles II of England, but nothing came of it; the official grounds for her refusal was that she claimed she wished to remain faithful to her dead husband.

Hedvig Eleonora enjoyed great respect as "Riksänkedrottningen", which means "Queen Dowager of the Realm". Throughout her entire life she managed to preserve a reputation for great virtue among the people. Within the court, however, she was known to have lovers, notably the young nobleman Count Carl Gyllenstierna (1649–1723). Her affair with Gyllenstierna started in 1668 and continued for the rest of her life. According to unconfirmed gossip, it resulted in at least one abortion. Gyllenstierna was appointed Chamberlain to the queen in 1667 and General-Governor of the Queen's Estates in 1679. He received the last position in recognition of his position as the queen's lover. During the Scanian War of 1675–79, he was the courier of the queen and was made a count in 1687. The young count's new castle, Steninge Palace, completed in 1705, was built with a secret passage from the bedrooms used by him and the queen dowager during her visits. One of the wings of the palace is called "The Queen's Wing". Gyllenstierna married the rich widowed Countess Anna Soop in 1706, but the Queen Mother and the royal family continued as frequent visitors to their residence.

Hedvig Eleonora's son Charles XI was a "mother's boy" in his childhood and shy throughout his entire life. During his first appearances in Parliament, he talked only to the members of the government through her; he would whisper the questions he had to the Parliament to her, and she would ask them loud and clear. Regarding her treatment of her son, it was said by contemporaries that she cared much more to spoil him with tenderness and pleasure than to put any demands upon him.

When her mourning period officially ended in 1663, the court was overwhelmed with parties hosted by the dowager. As part of the festivities, she opened the first real theatres in Bollhuset in 1666 and Lejonkulan in 1667.

[edit] Queen Dowager of the Realm

Hedvig Eleonora continued to function as the real queen of Sweden even after the marriage of her son in 1680, to the humiliation of her daughter-in-law Ulrike Eleonora of Denmark. King Charles XI referred to his mother as "the queen" and to Ulrike Eleonora simply as "my wife". Foreign ambassadors, mindful of this, always paid their respects to Hedvig Eleonora first, and then to Ulrike Eleonora.

Although described as strict and temperamental, Hedvig Eleonora displayed a more tolerant attitude than most would have, as demonstrated by her reaction to the scandal surrounding her son's first fiancée, Juliana of Hesse-Eschwege. Juliana was a young German princess and paternal cousin of the king who had been raised at the Swedish court. It was officially understood that she should be married to him when he became an adult. But in 1672, Princess Juliana happened to be in the carriage with the Queen Dowager and fell to the floor of the carriage in labor. The child's father proved to be Gustaf Lilie, a married officer of the court. Princess Juliana was sent to the country to wait for the scandal to blow over while Lilie was sent abroad. This was an extremely tolerant response from the Queen Dowager, considering the high profile of the disgraced princess and views on sexuality of the time. The princess did not reform her behavior, however. In 1679 she gave birth to another child whose father was the young secretary of the Dutch Ambassador, the son of her Dutch servant Marchand. The engagement was broken off, and Juliana was married to the father of her child, who was given the title Baron Lilienburg and expelled from the country. The couple then moved to the Netherlands.

A scandal in her later years involved one of her favorites, Anna Catharina von Bärfelt. Bärfelt, a lady-in-waiting since 1693 who was described as fond of intrigues, made herself known in court for taking bribes in exchange for speaking to the Dowager Queen on behalf of wealthy petitioners . She was rumoured to deal in poison and was suspected of stealing a large number of objects from the royal castles and from Hedwig Eleonora herself, some of which she stored away with her lover. The rumours became so prevalent that Bärfelt was attacked on the streets and mistreated by unknown men. In 1709, the queen's lover Gyllenstierna attempted to have Bärfelt exiled from court, upon which she accused him of committing the same crimes for which she stood accused. The Dowager Queen's lover stated, "Either Miss Bärfelt leaves or I will leave", upon which the Queen Dowager left the room.

Hedvig Eleanor's coffin at Riddarholm Church

The court demanded that Bärfelt be investigated. Hedvig Eleonora then exiled Bärfelt from court. She must still have had influence over the Dowager Queen, since Gyllenstierna ordered that Hedvig Eleonora's door be locked the last night Bärfelt was in the castle to prevent her from coming to the queen at night to persuade her to let her stay. Hedvig, however, forbade any investigation of Bärfelt's luggage to see if the missing objects were there. Bärfelt was not arrested until 1712, when she was sentenced to two years imprisonment.

Among Hedvig Eleonora's interests were architecture and painting, as well as playing cards; her appetite for gambling was great, and she is reported to have continued playing well into the night. The beautiful Drottningholm Palace, where the present Swedish royal family resides, is the result of Hedvig Eleonora's love of architecture.

[edit] Ancestors

Hedvig Eleonora's ancestors in three generations
Hedvig Eleonora of Holstein-Gottorp Father:
Frederick III, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp		 Paternal Grandfather:
John Adolf, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp		 Paternal Great-grandfather:
Adolf, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp
Paternal Great-grandmother:
Christine of Hesse
Paternal Grandmother:
Augusta of Denmark		 Paternal Great-grandfather:
Frederick II of Denmark
Paternal Great-grandmother:
Sofie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin
Mother:
Marie Elisabeth of Saxony		 Maternal Grandfather:
John George I, Elector of Saxony		 Maternal Great-grandfather:
Christian I, Elector of Saxony
Maternal Great-grandmother:
Sophie of Brandenburg
Maternal Grandmother:
Magdalene Sibylle of Prussia		 Maternal Great-grandfather:
Albert Frederick, Duke of Prussia
Maternal Great-grandmother:
Marie Eleonore of Cleves

[edit] References and literature

[edit] Succession

Hedvig Eleonora of Holstein-Gottorp
Born: 23 October 1636 Died: 24 November 1715
Swedish royalty
Preceded by
Maria Eleonora of Brandenburg		 Queen consort of Sweden
1654–1660		 Succeeded by
Ulrike Eleonora of Denmark
Royal titles
Preceded by
Maria Eleonora of Brandenburg		 Grand Duchess of Finland
1654–1660		 Succeeded by
Ulrike Eleonora of Denmark
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