Victoria of Baden
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Victoria of Baden (Sophie Marie Viktoria) (7 August 1862 – 4 April 1930) was Queen consort of Sweden as the spouse of King Gustaf V of Sweden. She was politically active in a conservative fashion during the development of democracy and known as a pro-German during WWI.
Birth
Princess Viktoria was born on 7 August 1862 at the castle in Karlsruhe, Baden. Her father was Grand Duke Friedrich I of Baden, the fourth child of Grand Duke Leopold I of Baden and Grand Duchess Sophie of Baden (née Princess Sofia of Sweden). Her mother was Grand Duchess Luise of Baden (née Princess Luise of Prussia), the second child of Wilhelm I of Germany, and Augusta of Saxe-Weimar. Victoria was also great-granddaughter (by her paternal grandmother) of King Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden and Frederica of Baden.
Crown Princess
Princess Viktoria married in Karlsruhe on 20 September 1881 Crown Prince Gustaf of Sweden and Norway, the son of King Oscar II of Sweden and Norway and Sofia of Nassau. From then on, she used the name Victoria. The German Emperor and Empress were present at the wedding, and marriage was arranged as a sign that Sweden belonged to the German sphere in Europe.[1] The marriage was popular in Sweden where she was called "The Vasa Princess",[2]because of her descent from the old Vasa dynasty, and she received a very elaborate welcome on the official cortege into Stockholm 1 October 1881. 1 February 1882, Victoria and Gustaf visited Oslo, were they were welcomed with a procession of 3,000 torch bearers.
She and Gustaf were brought together by their families and their marriage was reported not to have been a happy one. Their marriage produced three children. In 1890-1891, Victoria and Gustaf travelled to Egypt to repair their relationship, but it did not succeed, allegedly due to Victoria's interest in one of the courtiers,[3] and she repeated the trip to Egypt in 1891-1892. After 1889, the personal relationship between Victoria and Gustaf is considered to have been finished, allegedly, in part, due to the alleged bisexuality of Gustaf.[4]
She had a depression after the birth of her first child in 1883, and after this, she often spent the winters at spas abroad: she would continue to spend the winters outside of Sweden from that year until her death. By 1888, her winter trips had made her impopular, and she was described as very haughty.[5] In 1889, she had pneumonia, and was formally ordered by the doctors to spend the cold Swedish winters in a southern climate. She had conflicts with her parents-in-law about her expensive stays abroad.
She greatly disapproved of the marriage between her brother-in-law prince Oscar and her lady in waiting Ebba Munck af Fulkila in 1888.[6]
She is described as strong-villed and artistically talented. She was an accomplished amateur photographer and painter and she also sculptured. On her travels in Egypt and Italy she both photographed and painted extensively, and experimented with various photo-developing techniques, producing high quality photographic work. She was also an excellent pianist and, for example, could play through the complete Ring of the Nibelung by Wagner without notes. She had had a good music education and in her youth she had turned the notes on court concerts for Franz Liszt. Her favourite composers were Schubert and Beethoven. She was also described as a skillfull rider.
Queen
Victoria became Queen of Sweden upon her father-in-law's death on 8 September 1907. Gustaf became King Gustaf V and Princess Victoria became Queen Victoria. As queen, she was only present in Sweden during the summers, but she still dominated the court.[7] She arranged the marriage between her son William and Maria Pavlova of Russia in 1908.[8]
Queen Victoria had substantial political influence over her husband, who was often considered pro-German. In 1908, Victoria made an official visit to Berlin with Gustaf, where she was made an honorary Prussian Colonel: she was described as strict and militant and it was said that she had the heart of a Prussian soldier.[9] She was very strict with discipline, and if any of the members of the palace guard forgot to salute her, they were generally put under arrest.[10] She was deeply conservative in her views and resented the dissolution of the Swedish-Norwegian union (1905), the Great Strike of 1909, the 1911 election victory of the radicals and the Socialists as well as the liberals, and when her son was temporary regent in 1912, she warned him in letters from Italy that he should not be too "intimate" with the elected government.[11]
Queen Victoria lost a lot of popularity among the Swedes for her often noted Pro-German attitude – particularly politically during World War I when she is said to have influenced her husband to large extents. During WWI, she gave a personal gift to every Swedish volunteer to the German forces.[12] She kept up a close contact with the German emperor, whom she often visited during the war[13] She founded "Drottningens centralkomittée" ("The Queen's Central Committee") for defence equipment. She deeply resented the social democratic election victories in 1917 and worked to prevent them from taking part in the government.[14]. Victoria's political influence was founded upon the power position of her relative, the German Emperor, and when he was deposed in 1918-19, she lost all politicall influence in Sweden.[15]
Queen Victoria suffered from very poor health (much due to poor treatment by several doctors in her youth), and often went on trips to make her health better (she suffered from bronchitis and possibly tuberculosis). She was treated with mercury and undue heavy medications during her difficult pregnancies – possibly the cause of her chronic conditions. From 1892 until her death, Axel Munthe was her personal physician and recommended for health reasons that she spend winters on the Italian island of Capri. While initially hesitant, in the autumn of 1901 she travelled to Capri, arriving to an official welcome and a crowd which escorted her from the Marina Grand to the Hotel Paradise. From then on, except during the first world war and for the last two years of her life, she spent several months a year on Capri. After some time, she decided to purchase her own residence on Capri, an intimate rustic two-story farmhouse she named Casa Caprile, which she had extensively landscaped, surrounding it with a dense park. In the 1950s, twenty years after her death, the property became a hotel.
The Queen went to Munthe's residence, the Villa San Michele, most mornings in order to join Munthe for walks around the island. Munthe and the Queen also arranged evening concerts at San Michele, at which the Queen played the piano. They also shared a love of animals, with the Queen frequently being seen with a leashed dog, and she was known to support Munthe's (eventually successful) efforts to purchase Mount Barbarossa for use as a bird sanctuary. It was rumored that Munthe and the Queen were lovers, but this has never been confirmed.
Queen Victoria spent a lot of her time abroad because of health reasons, as the Swedish climate was not considered good for her, and during her last years as queen, she was seldom present in Sweden: she participated in an official visit to Norrland in 1921, a visit to Dalarna in 1924, and to Finland in 1925. The visit to Finland was her last official apperance as queen; although she did visit Sweden at her husband's birthday 1928, she did not show herself to the public. During those celebrations, however, someone noticed the figure of a women behind a curtain in the royal palace: he waved to her, and she waved back with her hankerchief.[16] She was also devoted to various kinds of charity, both in Sweden, Germany and Italy.
She was the 855th Dame of the Royal Order of Queen Maria Luisa.
Death
Toward the end of her life, with her health declining, Munthe recommended she no longer spend time in Capri, and she returned to Sweden for some time, building a Capri-styled villa there. She then moved to Rome.
Her final visit to Sweden was on her husband's 70th birthday in 1928, and Queen Victoria died on 4 April 1930 in her home Villa Svezia in Rome at age 67.
Genealogy
At the death of her childless brother, Grand Duke Frederick II of Baden in 1928, Victoria became the heir to her great-grandfather King Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden, who had been deposed in 1809. The unrelated House of Bernadotte had been elected to the Swedish throne in 1810, and had reigned ever since. Victoria's son, King Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden, could therefore claim to be the direct heir to Gustav IV of the House of Holstein-Gottorp (Swedish line) and the House of Vasa as well as the Bernadotte kings of Sweden.
Issue
| Name | Birth | Death | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| King Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden | 11 November 1882 | 15 September 1973 (aged 90) | married 1) Princess Margaret of Connaught (1882–1920), had issue (four sons, one daughter) , married 2) Louise Mountbatten (1889–1965), had issue (a stillborn daughter) |
| Prince Vilhelm, Duke of Södermanland | 17 June 1884 | 5 June 1965 (aged 80) | married Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna of Russia (1890–1958), had issue |
| Prince Erik, Duke of Västmanland | 20 April 1889 | 20 September 1918 (aged 29) | died unmarried of the Spanish Flu, no issue |
Ancestry
Styles
- Her Grand Ducal Highness Princess Viktoria of Baden (1862–1881)
- Her Royal Highness The Crown Princess of Sweden and Norway (1881–1905)
- Her Royal Highness The Crown Princess of Sweden (1905–1907)
- Her Majesty The Queen of Sweden (1907–1930)
Photographic work
-
"Before we reached the camp we came across a long string of beduin women in their long blue dresses." Photo: Queen Victoria of Sweden. Egypt, 1890. -
"The river Nile at Shellal, photograph taken in the late afternoon on the 15th of February 1891." Photo: Queen Victoria of Sweden. Egypt, 1891
References
- Villa San Michele at CapriTourism.com
- Capri Review article on Munthe and Queen Victoria
- Minnesalbum. Drottning Victoria 1862–1930, Världslitteraturens förlag, Malmö, 1930 (in Swedish)
External links
Notes
<references>
Template:Link GA Template:Link FA
- ^ Lars Elgklou (1978). Bernadotte. Historien - eller historier - om en familj. Bernadotte. The history - or stories - of a family.) (in Swedish). Askild & Kärnekull Förlag AB. p. 128. ISBN 91 7008 882 9.
- ^ Lars Elgklou (1978). Bernadotte. Historien - eller historier - om en familj. Bernadotte. The history - or stories - of a family.) (in Swedish). Askild & Kärnekull Förlag AB. p. 129. ISBN 91 7008 882 9.
- ^ Lars Elgklou (1978). Bernadotte. Historien - eller historier - om en familj. Bernadotte. The history - or stories - of a family.) (in Swedish). Askild & Kärnekull Förlag AB. p. 133. ISBN 91 7008 882 9.
- ^ Lars Elgklou (1978). Bernadotte. Historien - eller historier - om en familj. Bernadotte. The history - or stories - of a family.) (in Swedish). Askild & Kärnekull Förlag AB. p. 161. ISBN 91 7008 882 9.
- ^ Lars Elgklou (1978). Bernadotte. Historien - eller historier - om en familj. Bernadotte. The history - or stories - of a family.) (in Swedish). Askild & Kärnekull Förlag AB. p. 131. ISBN 91 7008 882 9.
- ^ Lars Elgklou (1978). Bernadotte. Historien - eller historier - om en familj. Bernadotte. The history - or stories - of a family.) (in Swedish). Askild & Kärnekull Förlag AB. p. 140. ISBN 91 7008 882 9.
- ^ Lars Elgklou (1978). Bernadotte. Historien - eller historier - om en familj. Bernadotte. The history - or stories - of a family.) (in Swedish). Askild & Kärnekull Förlag AB. p. 162. ISBN 91 7008 882 9.
- ^ {{bokref Lars Elgklou (1978). Bernadotte. Historien - eller historier - om en familj. Bernadotte. The history - or stories - of a family.) (in Swedish). Askild & Kärnekull Förlag AB. p. 162. ISBN 91 7008 882 9.
- ^ Lars Elgklou (1978). Bernadotte. Historien - eller historier - om en familj. Bernadotte. The history - or stories - of a family.) (in Swedish). Askild & Kärnekull Förlag AB. p. 160. ISBN 91 7008 882 9.
- ^ Lars Elgklou (1978). Bernadotte. Historien - eller historier - om en familj. Bernadotte. The history - or stories - of a family.) (in Swedish). Askild & Kärnekull Förlag AB. p. 161. ISBN 91 7008 882 9. }}
- ^ Lars Elgklou (1978). Bernadotte. Historien - eller historier - om en familj. Bernadotte. The history - or stories - of a family.) (in Swedish). Askild & Kärnekull Förlag AB. p. 163. ISBN 91 7008 882 9.
- ^ Lars Elgklou (1978). Bernadotte. Historien - eller historier - om en familj. Bernadotte. The history - or stories - of a family.) (in Swedish). Askild & Kärnekull Förlag AB. p. 161. ISBN 91 7008 882 9.
- ^ Lars Elgklou (1978). Bernadotte. Historien - eller historier - om en familj. Bernadotte. The history - or stories - of a family.) (in Swedish). Askild & Kärnekull Förlag AB. p. 164. ISBN 91 7008 882 9.
- ^ Lars Elgklou (1978). Bernadotte. Historien - eller historier - om en familj. Bernadotte. The history - or stories - of a family.) (in Swedish). Askild & Kärnekull Förlag AB. p. 165. ISBN 91 7008 882 9.
- ^ Lars Elgklou (1978). Bernadotte. Historien - eller historier - om en familj. Bernadotte. The history - or stories - of a family.) (in Swedish). Askild & Kärnekull Förlag AB. p. 165. ISBN 91 7008 882 9.
- ^ Lars Elgklou (1978). Bernadotte. Historien - eller historier - om en familj. Bernadotte. The history - or stories - of a family.) (in Swedish). Askild & Kärnekull Förlag AB. p. 166. ISBN 91 7008 882 9.