From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hedwig Eleonora of Holstein-Gottorp

Hedwig Eleonora of Holstein-Gottorp (October 23, 1634 – November 24, 1715), was a queen of Sweden. She was a daughter of Duke Frederick III of Holstein-Gottorp and Maria Elisabet of Saxony.

She was married to King Charles X of Sweden for political reasons on October 24, 1654.

After the death of her husband in 1660, she became a member and chair of the regency of Charles XI (1660 - 1672) and later Charles XII during a couple of months in 1697, and as regent during the Great Northern War in 1700-1713, although she was never very politically active. In 1713, she made her grand daughter Ulrika Eleonora regent.

Queen Hedwig Eleonora was a very strong willed and dominating woman, whose temper was feared in the royal castles, and she entirely dominated the Swedish court until her death, as one of the most notable of the queens of Sweden. She was the dominating royal representative during her husband's absence (and he was absent most of their marriage), and again during her grandson's absence in the Great Northern War. She did, though, acompany her husband to Poland in 1656 and to Denmark in 1658.

Although described as severe and strict, she displayed a more tolerant attitude then most would have and the scandal of her sons first fiancee, Juliana of Hesse- Eschwege; the young german princess, paternal cousin to the king, had been fostered in the Swedish court and it was the officiall understanding that she should be married to him when he became an adult. However, in 1672, Princess Juliana, in the carriage with the queen dowager, fell to the floor of the carriage in labor. The father proved to be a married officer of the court. But the engagement was not broken; Princess Juliana was sent to the country to wait for the scandal to blow over, wich was very tolerant from the queen dowager, considering the sexual morals of the time. However, soon after, Princess Juliana gave birth to another child, and this time he engagement was broken, she was married of to the father and expelled from the country.

To great relief to the lords of the guardian government, she was never very interested in politics, but 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 sign the documents the gave her, among those the decreet wich aknowledged the old serfdom in Latvia andEstonia then Swedish provinces) in 1671. In 1661, she was considered a possible consort of king Charles II of England, but nothing came of it. When her mourning period was officially ended 1663, the court exploded in parties with her as hostess. Her son Charles XI was a "mother's boy" his entire life. During his first appearances in parliament, he talked to the members of the government through her, and she continued to be the real queen during his reign, to the sorrow of her daughter-in-law, Ulrike Eleonora of Denmark; her son the King referred to his mother as "The Queen" and to Ulrike Eleonora simply as "my wife", and the foreign ambassadors, wary of this, always paid their respects to Hedwig Eleonora first, and then to Ulrike Eleonora.

Hedwig Eleonora enjoyed great respect as "riksänkedrottningen" , which means "the country's widow". Throughout her entire life she managed to keep a reputation of great virtue among the people. Among the court, however, she was known to have had lovers, among them the young nobleman count Carl Gyllenstierna (1649-1705), an affair that started in 1668 and continued for many years, some suggest even to his death, and, according to unconfirmed gossip, resulted in at least one abortion; the young counts new castle was built with a secret passage from the bedrooms used by him and the queen dowager under her visits.

Her main interests were architecture and painting, as well as playing cards. The beautiful Drottningholm Palace, where the present Swedish royal family resides, is the result of Hedwig Eleonora's love for architecture.