#karl holstein gottorp

[lavenderrosiefan]

Royal historical figures that I'll include in my fanfic, Aikatsu: The Stars of Legend (they debut in Season 2)

Queen Alexandra of the United Kingdom (formerly known as Princess Alexandra of Denmark)

Empress Maria Feodorovna of Russia (formerly known as Princess Dagmar of Denmark)

Crown Princess Thyra of Hanover (formerly known as Princess Thyra of Denmark)

Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands

King Charles XIII/Karl XIII of Sweden and Norway (formerly known as Prince Charles, Duke of Södermanland)

King Charles XIV John/Karl XIV Johan of Sweden and Norway (formerly known as Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte)

King George IV of the United Kingdom

Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn

Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld

As for why they're there? You'll see...

[bakerstreetdoctor]

Fuck you *unfridges your dead female character*

[andiatas]

Princess Sofia's Crown

Princess Sofia Albertina's Crown (sometimes spelt Sophia Albertina), made in 1771 by Johan Adam Marcklin, is the crown of Princess Sofia. The crown was made for the princess to mark the occasion of her brother, King Gustav III's coronation.

Princess Sofia Albertina was the last living member of the old Holstein-Gottorp dynasty, and for a huge part of her life, she acted as the country's First Lady together with her sister-in-law, Princess Hedvig Elisabet Charlotta. Queen Sofia Magdalena was rather shy and didn't care much for social life, a role the more social and outgoing Sofia Albertina had no problem filling.

Apart from the sister of a previous monarch, Sofia Albertina was the last Abbess of Quedlinburg and, thus, a reigning vassal of the Holy Roman Empire. Due to her rank, extended network and important and influential position at the Swedish Royal Court, she was a crucial player in King Karl XIV Johan's plan of getting accepted as first Crown Prince and then monarch of a new dynasty.

In more recent times, the crown was used at the christening of Princess Victoria before she was made into Crown Princess and, therefore, ranked higher and got assigned a different crown. As of 2015, it's now the crown of another Sofia - Princess Sofia.

Photos: The Royal Court of Sweden

[otmaaromanovas]

The Lost Grand Duchesses: Part 1 - Anna Petrovna

Anna Petrovna was born in January 1708, officially out of wedlock. Her father, Peter ‘the Great’, had six daughters; Ekaterina, Anna, Elizaveta, Maria Natalia, Margarita, and Natalia. Peter planned to marry every daughter that survived infancy to a European house in order to consolidate alliances and friendships with Russia. Peter did not raise Anna, instead giving her to his younger sister Natalia Alexeievna and her husband Alexander Danilovich to raise. Peter’s plan to use the girls as alliance pawns influenced their childhood greatly; their education included embroidery, literature, dancing, and etiquette in order to be perceived as proper and lady-like. By her teenage years, Anna could speak five languages, no doubt to make her more attractive to European houses. Meanwhile, Peter’s sons were taught geography, history, and mathematics.

In 1721, serious marriage was on the table. Karl Friedrich of Schlewsig-Holstein-Gottorp was called to Russia, in order to meet Anna and her father. Karl had just entered his twenties, and his denouncers insisted that he was rude and arrogant. In comparison, Anna was barely thirteen years old, and incredibly shy.

This did not deter Peter, who was incredibly attracted by the idea of a Schleswig-Russian alliance. After a few years of shopping for other potential candidates, the marriage contract was signed. Ironically, the bride was not on the contract, and it was her father Peter and Karl Friedrich who signed. When the men signed the contract, Anna’s right to the Russian throne was instantly revoked.

In 1725, less than a year after the marriage between Anna and Karl Friedrich, Peter ‘the Great’ fell seriously ill. He called for Anna, whom he asked to write his will under his dictation. There has been great speculation over whether Peter planned to name Anna his heir; even though she had been forced to revoke her right to succession when her marriage was arranged, the Tsar of Russia still retained the power to elect his own heir regardless of the marriage contract terms. Peter was unable to speak, passing away shortly after, before declaring his heir. Whether or not Peter desired to make Anna heir remains one of history’s big ‘’what if’ questions.

In 1727, Anna and her husband Karl Freidrich moved to his native Kiel. Anna was deeply unhappy, missing her sister and nephew Peter Alexeievich; the Grand Duchess loved children. She wrote copious letters to her sister, Ekaterina, detailing her depression at being taken away from her home country. The rumours of Karl Freidrich’s arrogance appeared true; he preoccupied himself with affairs, leaving a pregnant Anna isolated.

In February, Anna gave birth to a baby boy, named Carl Peter Ulrich. Just days after, Anna contracted Puerperal fever, then known as ‘childbed fever’, a postpartum infection most likely caused by contaminated medical equipment and/or the medical staff not practicing proper hygiene. Anna became gravely ill, and requested to be buried back in her homeland, alongside her father in St. Petersburg. Her son Carl Peter survived the labour, and outlived his father, becoming the Duke of Holstein-Gottorp. When his aunt Elizaveta, Anna’s sister, died in 1762, Carl Peter became the Tsar of Russia, adopting the name Peter Feodorovich, Peter III.

Despite refusing to parent Anna himself, trying to marry her off when she was a child, and signing a marriage contract without Anna’s signature of consent, Peter claimed that Anna was his ‘favourite daughter.’ Only three of Peter’s fifteen legitimate children survived into adulthood. Anna died when she was only twenty years old. Her brother, Alexei Petrovich was imprisoned and tortured under the order of his father, dying from the torture. Only Anna’s beloved sister Elizaveta survived unscathed - the only out of fifteen siblings.

[palecleverdoll]

Wives and Daughters of Russian Tsars: Ages at First Marriage

I have only included women whose birth dates and dates of marriage are known within at least 1-2 years, therefore, this is not a comprehensive list. This data set ends with the daughters of Peter I; the start of Imperial Russia.

Anastasia Romanova, wife of Ivan IV; age 17 when she married Ivan in 1547 CE

Maria Temryukovna, wife of Ivan IV; age 16 when she married Ivan in 1561 CE

Maria Skuratova-Belskaya, wife of Boris Godunov; age 18 when she married Boris in 1570 CE

Marfa Sobakina, wife of Ivan IV; age 19 when she married Ivan in 1571 CE

Anna Koltovskaya, wife of Ivan IV; age 20 when she married Ivan in 1572 CE

Maria Nagaya, wife of Ivan IV; age 28 when she married Ivan in 1581 CE

Irina Godunova, wife of Feodor I; age 23 when she married Feodor in 1580 CE

Yelena Sheremeteva, wife of Ivan Ivanovich; age 28 when she married Ivan in 1581 CE

Marina Mniszech, wife of False Dmitry I;  age 17 when she married Dmitry in 1605 CE

Maria Dolgorukova, wife of Michael I; age 23 when she married Michael in 1624 CE

Eudoxia Streshneva, wife of Michael I; age 18 when she married Michael in 1626 CE

Maria Miloslavskaya, wife of Alexis; age 24 when she married Alexis in 1648 CE

Natalya Naryshkina, wife of Alexis I; age 20 when she married Alexis in 1651 CE

Agafya Grushetskaya, wife of Feodor III; age 17 when she married Feodor in 1680 CE

Marfa Apraksina, wife of Feodor III; age 18 when she married Feodor in 1682 CE

Praskovia Saltykova, wife of Ivan V; age 20 when she married Ivan in 1684 CE

Eudoxia Lopukhina, wife of Peter I; age 20 when she married Peter in 1689 CE

Catherine I of Russia, wife of Peter I; age 18 when she married Johan Cruse in 1702 CE

Anna of Russia, daughter of Ivan V; age 17 when she married Frederick William Duke of Courland and Semigallia in 1710 CE

Charlotte Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel; age 17 when she married Alexei Petrovich in 1711 CE

Catherine Ivanovna, daughter of Ivan V; age 25 when she married Karl Leopold, Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, in 1716 CE

Anna Petrovna, daughter of Peter I; age 17 when she married Charles Frederick I, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp, in 1725 CE

The average age at first marriage was 18 years old.

[oldsardens]

David von Krafft - Karl Fredrik, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp as child (1700-1739)

[a-royal-obsession]

Karl XI and his family

David Klöcker Ehrenstrahl, c.1692

[tiny-librarian]

Crown jewels belonging to the Swedish Royal Family were stolen yesterday by thieves who sped away on a speedboat.

Police were seen chasing the two suspects on a motorboat after the 'priceless' items were taken from Strängnäs Cathedral in southeastern Sweden.

Two royal crowns - one belonging to King Karl IX, the other to Queen Kristina - were taken, as well as a royal orb.

Source/Read More

(FYI it wasn’t the famous Queen Christina they’re talking about, this is Karl’s wife, Christina of Holstein-Gottorp)

[caf-northerngirl]

Finally got the time to upload this thing...

[lavenderrosiefan]

Thyra: eating a cinnamon roll

Charles: Cannibalism.

Thyra: confused chewing noises

[skamenglishsubs]

Subtext and Culture, Young Royals, What's in a name?

I thought I was done, but I have material for one more post. I want to write more about how royal names work, because I've seen a lot of confusion and simple lack of knowledge in the tags, so think of this as more of an informative culture post than an analysis post of the show.

European royals and nobles have styles, names, titles, and houses. In addition, monarchs have regnal names.

A style is how you formally address someone, based on their rank and title. In Sweden, the only styles left are "majesty" and "royal higness", where kings and queens are addressed as "your majesty", and select members of the royal family are addressed as "your royal highness". In Swedish, these styles are often abbreviated as H.M. - Hans/Hennes Majestät and H.K.H. - Hans/Hennes Kungliga Höghet. In English, the abbreviations are HM and HRH.

In the show, you can see this when Simon meets the Queen, and shakily addresses her as "Your Majesty", or when Minou calls up August and says "Her Majesty the Queen has resolved your problems with the school fee".

In less formal, but still polite speech, you would use third person addressing when talking to or about the royals, and there are numerous examples of this in the show:

Anette to Erik: "How nice to see the crown prince again!"

Some aide to Wilhelm: "Could we get a shot of the prince shaking hands with the headmistress?"

Anette: "Wilhelm, sorry, the crown prince, how nice the memorial was!"

August: "The queen has asked me, personally, to take care of him."

Malin: "I just wanted to remind the crown prince that breakfast closes in five minutes."

Names for royals and nobles work just like the rest of us, but with one exception: Royals generally do not use last names, while lesser nobles do. They also tend to have several first names, and while they generally pick names for their children based on trends in society, they stay on the traditional conservative side, and they often pick names from their family history.

The show only tells us one first name for each member of the royal family: Kristina, Ludvig, Erik, and Wilhelm, so we have no idea what other names they might have.

In the real world, the name of the king of Sweden is Carl Gustaf Folke Hubertus, the crown princess' name is Victoria Ingrid Alice Désirée, and her oldest daughter's name is Estelle Silvia Ewa Mary, just to give you some flavour of what it could look like.

Titles are what sets higher nobles apart from us mere commoners, and have their origin in the feudal system of medieval Europe, which was a hierarchical socio-economic-military system where the lord of a land could grant a portion of his land, a fief, to a vassal in exchange for fealty - loyalty, taxes, and military service. Doing so would create a title, it would make the vassal a noble of a lower rank than his lord, because you could only create titles lower than the one you possessed. So, in general, kings could create dukes or lower, dukes could create counts or lower, and counts could create barons. The fief of a duke is called a duchy, a count ruled over a county, and a baron over a barony, although there were more ranks and more titles than that, depending on region and language, but those are the main ones.

Every single squabble or conflict or battle or civil war or war fought in the middle ages was over the titles, because the titles legally conferred ownership of a piece of land, and with it the rights of taxation and the economic value of that land. Over time, kingdoms got more centralized and the hierarchical nature of the system broke down, while the titles became more hereditary, and ownership of the land became less important, which meant that minor nobles lost the power to create vassals and fiefs, while the power to create titles was reserved for the monarchs, and titles created in this era usually only granted people a title for an area or a castle or a manor house that they already owned.

Going into modern times, European countries curbed title creation, but generally kept protections for existing titles and allowing them to be inherited according to whatever inheritance rules applied to each title. But if a title holder dies without a legal heir, the title is lost forever, which means that most modern day noble families want to make sure their title, their history, their legacy can survive long into the future. Also note that one person can hold several titles, and each of those titles can be inherited individually and under different rules.

In Sweden, there are currently 46 comital families (greve/grevinna - count/countess), 131 baronial families (friherre/friherrinna - baron/baroness), and 484 untitled lower noble families. There are no independent ducal families, instead the monarch grants royal children a ceremonial duchy at birth, for one of the 25 historical provinces of Sweden. This means that every single member of the Swedish royal family is a prince or princess of Sweden, and also duke or duchess of some province.

Again, we have no idea what province Wilhelm is the duke of in the show, while for example in the real Sweden, Princess Estelle is the duchess of Östergötland, Prince Carl Philip is duke of Värmland, and Princess Leonore is duchess of Gotland.

A noble house is a noble family or clan that is associated with one or more hereditary titles. Noble houses were founded when someone was ennobled and granted a title, and a noble house can branch and wither and split and form new houses over the ages, and it can gain or lose status as its members gain or lose noble titles and ranks.

In medieval times, these family bonds were very strong, and many major conflicts were a result of different houses fighting over various titles, for example the Wars of the Roses was a 32 year long civil war over the throne of England between the House of York and the House of Lancaster.

A royal house is a noble house that holds a title of king or queen, and for members of the royal family, their house name is what they have instead of a normal last name. We don't know which royal house Wilhelm belongs to in the show, but the current royal house of Sweden is the House of Bernadotte, named after the French rando we imported that I wrote about in the last post. Other houses that have been the royal house of Sweden throughout history include the House of Holstein-Gottorp, the House of Oldenburg, and the House of Vasa.

Finally, a regnal name is a name that a reigning monarch chooses for themselves when they ascend the throne, and it consists of one or more of their first names, and a roman numeral ordinal if there have been previous kings or queens with that name. If you're the first of your name to rule over a kingdom, you can choose to call yourself "the first", or you can choose not to.

In the show, Kristina doesn't appear to have an ordinal, but in real life Sweden there was a Queen Kristina who reigned in the middle of the 1600's. (She was probably a lesbian, caused the death of French philosopher René Descartes, abdicated in favour of her cousin, and moved to Rome and converted to Catholicism. As you do.)

In the real world, the king of Sweden reigns under the name Carl XVI Gustaf, because he's the sixteenth (tenth, actually) Karl to have been king of Sweden, and he also picked his second name because he liked it, or because he wanted to stand out from the fifteen other Karls who preceded him. His regnal name is pronounced Carl den sextonde Gustaf - Carl the sixteenth Gustaf.

Putting all of this together, the styles, the names, the titles, and the houses, and we can finally get the full formal names of various royals. Here are examples from some European royal families to demonstrate what it can look like:

HRH Madeleine Thérèse Amelie Josephine, Princess of Sweden, Duchess of Hälsingland and Gästrikland, of house Bernadotte.

HH Felix Henrik Valdemar Christian, Prince of Denmark, Count of Monpezat, of house Glücksburg.

HRH Ingrid Alexandra, Princess of Norway, of house Glücksburg.

HRH Prince William Arthur Philip Louis, Duke of Cambridge, of house Windsor.

HRH Catharina-Amalia Beatrix Carmen Victoria, Princess of the Netherlands, Princess of Orange, of house Orange-Nassau

HRH Emmanuel Léopold Guillaume François Marie, Prince of Belgium, of house Belgium.

HRH Infanta Sofía de Todos los Santos de Borbón y Ortiz, of house Bourbon.

These names are quite the mouthful, and the full names and styles are only used in very formal settings. Normally, these people are referred to with their highest title, and their chosen first names, i.e. Princess Madeleine, Prince Felix, Princess Ingrid Alexandra, Prince William, Princess Catharina-Amalia, Prince Emmanuel, and Infanta Sofía.

We only have the short name of Wilhelm, i.e. Prince Wilhelm, in the show. We don't have his full name, but if it follows form, he would be HRH Wilhelm <Name> <Name> <Name>, Prince of Sweden, Duke of <Province>, of house <House>.

Note that Wilhelm's father is not a king, he's a prince-consort, since Wilhelm's mother is the reigning monarch. The proper styles for his parents would be Her Majesty Queen Kristina (II?), and His Royal Highness Prince Ludvig.

The only other nobles in the show we have full names for is August and Felice, and August's full name would be August <Name?> Horn, Count (or Baron) of Årnäs. Felice's would be just Felice <Name?> Ehrencrona, because her parents are still alive and still hold whatever title they have.

Commoners marrying into a royal family is no longer forbidden or controversial, and all European royal families have had commoners marrying into them in the past few generations.

Based on precedence, if Wilhelm and Simon were to get back together and marry in the future, and if they get the consent of the Queen and the government, the following would happen:

Simon would be offered to be made a prince of Sweden, and with it gain the style of HRH.

Simon would be offered to be made a duke of some province.

If he accepts, he would lose his last name, and go from Simon Eriksson to HRH Simon, Prince of Sweden, Duke of <Province>, or simply Prince Simon.

If he declines, he would stay as Mr. Simon Eriksson.

When/If Wilhelm ascends the throne, he would chose a regnal name, and get an ordinal depending on the number of Wilhelms before him. If he's the first of his name, he would simply be King Wilhelm.

And if he and Simon are married when he ascends, Simon would not become king, he would become a prince-consort, and keep the title of prince.

[historywithlaura]

GUSTAV III

King of Sweden

(born 1746 - died 1792)

pictured above is a portrait of the King of Sweden, painted by Alexander Roslin in 1777

-------------------- ~ -------------------- ~ --------------------

GUSTAV was born in 1746, in Stockholm, as the second child of Adolf Friedrich of Holstein-Gottorp, Prince-Bishop of Lübeck and Princess Luise Ulrike of Prussia. He was born in Sweden because, since 1743, his father was the elected heir to the Swedish throne.

He was born a member of the main line of the HOUSE OF HOLSTEIN-GOTTORP and was from birth a PRINCE OF HOLSTEIN-GOTTORP.

His father acceded as Adolf Fredrik, King of Sweden, in 1751, officially founding the Swedish line of the House of Holstein-Gottorp. And he, at five years old, became the CROWN PRINCE OF SWEDEN.

In 1766, he married PRINCESS SOPHIE MAGDALENE OF DENMARK, the eldest daughter of Frederik V, King of Denmark, and Princess Louisa of Great Britain. He and his new wife were the same age, having married at the age of 20. With her, he had two sons.

Check a list of his children at the end of this post!

A month after his 25th birthday in 1771, his father died, and he succeeded as GUSTAV III, KING OF SWEDEN. At that time, the Swedish Parliament (called Riksdag) held more power than the Monarch.

So, by 1772, he rebelled in the Revolution of 1772. And, through his blodless coup d'état he had a new Constitution approved, the Instrument of Government of 1772.

Through this new constitution, he, as the Monarch, received the power to assemble Parliament only by his own wishes. But he was determined to rule without them.

But, as Parliament still retained power to approve taxes and wars, in 1789, he assembled them to get money to the Russo-Swedish War.

This Parliament only lasted for over three months. Though he was successful in approving a new amendment to the Constitution, known as the Union and Security Act.

The act declared that he, the Monarch, could choose his own Privy Council and also gave him the power over war decisions without having to ask Parliament. It abolished some privileges of the nobility, such as their sole right to own lands or hold high positions in the government. Parliament lost the rights to create new laws but was left with power over taxes.

Not content with his government, by late 1791, the nobility started to plan his assassination.

On 16 March 1792, he went to a masquerade ball at the Gustavianska Opera House in Stockholm. That night, he received a letter warning of a plot to assassinate him, and it is said that he showed up at an open balcony to prove himself fearless.

pictured above is the Gustavianska Opera House, painted by Anna Palm de Rosa in 1892, before the building was demolished

Later that the night, a former military officer Jacob Johan Anckarström took advantage of the masquerade crowd and shot fire on him. But, as it was not a mortal shot, he continued to rule for a couple of days.

However, on 29 March 1792, the King of Sweden succumbed to sepsis at Stockholm Palace, at the age of 46.

-------------------- ~ -------------------- ~ --------------------

On his death, his only surviving son, the 13-year-old, Crown Prince Gustav Adolf, succeeded to the Swedish throne as King Gustav IV.

It was also also a turbulent reign as his son was deposed in 1809 by the same Parliament he had endlessly fought. And ended with his descendants being forever excluded from the Swedish line of succession.

-------------------- ~ -------------------- ~ --------------------

GUSTAV and his wife SOPHIE MAGDALENE had two children.

Gustav IV Adolf, King of Sweden - husband of Princess Friederike of Baden; and

Karl Gustav, Duke of Småland - died at age six months.

-------------------- ~ -------------------- ~ --------------------

SERIES - Facts & Events mentioned in previous posts (F&E):

The assassination of Gustav III, King of Sweden, was mentioned in my post on the life of his son, Gustav IV Adolf, King of Sweden.

[andiatas]

Prince Carl Philip's Crown

Duke Karl's Crown, made in 1772 by Johan Adam Marcklin, is the crown of Prince Carl Philip. The crown was made for the then Prince Karl, Duke of Södermanland, for the coronation of King Gustav III. Duke Karl later became King Karl XIII, the last monarch of the Holstein-Gottorp dynasty and the one who adopted Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte as the heir to the throne.

Apart from Duke Karl and Prince Carl Philip, this crown has been used by, for example, Gustaf VI Adolf when he was a prince in 1900-1907. It was also used by Prince Carl Philip's "extra dad", Prince Bertil and was present at Bertil's funeral in 1997.

Prince Gabriel shares the crown with his father. It's unclear which crown Prince Julian has been assigned, but he most likely shares the crown with his father and older brother.

Photos: The Royal Court of Sweden

[finnish-art-gallery]

Duke of Holstein-Gottorp, Karl Fredrik as a child, David von Krafft, Finnish National Gallery

Karl Fredrik was only two when his father died. He became a duke as a young child, while his mother, Hedvig Sofia, the King's daughter, ruled as regent. He learned to carry military responsibility at a very young age.

http://kokoelmat.fng.fi/app?si=S+54

[princessvictoriamelita]

Sophie, Dowager Grand Duchess of Baden (1801-1865) in 1864.

Sophie was born in Stockholm, Sweden, on 21 May 1801. She was the daughter of King Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden and his wife, Princess Frederica of Baden. After her birth, she was raised under the supervision of the royal governesses Hedvig Ulrika De la Gardie and Charlotte Stierneld in succession.

Sophie was eight years old when her father was deposed by the Coup of 1809 and she left Sweden with her family. Between the time of the coup which deposed her father, and leaving Sweden, she and her mother were under house arrest. During this period, she was described in the famous diary of Hedwig Elizabeth Charlotte of Holstein-Gottorp as a stubborn girl who was much more haughty and possessed less self-control than her brother Gustav. An anecdote describes the contrast between the siblings. When Fredrika and her children were given permission to join the deposed king, famous Swedish nobleman Axel von Fersen came to discuss the arrangements. When he was about to leave, Sophie's older brother ran to the door to open it for Fersen. The former queen Fredrika is quoted as saying, "Sophie would never in the world have done that, she thinks of herself too highly for that."

In 1815, she was engaged, and on 25 July 1819 in Karlsruhe, Sophie married her half-grand-uncle Prince Leopold of Baden, the son of a morganatic marriage. The marriage with Leopold had been specifically arranged by her uncle, Grand Duke Karl I of Baden, to improve the chances that Leopold would one day succeed him as grand duke because of Sophie's royal lineage; Leopold, though his right to the throne was recognized, was originally the issue of a morganatic marriage. During the reign of Louis I, Grand Duke of Baden, they lived a modest life away from court, as Louis did not want the heir to the throne at court. In 1830, her husband ascended to the grand ducal throne as Leopold I, and Sophie became Grand Duchess of Baden.

Sophie is described as wise and dutiful but strict. She kept late hours and arose late in the mornings, after which she spent hours writing letters to various relatives around Europe in her négligée. She was interested in science, art and politics, and kept herself well informed on all political events of the day through her correspondence. Her ties to the Viennese court were particularly tight, and it was to Vienna her sons were sent to complete their education. Sophie retained a certain bitterness over the deposition of her father, and took it very badly when her brother was deprived of his status as a Swedish prince.

During the tumult caused by the appearance of Kaspar Hauser, Sophie was rumoured to have ordered Hauser's assassination in 1833. This damaged her relationship to her husband, and Sophie was said to have had an affair. During the revolution of 1848, she was forced to flee from Karlsruhe with her family to Strasbourg. They returned in 1849, after the revolt had been subdued by Prussian forces. She became a widow in 1852. Sophie convinced her son Frederick to enter an arranged dynastic marriage rather than a marriage to his love, Baroness Stephanie von Gensau.

In 1852, the Swedish royal house wished to make peace with the deposed Swedish royal house, and Oscar I of Sweden and Josephine of Leuchtenberg tried to arrange a meeting, but without success. In 1863, however, Sophie met the Swedish heir presumptive Prince Oscar II of Sweden and his consort Sophie of Nassau. The meeting was a success: Sophie asked him about how the Stockholm of her childhood had changed, and when they left, she presented the couple with a gift to their son prince Gustaf, a medallion with the inscription "G" and the crown of the Swedish Crown Prince, because he had the same name as her brother.

Family Resemblance

Her granddaughter, Queen Victoria of Sweden née Baden took after her.

Source: Royal Collection

[sildesalaten]

Hej~ Can I ask for either Hedvig Sofia and Frederik IV of Holstein-Gottorp in 1A or Sweden and Karl XII in 4B?

Not sure which version i prefer...