Hedvig Catharina von Fersen

Hedvig Catharina von Fersen, née De la Gardie (Stockholm, 20 May 1732–Stockholm, 24 April 1800) was a Swedish noble. She was the daughter of the General and riksråd count Magnus Julius De la Gardie and the political salonist Hedvig Catharina Lilje, and sister of scientist Eva Ekeblad. Life She married the riksråd count Axel von Fersen the Elder in 1752. Hedvig Catharina was the heir of Löfstad Castle, and her marriage thereby strengthened both the social and economic position of her spouse. She became the mother of Hedvig Eleonora von Fersen (1753–1792), Hans Axel von Fersen (1755–1810), Sophie von Fersen (1757–1816), and Fabian Reinhold von Fersen (1762–1818). Through her marriage, she became the matriarch of one of the most powerful noble families in Sweden and a riksrådinna (spouse of a riksråd), securing her a position in the very elite of the Swedish aristocracy, and socialized in the circles of the royal court: Queen Louisa Ulrika once referred to her and Eva Ekeblad as her only true friends. Despite her position, however, there are no mentions of her ever having played a political role, despite this being fashionable for women of her status during the age of liberty. She is sometime mentioned in passing in contemporary diaries and letters, such as in 1774, when her relative count Claes Julius Ekeblad mentioned in his correspondence to Brita Horn, that her spouse, Axel von Fersen the Elder, had recently been succeeded as the lover of Eva Löwen by her son, Hans Axel von Fersen, and that his aunt Hedvig Catharina von Fersen "has been affected enough by this to cry - she, who never hesitate to separate a man from his wife." In the 1760s, the Crown prince, (the future Gustav III of Sweden), was rumoured to be in love with her. In 1764, Prince Gustav had the habit of walking on the roof terrace on the Royal Palace because he wanted to make contact with her and see her when she showed herself on the roof of the Fersen Palace every day at four; he sent her flowers and asked for meetings in the park of Karlberg Palace. It is not likely that the relation went further than this; Hedvig's attitude to the attention was described as "somewhat amused, somewhat quite dismissive". After 1772, when her spouse was made riksråd (councillor of state), she was known at court as riksrådinna, the feminine equivalent, and thereby given a high status.