Sophia Magdalena of Denmark

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Sophia Magdalena of Denmark bigraphy, stories - Swedish queen

Sophia Magdalena of Denmark : biography

3 July 1746 – 21 August 1813

Sofia Magdalena of Denmark and Norway (Danish:Sophie Magdalene Swedish:Sofia Magdalena) (Christiansborg Palace, Denmark, 3 July 1746 – Ulriksdal Palace, Sweden, 21 August 1813) was a Queen consort of Sweden as the spouse of Gustav III of Sweden.

She was the eldest surviving child of King Frederick V of Denmark and Norway and Louise of Great Britain.

Background and early life

Princess Sophie Magdalene was born on 3 July 1746 at Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen as the eldest daughter of King Frederick V of Denmark and his first wife Princess Louise of Great Britain. At the age of five (1751), she was betrothed to the Heir to the throne of Sweden, Gustav, and she was brought up to be the Queen of Sweden. The marriage was arranged by the Parliament, not by the Swedish Royal House, and was disliked by the Queen, Louisa Ulrika of Prussia, who was since long in conflict with the Parliament and who favoured a match with her niece, Philippine of Brandenburg-Schwedt, instead. On 1 October 1766 she was married to Gustav by proxy at Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen. The two married in person in Stockholm on 4 November.

Arrival at the Swedish court

At the Swedish Court, she was received with kindness from the King but her mother-in-law, Louisa Ulrika, the dominating presence in the Court, hated her and her spouse completely ignored her. Louisa Ulrika encouraged the distance between her son and daughter-in-law. Sophia Magdalena was described as beautiful; she brought the largest dowry a Swedish royal bride had brought since 1680 and was carefully educated to be a perfect Queen. She received a great deal of praise but never became popular as her strict upbringing made it difficult for her to adjust to the Swedish Court. Being of a reserved nature, she was considered cold and arrogant. After King Adolf Frederick of Sweden died in 1771, Gustav III became King of Sweden. The following year, Sophia Magdalena was crowned Queen.

Inline references

Queen consort

Queen Sophia Magdalena was a serious and shy person and was never a member of the King’s inner circle. She and Gustav had very different personalities which put even more distance between them. She did her ceremonial duties, but disliked the vivid lifestyle of the Court around her outgoing spouse. When she performed her duties as Queen, her sister-in-law, Hedwig Elizabeth Charlotte of Holstein-Gottorp, described her as "Forced to meet people". She preferred to stay at her private residence, Ulriksdal Palace, whenever she could.

In the famous diary of Hedwig Elizabeth Charlotte of Holstein-Gottorp, she is described as beautiful, cold, silent and haughty, very polite and formal, reserved and unsociable. On formal occasions, she was at her best: she performed beautifully according to Court etiquette, and was seen as dignified and impressive. She had two very intimate friends, Maria Aurora Uggla Ehrengranat and Baroness Virginia Charlotta Duwall Manderström. She loved solitude, spending her days in her apartments and dining alone. She held a grand formal salon every two weeks and loved the theatre, which she often attended. During the King’s Italian journey in 1783–84, she held a grand formal public dinner for the city every two weeks. Several of her ladies-in-waiting were well known Swedish women of the era; among them were The Three Graces, as Augusta von Fersen, Ulla von Höpken and Lovisa Meijerfelt were called, and the artists Marianne Ehrenström and Charlotta Cedercreutz.

She did not have anything to do with politics, except on one occasion; during the War in 1788, she was given the task of initiating peace negotiations with Denmark, and called upon the Danish Ambassador, spoke to him and handed him a letter for the Danish King. During the Russo-Swedish War (1788–1790), there is a note that she met two Russian prisoners of war in the park of the Haga Palace, and gave them 100 kronor each. It is said that she preferred English fashion because French fashion was too revealing.