Brita Horn

Her father, a sympathizer of the Caps, was an infamous rake known for his parties and his many mistresses - the opera singer Carl Stenborg was reputed to be the half brother of Brita Horn, and among his more known lovers where the lady-in-waiting Hedda von Berchner, the actress Marie Baptiste, the dancer Ninon Dubois Le Clerc and the opera singer Elisabeth Olin: his death reportedly caused great fear that his correspondence would expose his former sexual partners to the public.

A personal friend and confidante of Charles, count Claes Julius Ekeblad, commented: "It is assumed on good grounds, that the prince is in love with miss Horn.

[1] Hamilton described a scene at Kina slott that summer: Both couples exchanged rings as a token of an unofficial engagement with the intent to marry.

[1] The same year, prince Charles was refused permission by his mother and elder brother to marry Brita Horn, and sent abroad on a trip to forget her.

Upon his return in 1771, Brita Horn was selected to accompany the queen dowager Louisa Ulrika on her trip to Berlin in 1771-72, and during her absence Charles became the lover of Augusta von Fersen.

In 1775, she resigned from court service upon her marriage to the courtier Count Claes Julius Ekeblad (1742-1808), a friend of her former love prince Charles.

Brita Horn drowned herself during a depression or, as it was called at the time, in "a moment of temporary insanity" after a long period of melancholy in 1791.