Charlotte Eckerman

Her father was the cousin of Carl Fredrik Ekerman, speaker of the burghers in the Swedish parliament, and her mother was at one point the kammarfru of the queen, Louisa Ulrika of Prussia.

In 1774, she and several other actors of the Stenborg Company was called to Gripsholm Castle by Gustav III, who had recently created the Swedish Royal Opera and was in search of talent.

The king discovered that she had a talent for drama, and gave the courtier Maria Aurora Uggla, the star of the nobility's amateur theatre at the royal court, the task to instruct her in the part of Mechtild in the opera Birger jarl by Gyllenborg and Adlerbeth, after the part had been refused by Elisabeth Olin.

[1] Charlotte Eckerman made a great success in the part at the Royal Opera in Stockholm, and was called in by the audience: Prince Charles started to shout "Miss Uggla!

[1] Duke Charles tried to influence king Gustav III to take an official mistress, and Eckerman suggested the French adventurer Madame Monzouve (or de Monzouvre), but the plot does not seem to have succeeded.

[1] As a reason, he claimed that she had given birth to a child and murdered it in secrecy, and that she had taken part in the spreading of rumours regarding the legitimacy of the heir to the throne.

[1] Charlotte Eckerman denied the accusation that she was to have spread rumours regarding the crown prince's legitimacy, and claimed that it was the king's page, Georg Johan De Besche as the guilty party.

[1] Sparre refused to arrest her, and pointed out that it was against Swedish law for a monarch to threaten the freedom of a citizen without a legal verdict from a court.

During this period, she was portrayed by the famous artist Adolf Ulrik Wertmüller: the painting was likely ordered by her then admirer Gustaf Mauritz Armfelt.

In 1784, Gustaf Mauritz Armfelt arranged a meeting with Gustav III during his official visit to France, during which she was reconciled with the monarch and allowed to return to Sweden.