Hedvig Taube
Her sister, Catherine Charlotte, was to marry the brother of scientist Countess Eva Ekeblad, who was also the aunt of the renowned Axel von Fersen the Younger.
During the 1720s, her father was nearly ruined and placed in heavy debt because of gambling and bad business: in 1730, the family had been forced to change their city residence to a cheaper one.
[1] Hedvig Taube was described as a beauty, and in 1730, the king noticed her, likely on a visit to baron Otto Reinhold Strömfelt, who was married to her paternal aunt.
[3] Horn refused, and during the Riksdag of 1731, he warned the king that he was the topic of dislike in the Clergy estate for courting a young unmarried lady.
Her betrothed, Erik Sparre, was also removed, as he was included to be a part of the entourage accompanied the king to his visit to Hesse,[6] and several people were sent to Hedvig Taube to convince her to agree to the king's advances upon his return, notably her father's maiden aunt Beata Taube and Carl Tersmeden, calling her future fate more beautiful than she could imagine.
Meanwhile, her mother was convinced to agree to the matter by Eleonora Lindhielm and Hedvig Catharina Lillie, married to Daniel Niklas von Höpken and Magnus Julius De la Gardie, who wished to benefit their political careers by supporting the king.
Shortly thereafter, she was appointed hovfröken (maid of honour), to queen Ulrika Eleonora to become accessible to the king at court and, though it was not spoken aloud, to become his mistress.
During the hunting trip to Dalarna, which the royal court undertook in 1732 to celebrate the visit of the king's brother Prince William of Hesse, the queen demonstrated her disregard to the rumors by displaying affection to her maid of honor Hedvig Taube, when they were seen by the public during walks.
The French envoy in Sweden, Charles Louis de Biaudos de Casteja, was known to recognize the participation of women in the Swedish party strife of the Age of Liberty and confirmed to have recruited several female agents for French interests in Sweden, such as Charlotta von Liewen and Margareta Gyllenstierna, attempted to recruit the king's mistress Hedvig Taube for 100.000 livres, but she refused and expressed no interest to be involved in state affairs.
Public opinion favored the queen, who enjoyed great popularity for her personal piety and for being the only remaining member of the old Swedish dynasty.
She did confess her displeasure in private to her confidante Emerentia von Düben, who, however, stated that it would be undignified for Ulrika Eleonora to notice this affair, and that her position as queen was untouchable: "As the moon continue its course over the sky with no care for the barks of dogs, so should Her Majesty despise the gossip, which has been unleashed by this so unfortunate and blind commitment.
According to contemporaries, Hedvig Taube had "power over the king's mind", and "the use she made of it eventually came to have rather significant consequences in both interior- and foreign policy".
[24] Already in the inauguration of the Swedish language theater at Bollhuset the previous year, Gylleborg's play Svenska sprätthöken had criticized the king and government, and prior to the Riksdag of 1738, the leading Hat party sympathizer, the salon hostess Hedvig Catharina Lillie arranged a play in her private theater in honor to the birth day of the king, were the relationship of the king and Taube were caricatured, an incident that affected opinion in favor of the Hats party in the following election, as they had positioned themselves against the adultery of the monarch.
[26] All this stirred public opinion, and Hedvig Taube reportedly used bribes in an attempt to prevent the matter from being raised in parliament.
[27] During the Riksdag of 1738–39, the father of Hedvig Taube was deposed as riksråd after Sten Coyet had raised the question of the relationship between his daughter and the king.
In parallel, however, great estates was bought in Holstein through Erland Broman and with Hessian money: Panker, Todendorf, Clamp, Hohenfelde, Vogelsdorf and Schmoll, for the sons of Hedvig Taube.
[39] He then left for Nyköping, officially on a hunting trip, where he resumed his relationship with Hedvig Taube and presented her with a document from the Holy Roman Emperor (during the interregnum represented by the Elector of Saxony), granting her sons the titles Imperial counts of Hessenstein.
[40] Hedvig Taube returned to the capital, though to avoid provocations, she initially stayed in a rented cottage in the Söder area outside the city.
[44] The return of Hedvig Taube after her temporary exile was apparently the last straw, and she reacted to it by retiring to bed and refused to show herself in public for some time.
The king reacted with rage, refused to accept the statement and stated that the Riksdag of the Estates had promised him not to interfere in his private life.
"[50] When the delegation arrived to Hedvig Taube early that morning, she excused herself claiming to be bedridden and ill, but the priests then entered her bedroom, and she was forced to receive them lying in bed.
She told them that she could not see why the Riksdag of the Estates should have an interest for her, as she never involved in politics, but was met with the reply that their business was in the welfare of the soul of the king and herself.
"[54] The delegation then read the statement, "Her ladyship should consider, that she with her conduct for so long has broken her duty as her subject to her royal majesty, her gracious sovereign as well as that of us all", and left the document with her.
In December, the crown prince was brought to her in secret during the night in company only with the king, a courtier and Erland Broman, and unofficially introduced to her while she lay confined to her bed in pregnancy.
