Hedvig Ulrika De la Gardie

Her mother was Mistress of the Robes to Princess Sophie Albertine of Sweden, and she herself was a maid of honor to the Queen, Sophia Magdalena of Denmark.

Armfelt was said to have married her because of her rank and the status of her surname: he treated her with respect but never loved her and had a parallel relationship with Magdalena Rudenschöld.

An order of arrest was warranted on her husband, and because of it, she was herself detained several times, in Rome and Venice, during her travel from Italy to relatives in Riga in Livonia in 1794.

As Armfelt was sentenced to death, Hedvig Ulrika was the legal guardian of their children rather than him, and was therefore given control of his Swedish property.

She left her position at court in 1803 with the customary title of Excellency, and was succeeded as royal governess by Charlotte Stierneld.

Hedvig Ulrika De la Gardie negotiated with the Crown Prince through the Queen for Armfelt, but without success.

Because she had expressed her rage about the verdict, the Crown Prince included her in the exile and deprived her of her pension as courtier, which was however disputed by the Queen.

Before her departure, the Crown Prince surprised her at a visit to Lars von Engeström and told her that he regretted the exile of Armfelt and that he had been mistaken in him and felt nothing but respect for him.