She received her first name, originally a Lotharingian-Burgundian female name, in honor of her maternal grandmother, the late Richeza of Poland.

That was why Rikissa, sister of the reigning king Valdemar II of Denmark, was married to Erik.

When she arrived at the Swedish coast, according to a later folk song, she expressed her surprise that she was expected to ride and not travel by carriage, as she had been used to in her birth country, and the Swedish noblewomen and ladies-in-waiting had encouraged her to adapt the customs of her new home country instead of trying to establish her own Danish customs.

Dowager Queen Rikissa was pregnant at the time and then gave birth to their only surviving son, Erik Eriksson, after the death of her spouse.

The family was driven to exile from Sweden as the House of Sverker heir, Johan Sverkersson, was elected to succeed Rikissa's husband as the king.