[1] She was given her two names in honour of her two grandmothers: the Prussian Queen Sophia Dorothea of Hanover and Margravine Albertina Frederica of Baden-Durlach.

Sophia Albertina was tutored under the supervision of Baroness Ulrica Schönström, Baroness Kristina Kurck and Countess Magdalena Stenbock, all in succession the head of her court: Eric af Sotberg served as her governor, and she was tutored in French by Louise Du Londel, in dance by Marguerite Morel, drawing by Jean Eric Rehn and music by Francesco Uttini.

Sophia Albertina and her youngest brother, Prince Frederick Adolf of Sweden, were the favourites of their mother, and also very close themselves.

[3] In 1781, she came in conflict with the King, who was close to banning her from court when her mother refused her to pay her respects to the Queen, but the situation was solved by her sister-in-law, Hedvig Elisabeth Charlotte of Holstein-Gottorp.

Sophia Albertina was not described as beautiful or intelligent, but she enjoyed parties and participated enthusiastically in the festivities of the court of Gustav III.

According to her sister-in-law, Hedvig Elizabeth Charlotte, she was good hearted but very temperamental and hard to handle, and she is described as generous and caring but easily provoked into conflicts.

Sophia Albertina however would not support any further demonstrations against the monarch, and reportedly convinced her brother Prince Frederick not to use violent actions toward the monarchy.

The female members of the nobility, led by Jeanna von Lantingshausen, issued a political demonstration in a social boycott of the monarch by refusing to participate in his court life while continuing to visit her and her sister-in-law Hedvig Elisabeth Charlotte, who were known to be in opposition to the Security Act, and who demonstrated themselves by refusing to participate in representation.

[8] This was effective, because the Queen, Sophia Magdalena, was reclusive and Hedvig Elisabeth Charlotte and Sophie Albertine had always fulfilled most of the representation at court, and the King accused her of leading: "A guard which placed themselves above all authority.

[9] The demonstration was effectively put to a halt when the King had Jeanna von Lantingshausen banished from court and refused any contact with his sister and his sister-in-law.

[11] Among the marriage partners considered for Sophia Albertina were her cousin Prince Peter of Holstein-Gottorp, Prince-Bishop of Lübeck, but these plans were abandoned in 1780.

The father was often identified as Count Fredrik Vilhelm von Hessenstein, son of King Frederick I of Sweden and his mistress Hedvig Taube.

[21] This caused a scandal, not only in Sweden, but also in Germany, where her maternal relatives, the Prussian royal family, expressed their disapproval of what they perceived as a deception of which she had been a victim.

[23] In 1799, Sophia Albertina herself stated that Lolotte Forssberg was her illegitimate halfsister, and arranged a marriage with her courtier, Count Magus Stenbock, and had her presented at court.

In 1787, one or two years after allegedly secretly giving birth, she succeeded her maternal aunt, Anna Amalia of Prussia, as Princess-Abbess of Quedlinburg.

She wrote to Napoleon and asked him to respect her rights as he had done for Landgravine Louise of Hesse-Darmstadt (1757–1830) and Pauline of Anhalt-Bernburg, but was given no reply.

During the Revolution of 1809, when her nephew Gustaf IV Adolf was deposed, she as well as her brother had refused the King's demand that they evacuate with him, and when the leaders of the coup entered Stockholm, she reportedly greeted Georg Adlersparre with her handkerchief from her balcony.

[25] During the reign of her brother Charles XIII (r. 1809–1818), she seldom appeared at court, because he did not like Lolotte Forssberg, whose influence over Sophia Albertina was said to dominate her last years.

In 1812, when Bernadotte banned all contact with the deposed royal family and all objects which could be a reminder of them, she as well as her sister-in-law decided to stop corresponding with former Queen Frederica on their own initiative.