Both of her parents spent their life in service at the royal Swedish court, and Ulla von Fersen, as well as her sisters, served as hovfröken (maids of honour) prior to her marriage.

[2] Hamilton described a scene at Kina slott that summer: "In one corner, the Queen discussed politics, in another, the King talked about the hay- and oat prices with his equerry, the Crown Prince about fashion and France with Countess Ribbing (born Löwen).

[2] Prince Frederick Adolf proposed to Ulla in the garden at Drottningholm Palace, and "she laughed and accepted without a moments doubt, amused and flattered.

While the marriage was not entirely arranged, her family encouraged Nils von Höpken as a suitor because he was beautiful and was expected to be able to make Ulla fall in love with him, which she did.

Ulla von Höpken returned to the royal court, where she served as statsfru (Lady of the Bedchamber) to Queen Sophia Magdalena from 1775 to 1795.

She has sometime been identified as a symbol of the frivolous sexual liberty of the 18th-century aristocracy, and it was said in 1782 that "the Aphrodite of the epoch rule as sovereign in the figure of Ulla Höpken".

[9] Ulla von Höpken was a close platonic friend and confidant of king Gustav III, and it was noted that they enjoyed speaking with each other as if they were flirting.

"[3] In the summer 1780, Ulla von Höpken was again the subject of a scandal when her estranged husband left his regiment in Skåne without permission and publicly stated that he wished to join his wife and expected to be housed in her apartment at Gripsholm Castle.

After an appeal to the king, her husband was forcibly stopped on his way toward the royal court by an order of the monarch that he was to be returned to his regiment by force and arrested if necessary.

"[2] After the Riksdag of the Estates of 1789, when Gustav III came in conflict with the nobility, he arrested her uncle Axel von Fersen the Elder as a leader of the aristocratic opposition to the Union and Security Act and the Russo-Swedish War (1788–90).

[6] After having been widowed, she lived with her sisters and "was commonly as respected for their charity as well as for their refined manner, which was primarily afforded those, who was formed by the court of Gustav III".

[2] In the 18th-century, it was quite controversial for a woman of her social status to stand as the model of a nude statue, and count Claes Julius Ekeblad remarked: "Sergel has, of modesty or because uncle Axel has asked him to, not given this portrait all the likeness he could have, but nevertheless she is recognizable.

In March 1801 the ship was detained by the British Royal Navy while on passage to the Swedish colony Saint Barthelemy, but was released after negotiations.

The novel gives a relatively correct fictionalized account of her life until she enters into her lifelong love story with Georg Jonas von Wright.

It also includes speculation that Gustav III at one point unsuccessfully attempts to have a sexual relationship with Ulla von Höpken, but fails, because of his homosexuality.