Ulrika Eleonora of Sweden

Ulrika Eleonora (January 23, 1688 – November 24, 1741) was Queen regnant of Sweden from November 30, 1718, to February 29, 1720, and then Queen consort until her death.

She was the youngest child of King Charles XI and Queen Ulrika Eleonora the Elder and named after her mother. After the death of her brother, King Charles XII, at Fredrikshald on November 30, 1718, she claimed the throne over the rights of her nephew Charles Frederick, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp, the only son of her late elder sister, on basis of being the closest surviving relative of the deceased king (the idea of proximity of blood), though not his heiress in primogeniture. The succession discussions ultimately ended in her favour after she had agreed to abolish the absolute monarchy.

Life as a princess
Ulrika Eleonora lived most of her life under the shadow of others. A princess and spinster, she took care of her dominating grandmother, Hedwig Eleonora of Holstein-Gottorp, during her brother's absence in the great Nordic war. However, as her brother refused to marry, and as she was the only royal representative in Sweden, she was in 1713 named as regent during the king's absence by the government and by her grandmother, and thus became the puppet to many powers struggling for influence in a country without a real heir. After her grandmother's death she became the center of the court, and this was most likely one of the most happy periods of her life. It was during this period she married, but the marriage, which on her side was a marriage of love, was to be but another one of the many attempts to use her as a political puppet.

Queen regnant
In 1715 she had married Landgrave Friedrich I of Hesse-Kassel, whose counsel she constantly sought in political matters. She wanted him to become co-regent, following the example of King William III and Queen Mary II of England, but this was not permitted and she abdicated in his favour after just one year of her reign, which succession was confirmed by the Riksdag of the Estates. Frederick succeeded her on the Swedish throne as King Frederick I.

Queen consort
Ulrika Eleonora had married for love, but the love was not answered by her husband, who became more and more open with his adultery after he lost his real power as a king and had nothing else to do. In 1730, he became the first king in Swedish history to have an official mistress, the young noble girl Hedvig Taube, who was given the title countess of Hessenstein; of course, many Swedish kings have had mistresses, but the French way of having an official mistress had never been practiced in Sweden before, which was a great humiliation for Ulrika Eleonora. In 1735 she had the bishops lecture both Frederick and Hedvig and in 1739 she attempted to have Hedvig expelled; when the king stopped Hedvig on her way out of the country, the Queen was close to making a scandal by laying her complaints before the government, but in the end, she was forced to resign and accept the matter. She retired to religion and charity, although she was several times named as titular regent during her husband's stays abroad.

Ulrika Eleonora was interested in jewelry, music and collected coins, and she also hired German and French theatre companies to perform in Bollhuset, but withdrew her support to the theatre when she became more religious; she could interrupt a parliamentary session to pray and at the receptions of the court she interrogated the young girls about the Bible and gave them gifts if they answered correctly. She was a stern believer in her royal pride and pretended to be sick and locked herself in her rooms when she was offended.

Queen Ulrika Eleonora died of smallpox in 1741 after a childless marriage. Succession after them was source of recurring plotting. The reigns of Ulrika Eleonora and her husband saw the birth of the era of Swedish history traditionally known as the Age of Liberty, when the monarch had to give up most of his power to the aristocracy.