Caroline Lewenhaupt

Caroline (Karolina Juliana Anna Ulrika) Lewenhaupt (1754, Oberbronn - 1826 Linköping), was a Swedish courtier, poet and amateur actor.

Caroline Lewenhaupt was the daughter of Count Adam Lewenhaupt and Carolina Christina Anna Louise Sinclair, and married her cousin Count Charles Emil Lewenhaupt in Strassburg in 1778. She was brought up in France, and was described as witty, intelligent and jolly.

Caroline Lewenhaupt had a long career at the royal Swedish court. She was hovfröken (maid of honor) to Queen Sophia Magdalena in 1771-1774; kammarfröken (a higher rank of maid of honor) with Princess Charlotte in 1774-1776; and statsfru (third highest rank of a married lady in waiting of the Queen) with Queen Sophia Magdalena in 1781-1795. She was considered suitable in the role of cheering up the reserved Queen Sophia Magdalena, and she was reportedly well liked by her, and was present at the death of the Queen in 1813.

Caroline Lewenhaupt played a notable part in the famous amateur theater in the royal court of King Gustav III of Sweden. In the Christmas of 1775 at Gripsholm Castle, the monarch founded a theater society to organize the popular amateur theater at the royal court: in it, Caroline Lewenhaupt was appointed chairperson, "Grand Mistress", while Johan Gabriel Oxenstierna became the official poet and orator of the theater order. The most noted of the actors in the amateur theater of Gustav III were named as Caroline Lewenhaupt, Carl von Fersen, Hedvig Ulrika De la Gardie, Nils Barck, Maria Aurora Uggla, Otto Jacob von Manteuffel Zöge, Bror Cederström and the sisters Ulla von Höpken and Augusta Löwenhielm,[1] and Lewenhaupt and Uggla were counted as the Primadonnas of the amateur theater: they often played the leading parts. The 7 January 1776, for example, she played the part of Countess in La Gageuse with Gustav III as the Colonel, in which, according to Fredrik Sparre, the French Ambassador claimed that the part could not have been better given at any theater in Paris.

In January–June 1811, she served as överhovmästarinna (Mistress of the Robes) for the Crown Princess, Désirée Clary. Reportedly, she was harassed by the Crown Princess who was encouraged by Elise la Flotte, who wanted her position. She became Mistress of the Robes of Queen Hedvig Elisabeth Charlotte in 1818.

Caroline Lewenhaupt were also literary active. She is noted to have written many of the texts to the poems which were read at different occasions at court. In 1825, she published Les apparitions. Mélo-drame. Représenté devant la famille royale le 30 janvier 1825./(C.L.) (Stockholm, imprimé chez Charles Deleen, 1825.)

References

  1. ↑ Göran Alm och Rebecka Millhagen: Drottningholms slott. Bd 2, Från Gustav III till Carl XVI Gustaf / [utgiven] i samarbete med Kungl. Hovstaterna och Statens fastighetsverk (2010)
Court offices
Preceded by
Christina Charlotta Stjerneld		 Mistress of the Robes to the Queen of Sweden Succeeded by
Marcelle Tascher de la Pagerie
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Saturday, October 11, 2014. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.