Everything about Katarina Stenbock totally explained
Katarina Stenbock (Torpa,
Västergötland in
July 22,
1535 -
Strömsholm,
Västmanland in
December 13,
1621) was the third and last consort of
King Gustav I of Sweden (who was 37 years older than she), and the Queen-Consort of
Sweden between
1552 and
1560. She was daughter of Gustaf Olofsson Stenbock and Brita Eriksdotter Leijonhufvud, who was the sister of the King's previous consort,
Margareta Leijonhufvud.
Biography
Like the previous queen, she was engaged when the king decided to marry her, but the engagement was broken so the king could have his way. It is said that she run away and hid behind a bush in the garden when the king arrived at her parents mansion, and according to old stories, she often talked about her earlier fiancé in her sleep.
The marriage was celebrated in the city of
Vadstena at great expense, at the same time as the plague swept through the country and the city of Åbo (
Turku) burned down, and people claimed to see bad omens and evil signs in the sky. The day after, Katarina was crowned Queen, the parties lasted three days and when the court departed, the city of Vadstena burned down in a great fire.
The marriage wasn't a happy one, which was admitted by the king himself; he was even said to contemplate writing a law which would prevent any future marriage between
"Two people, of which one was young and one was old."
It is said that the king heard her talking of her former fiance, Gustav Three Roses, in her sleep, during which she said;
"King Gustav is very dear to me, but I'll never forget the Rose."
The king's health declined during the next years, and she was more a nurse than his wife for the eight years she was queen.
After the death of the king, she lived as a widow for 61 years; she was the first Swedish dowager queen given the title "Riksänkedrottning", which means "The Queen Widow of the Country".
She spent a lot of time at court as Queen Dowager; at the dethronement of
King Eric XIV in
1568, she was described leaving the city of Stockholm in a boat with her stepdaughter
Princess Elizabeth of Sweden.
She did have plans to remarry; in about
1570, she wanted to marry duke Frans of Saxe-Lauenburg, brother of the husband of her stepdaughter
Princess Sophia of Sweden, but it was prevented by the husband of the princess. She lent money to several of the kings following her husband, acted as a mediator and was the first lady until 1568, and was god-mother of king Eric's son with
Karin Månsdotter (1568).
Ebba Brahe was later her lady-in-waiting.
She survived five Swedish kings. She was buried in
Uppsala.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Katarina Stenbock'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://katarina_stenbock.totallyexplained.com">Katarina Stenbock Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
