Anna Albertina Constantia Charlier (/'ʃaljə/) ) (25 July 1871, Norra Åby,

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– 1949) was a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

woman, today most commonly remembered as the fiancée of Nils Strindberg, participant in the North Pole expedition of

S. A. Andrée S is the nineteenth letter of the English alphabet. S may also refer to: History * an Anglo-Saxon charter's number in Peter Sawyer's, catalogue Language and linguistics * Long s (ſ), a form of the lower-case letter s formerly used where "s ...

in 1897.

Before the expedition

Anna Charlier was one of eleven siblings and lost her parents early. She worked as a governess and met Nils Strindberg, who was a houseteacher for one of the families she worked for. She played the piano, he the violin. Anna and Nils Strindberg became engaged on 26 October 1896, eight months before the expedition left for

Svalbard Svalbard ( , ), also known as Spitsbergen, or Spitzbergen, is a Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean. North of mainland Europe, it is about midway between the northern coast of Norway and the North Pole. The islands of the group range ...

After the expedition

The expedition was not heard of in the following years and was presumed to have ended in disaster. Anna emigrated to the United States in 1910 and married Gilbert Henry Conserray Hawtrey. They moved to England in 1914. Miss Ulla Strindberg – the late Nils Strindberg was her uncle – visited Anna in Torquay in England in 1947. She said the following about the visit: "Anna's husband Gilbert Hawtrey was a wonderful human being who tried in all possible ways to help his sorrow-ridden wife to forget. But it was all in vain. Anna could not forget." Anna's home was filled with youth portraits of the missing Strindberg. In 1930, when the remains of the expedition were found, Anna happened to be in Sweden. Unable to stay for the funeral, she sent a wreath to her late fiancé. She later received Nils Strindberg's letters to her that he had written during his voyage over the ice. It was Tore Strindberg – Nils' brother – who sent them after they had been interpreted (the letters were stenographed). Anna died in 1949. She had left specific instructions to her family concerning her remains. Her heart was to be removed from her body and buried near the urn that contained Strindberg's ashes. Her body was put to rest at a cemetery in Torquay. (Her husband was later buried next to her.) Her heart was cremated separately, with the ashes gathered in a little silver box and placed in the grave near the cremated remains of Nils Strindberg, in Norra begravningsplatsen in

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Anna Charlier in fiction

*In the 1982 Swedish movie ''

Flight of the Eagle ''Flight of the Eagle'' ( sv, Ingenjör Andrées luftfärd) is a Swedish biographical drama film which was released to cinemas in Sweden on 26 August 1982, directed by Jan Troell, based on Per Olof Sundman's 1967 novelization of the true story o ...

'', based on the book ''Ingenjör Andrées luftfärd'' written in 1967 by

Per Olof Sundman Per Olof Sundman (4 September 1922, Vaxholm – 9 October 1992, Stockholm) was a Swedish writer and politician. Sundman was born in Vaxholm. After World War II, Sundman joined the Centre Party and was elected to the Riksdag. Per Olof Sundman ...

, the role of Anna was played by

Lotta Larson Lotta may refer to: * Lotta (name), a diminutive name of Charlotte and Charlotta * Lotta (river), a river in northern Finland and Murmansk Oblast, Russia Other * Lotta Svärd, Finnish paramilitary organization of World War II * Lotta Svärd (p ...

.''Flight of the Eagle, The – 1982'' (Learmedia.ca.)
*Anna Charlier is one of the protagonists in the novel ''

Anna's Book ''Asta's Book'' is a 1993 novel by British writer Ruth Rendell, written under the name Barbara Vine. It was published in the USA under the title ''Anna's Book''. References 1993 British novels Novels by Ruth Rendell Works published unde ...

'' by George MacBeth (London: Henry Holt & Co. 1983).

References

Other sources

* Martinsson, Tyrone:''Nils Strindberg, En biografi om fotografen på Andrées polarexpedition'', (Lund: 2006)

) {{DEFAULTSORT:Charlier, Anna 1871 births 1949 deaths Swedish emigrants to the United States Burials at Norra begravningsplatsen