Henrietta Polyxena of Vasaborg (1696–1777) was a Swedish countess. She was the last member of the
House of Vasaborg
Vasaborg was a noble family of Sweden and a branch of the House of Vasa.
Origins
King Gustav II Adolf of Sweden had an illegitimate son called Gustav Gustavsson who in 1637 was ennobled under the name of Vasaborg, echoing his father's House ...
Henrietta Polyxena was the daughter of count
Gustaf Adolf of Vasaborg
Gustav, Gustaf or Gustave may refer to:
*Gustav (name), a male given name of Old Swedish origin
Art, entertainment, and media
* ''Primeval'' (film), a 2007 American horror film
* ''Gustav'' (film series), a Hungarian series of animated short cart ...
and Angelica Catharina von Leiningen-Westerburg, and the paternal granddaughter of
Gustav of Vasaborg, illegitimate son of king
Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden
Gustavus Adolphus (9 December Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates">N.S_19_December.html" ;"title="Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="/nowiki>Old Style and New Style dates">N.S 19 December">Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="/now ...
. her family had been living in Germany since 1652.
Henrietta never married, and became known for her love affairs. She was known to have been "involved in numerous love adventures, as young for her own account, as old on the account of others, by which she was eventually degraded to utter poverty and contempt".
[Berättelser ur svenska historien / 6. Gustaf II Adolf]
In 1776, the
Geheimrat of
Cologne, baron Münster, applied to
Gustav III of Sweden
Gustav III (29 March 1792), also called ''Gustavus III'', was King of Sweden from 1771 until his assassination in 1792. He was the eldest son of Adolf Frederick of Sweden and Queen Louisa Ulrika of Prussia.
Gustav was a vocal opponent of what ...
on her behalf. By that time, she was living in deepest poverty in the village Huntlosen in
Niedersachsen
Lower Saxony (german: Niedersachsen ; nds, Neddersassen; stq, Läichsaksen) is a German state (') in northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ...
in Germany, blind, sick and destitute and on the charity of the poor villagers. Gustav III sent her a sum of 500
ducat
The ducat () coin was used as a trade coin in Europe from the later Middle Ages from the 13th to 19th centuries. Its most familiar version, the gold ducat or sequin containing around of 98.6% fine gold, originated in Venice in 1284 and gained wi ...
, addressed her as cousin and gave her a pension. She died the following year.
References
* Henrietta Polyxena af Vasaborg i Wilhelmina Stålberg, Anteckningar om svenska qvinnor (1864)
* Vasaborg, 2. Anton Adolf i Nordisk familjebok (andra upplagan, 1921)
* http://www.mattiasloman.se/w/index.php?title=Af_Wasaborg_nr_6
* Berättelser ur svenska historien / 6. Gustaf II Adolf
{{Authority control
1696 births
1777 deaths
18th-century German people