Hedvig Wilhelmina Augusta Sofia Maria Teresia Lovisa von Fersen (18 March 1816, Stockholm – 29 December 1879, Stockholm) was a Swedish countess and heiress, and the last member of the von Fersen family. She was one of the greatest heirs of 19th-century Sweden and became notorious for the scandal of her and her husband's great bankruptcy, having wasted a fortune of about eight million ''

riksdaler The svenska riksdaler () was the name of a Swedish coin first minted in 1604. Between 1777 and 1873, it was the currency of Sweden. The daler, like the dollar,''National Geographic''. June 2002. p. 1. ''Ask Us''. was named after the German Thaler. ...

'' on an expensive lifestyle and gambling.Carl Fredrik Lindahl,
Svenska millionärer. Minnen och anteckningar / 3
' (1897-1905)

Life

Louise von Fersen was the daughter of Fabian von Fersen (1762–1818) and Louise Piper and thus niece of

Axel von Fersen the Younger Hans Axel von Fersen (; 4 September 175520 June 1810), known as Axel de Fersen in France, was a Swedish count, Marshal of the Realm of Sweden, a General of Horse in the Royal Swedish Army, one of the Lords of the Realm, aide-de-camp to Rochamb ...

. She was the sister of Axel von Fersen (1798–1839), Fabian von Fersen (born and died in 1800) and Gustaf Hans von Fersen (1802–1839). She married the courtier count Carl Gustaf Gyldenstolpe (1800–1872) in 1835 and became the mother of six children, among them foreign minister August Louis Fersen Gyldenstolpe and Ida Gyldenstolpe, who married

Audley Charles Gosling Sir Audley Charles Gosling (20 November 1836 – 7 December 1913)"Gosling, Sir Audley Charles", ''Who Was Who'', A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 1920–2015 was a British diplomat who served as British Minister to Chile 189 ...

. While Louise von Fersen had three older brothers, all died officially childless. When her youngest brother Gustaf Hans von Fersen, a known rake, died "totally décrépit" in 1839, he had three daughters with the ballerina Carolina Brunström, but no children in his three-year-old marriage with countess Sofie Bonde, and the entire von Fersen fortune and all of the estates within it was thereby inherited by Louise von Fersen. Among her inheritance was included the estates Mälsåker House,

Ljung Castle Ljung Castle is a castle in Sweden. The present building was erected in 1774. It was commissioned by Axel von Fersen the Elder and designed by Jean Eric Rehn. The building is well preserved and regarded a good example of the style of the Gustavian ...

, Steninge Palace, Fersen Palace and Finnåker. Louise von Fersen and her husband were known for their luxurious and expensive lifestyle. They were particularly known for their gambling trips to the casinos of

Bad Homburg Bad Homburg vor der Höhe () is the district town of the Hochtaunuskreis, Hesse, on the southern slope of the Taunus mountains. Bad Homburg is part of the Frankfurt Rhein-Main Regional Authority, Frankfurt Rhein-Main urban area. The town's offic ...

Wiesbaden Wiesbaden () is a city in central western Germany and the capital of the state of Hesse. , it had 290,955 inhabitants, plus approximately 21,000 United States citizens (mostly associated with the United States Army). The Wiesbaden urban area ...

and Baden-Baden. Their lifestyle gradually resulted in them having to sell of estate after estate to cover their debts. In 1853, the gambled away Mälsåker to Fredrik Åkerman on the steamer ''Gauthiod'' between Stockholm and Lübeck, in 1855 they were forced to sell Finnåker, and in 1865 the Fersen Palace in Stockholm. In 1867, they were finally declared bankrupt and their property, including Ljung and Steninge, was sold at public auction, which was a major scandal in contemporary Sweden. Louise von Fersen reportedly smashed a set of Manufacture nationale de Sèvres given to her uncle Axel von Fersen the Younger by

Louis XVI of France Louis XVI (''Louis-Auguste''; ; 23 August 175421 January 1793) was the last King of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. He was referred to as ''Citizen Louis Capet'' during the four months just before he was e ...

to prevent it from being auctioned, and was threatened with imprisonment.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fersen, Louise von 1816 births 1879 deaths 19th-century Swedish nobility 19th-century Swedish women Swedish countesses 19th-century women landowners 19th-century Swedish landowners

Life

See also

References