![Ulla Sprengtporten x Domenico Bossi](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c7/Ulla_Sprengtporten_x_Domenico_Bossi.jpg)
Ulrika "Ulla" Sofia De Geer,
née
A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...
''Sprengtporten'' (20 August 1793 – 22 September 1869 in
Stockholm
Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...
), was a politically influential Swedish countess and salon holder. She was married to the politician count
Carl De Geer, over whom she is believed to have exerted influence, and was a central figure in the Stockholm high society in the mid-19th century.
Life
Ulla De Geer was born to Baron Johan Vilhelm Sprengtporten and Sophia Lovisa Mörner af Morlanda and the sister of the politician baron
Jakob Wilhelm Sprengtporten. She married the politician count
Carl De Geer in 1810. The marriage was arranged and she had been forced to abandon Karl Fredrik Reinhold von Essen, with whom she was truly in love. This caused a depression which attracted attention: after the death of von Essen in 1820, she publicly dressed in mourning as if she were a widow.
Ulla De Geer was a leading member of the Stockholm high society life and hosted a salon which was a center of political discussions. She used the ritualized system of visits and regular receptions to create valuable contacts which could be used to gather information and wild influence. She adhered strictly to ceremony, and it is described how her guests were to pass through three salons before reaching her, where she greeted them ceremoniously.
She rivaled
Claire Lucie Mouradgea d'Ohsson (1776-1861), in whose salon foreign diplomat where to be introduced to the Swedish aristocracy, but Ulla De Geer has been described as the leading Swedish society hostess of her generation: through her connections, she belonged to those who set the tone for what was acceptable, and was described as a "powerful person in high society".
Nils von Dardel
Nils Dardel (full name Nils Elias Kristofer von Dardel, sometimes known as ''Nils de Dardel'') was a 20th-century Swedish Post-Impressionist painter, grandson to famous Swedish painter Fritz von Dardel.
Biography
Dardel was born in Bettna, S ...
once illustrated this by a drawing in which men from the court submissively bowed before her.
Carl Gustaf von Brinkman
Karl Gustaf von Brinkman (25 February 1764 – 25 December 1847) was a Swedish and German classicist poet, writer and diplomat. Member of the Swedish Academy 1828–1847, Seat No. 3, ennobled and elevated to Baron, chamberlain.
Karl Gustaf von ...
was known to frequent her salon. De Geer was attributed political influence and believed to be responsible for Carl De Geer's siding with the opposition in the
parliament
In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
of 1840.
When she was widowed in 1861, she retired from social life and stopped entertaining: her position as leading society hostess being taken over by the stepdaughter of her rival, Aurore Palin (1837-1909), and she restricted herself to socializing with her family and her English lady's companion Miss Carus.
The second half of the 19th century became a break with old customs within the Swedish aristocracy and the old system with ritualized visits and receptions dissipated. F. U. Wrangel described her as:
:"the only one, who upheld the tradition with regular evening receptions within the Stockholm aristocracy. In her home, the creme de la creme of the highest society gathered, where the same cultivated conversation and manner thrived as in its role model in
Faubourg Saint-Germain
''Faubourg Saint-Germain'' () is a historic district of Paris, France. The ''Faubourg'' has long been known as the favourite home of the French nobility, French high nobility and hosts many aristocratic ''hôtels particuliers''. It is currently pa ...
in Paris... she was in my opinion Sweden's last
grande dame
Grande means "large" or "great" in many of the Romance languages. It may also refer to:
Places
* Grande, Germany, a municipality in Germany
* Grande Communications, a telecommunications firm based in Texas
* Grande-Rivière (disambiguation)
* Ar ...
in the true meaning of the word."
[Rundquist, Angela, Blått blod och liljevita händer: en etnologisk studie av aristokratiska kvinnor 1850-1900, Carlsson, Diss. Stockholm : Univ., Stockholm, 1989]
References
Carl De Geer, urn:sbl:17344, Svenskt biografiskt lexikon (art av B. Boethius. Herbert Lundh.), hämtad 2013-10-28.* Rundquist, Angela, Blått blod och liljevita händer: en etnologisk studie av aristokratiska kvinnor 1850–1900, Carlsson, Diss. Stockholm : Univ., Stockholm, 1989
{{DEFAULTSORT:Geer, Ulrika Sofia De
1793 births
1869 deaths
Swedish salon-holders
Swedish countesses
19th-century Swedish nobility
19th-century Swedish women
Ulrika Sofia