överhovmästarinna
Court Mistress (; ; ; ; ) or Chief Court Mistress (; ; ; ; ; ) is or was the title of the senior lady-in-waiting in the courts of Austria, Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Sweden, Imperial Russia, and the German princely and royal courts.
Chief c ...
'' (Mistress of the Robes) to the queen of Sweden,
Hedvig Elisabeth Charlotte of Holstein-Gottorp
Hedwig Elisabeth Charlotte of Holstein-Gottorp (; 22 March 1759 – 20 June 1818) was the queen consort of Charles XIII of Sweden and II of Norway. She was also a famed diarist, memoirist and wit. She is known as ''Hedwig Elisabeth Charlo ...
, from 1811 to 1818.
Life
Charlotte Stierneld was the daughter of count
Nils Philip Gyldenstolpe
Nils Philip Gyldenstolpe (19 February 1734 – 20 February 1810) 2nd edition, pg. 420. 1906.
hovfröken
A maid of honour is a junior attendant of a queen in royal households. The position was and is junior to the lady-in-waiting. The equivalent title and office has historically been used in most European royal courts.
Tudors and Stuarts
Traditi ...
'' (
maid of honour
A maid of honour is a junior attendant of a queen in royal households. The position was and is junior to the lady-in-waiting. The equivalent title and office has historically been used in most European royal courts.
Tudors and Stuarts
Traditi ...
) to Hedvig Elisabeth Charlotte prior to her marriage. During her tenure as maid of honour, she belonged to the favorites of duchess Charlotte and participated in the demonstration of Jeanna von Lantingshausen against the
Union and Security Act
The Union and Security Act (, ), alternatively Act of Union and Security, was proposed by King Gustav III of Sweden to the assembled Estates of the Realm during the Riksdag of 1789. It was a document, adding to the Swedish Constitution of 1772 new ...
of 1789. The duchess encouraged her marriage to one of the imprisoned opposition leaders,
Adolf Ludvig Stierneld
Adolf Ludvig Stierneld, Baron Stierneld (1 September 1755 – 31 July 1835) was a Swedish nobleman, courtier and collector of historical documents. Recent historical research has revealed him to be one of best and most prolific document forgers ...
, who proposed to her from prison and successfully asked her to be the king for his pardon, which both she and duchess Charlotte did repeatedly with reference to his engagement. In 1790, he was released, though not because of their pleadings: they immediately married and retired from court.
She was appointed deputy royal governess to the son of Hedvig Elisabeth Charlotte, duke Charles Adolf of Värmland, in 1798; ''
statsfru
Statsfru ("Lady of the State") is an office at the Royal Court of Sweden. The title has been used for two different offices during the course of history. Originally created in 1774, the office was given to several individuals, and simply the titl ...
'' (
lady of the bedchamber
Lady of the Bedchamber is the title of a lady-in-waiting holding the official position of personal attendant on a British queen regnant or queen consort. The position is traditionally held by the wife of a peer. A lady of the bedchamber would gi ...
) to the queen,
Frederica of Baden
Frederica of Baden (Frederica Dorothea Wilhelmina; 12 March 1781 – 25 September 1826) was List of Swedish royal consorts, Queen of Sweden from 1797 to 1809 as the Queen consort, consort of King Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden, Gustav IV Adolf.
Life ...
, in 1800-02, and royal governess for the royal children in 1802 (with the title ''
hovmästarinna
Court Mistress (; ; ; ; ) or Chief Court Mistress (; ; ; ; ; ) is or was the title of the senior lady-in-waiting in the courts of Austria, Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Sweden, Imperial Russia, and the German princely and royal courts.
Chief c ...
Mistress of the Robes
The mistress of the robes was the senior lady in the Royal Household of the United Kingdom, who would, by appointment, attend on the Queen (whether queen regnant or a queen consort). Queens dowager retained their own mistresses of the robes. In ...
) to queen Charlotte, and, finally, ''överhovmästarinna'' (Mistress of the Robes) to the queen in 1811-18.
Private life
She is known to be one of five women to have been a member of the
Freemason
Freemasonry (sometimes spelled Free-Masonry) consists of fraternal groups that trace their origins to the medieval guilds of stonemasons. Freemasonry is the oldest secular fraternity in the world and among the oldest still-existing organizati ...
, Countess Ulrica Catharina Brahe and Hedda von Fersen, she was most likely inducted as a member of a Freemasonic adoption lodge for women at court in 1776, when Princess Hedvig Elisabeth Charlotte was initiated by her consort Duke Charles as Grand Mistress of the female lodge.
In 1801, she was also inducted a member of the
Yellow Rose (society) The Yellow Rose society ( Swedish: Gula Rosen) was the name of a Swedish Masonic adoption lodge within the Freemasons, active from 1802 until 1803. It was founded by Karl Adolf Boheman upon the mutual wish of the royal couple Duke Charles and Du ...
of Carl Adolf Boheman, described as a Masonic adoption lodge, alongside count Erik Ruuth, Charlotte Wahrendorff, count Magnus Fredrik Brahe, Catharina Ulrica Koskull and the mother of the queen: at this point, she was described as already a member of the Freemasons, which is interpreted to mean that she was among those women inducted in the 1776 ceremony.My Hellsing (2013). Hovpolitik. Hedvig Elisabeth Charlotte som politisk aktör vid det gustavianska hovet. Örebro: Örebro universitet.