Anna Maria Hjärne

Anna Maria Hjärne née Ehrensvärd (1718-1798) was a Swedish courtier; överhovmästarinna (Mistress of the Robes) to the queen of Sweden, Sophia Magdalena of Denmark, from 1766 to 1777.

Born to Johan Jacob Ehrensvärd and Anna Maria Mannerheim, she married riksråd count Gustaf Adolf Hjärne in 1739. She and her spouse were both known sympathizers of the Hats. During the Age of Liberty, the Hats and Caps often maneuvered to have their sympathizers placed in court offices, and when the office of senior lady in waiting to the crown princess (from 1771 queen) Sophia Magdalena was to be permanently filled after Ulrica Catharina Stromberg in 1766, the Hats managed to have Hjärne appointed to the office. The appointment was however mostly formal: it was understood that Hjärne would only serve during grander occasions, and that the office would in practice be performed by her deputy (first Ernestine Palmfelt, from 1767 Charlotta Sparre).

Hjärne was acceptable to the office because of her status as riksrådinna, wife of a riksråd, but Axel von Fersen the Elder considered her to be unsuitable and not of sufficient character, sense and knowledge in the French language for the office. The conflict between Sophia Magdalena, who had the support of the Cap Party, and her mother-in-law, the Hat Party sympathizer Louisa Ulrika of Prussia was publicly known and disliked, and the sympathies were on Sophia Magdalena's side. Anna Maria Hjärne was a Hat sympathizer and reportedly slandered and spread rumors about Sophia Magdalena.

In the contemporary paper Dagligt Allehanda, a fable was presented about Rävinnan och Turturduvan [The She Fox and the Turtle Dove] in 16 February 1771. The fable was about the innocent Turtle Dove (Sophia Magdalena) who was slandered by the wicked She Fox (Louisa Ulrika), who was supported by the Second She Fox (The Mistress of the Robes Anna Maria Hjärne) and the other Foxes (the nobility). The fable was believed to have been sent from the Caps Party.

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