Emilie Högquist
| Emilie Högquist | |
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Emilie Högquist
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| Born |
Emilie Sophie Högquist 29 April 1812 Stockholm, Sweden |
| Died | 18 December 1846 (aged 34) Turin, Italy |
Emilie Sophie Högquist (29 April 1812 – 18 December 1846) was a Swedish actress and the mistress of Oscar I of Sweden. She was a star of the Royal Dramatic Theatre, the most celebrated dramatic Swedish primadonna of her time, called the Swedish Aspasia, and also famous for her love affairs. She has been called the first female celebrity within Swedish drama.
She was the daughter of Anders Högquist, butler of count Carl De Geer, and Anna Beata Hedvall. Her brother Jean and her sister Hanna were also to become stage artistes. Like her sister, she was placed in the Dramatens elevskola by her mother in 1821: she also participated in the children's theatre of Anders Selinder, the Selinderska Barntheatern.
Through her father's profession, Emilie Högquist was exposed early to interest from men of the upper classes. Her mother was known to host balls, to which she invited female students from the Dramatens elevskola and introduced them to officers, diplomats and other upper class. Further more, the royal theatre also hosted balls from time to time, in which men were allowed to buy a dance from a female theatre student to help the finances of the theatre Both her mother's balls and the balls given by the theatre were considered of ill-repute, because they were thought to be opening an opportunity for prostitution when the students were introduced to wealthy men In the case of Emilie Högquist, it is known that she was in fact prostituted by her mother, when she introduced her at the age of fourteen to a rich older man
Between 1826 and 1828, she was a member of the travelling theatre company touring the country side. Upon her return, she was accepted as a student at the Royal Theatre in . She debuted at the royal theatre in the play Qväkaren in 1828. In 1831, she was contracted at the royal theatre. Her younger brother Jean Högquist (1814–1850), who was also considered to be great talent, followed her there, but his self-destructive way of life made him too undisciplined for the theatre, and she sent him to America. Jean Högquist was very close to his sister: he returned in 1846, and when Emilie died, he became so self-destructive that he died only four years later.
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