Eva Helena Löwen

Eva Löwen
Eva Helena Löwen
Born	15 December 1743
Died	16 January 1813 (1813-01-17) (aged 69)
Other names	Eva Helena Ribbing
Spouse(s)	Count Fredrik Ribbing Baron Gustaf Macklean
Children	Adolph Ribbing

Eva Helena Löwen (15 December 1743 – 16 January 1813), was a politically active Swedish countess and royal favorite. She was active as a French agent in Sweden.

Eva Löwen was the daughter of Axel Löwen and Eva Horn af Ekebyholm and the grandchild of Arvid Horn, and the great grandchild of Christina Piper. She married Count Fredrik Ribbing (1721-1783) in 1764, and became the mother of Adolph Ribbing.

Though never formally a lady in waiting, she had a favored position at court, and was a friend of queen Louisa Ulrika. In February 1768, it was noted that Charlotte Du Rietz and Eva Löwen flirted with Crown Prince Gustav and attempted to seduce him. Eventually, he succumbed to the advances of the former. After the relationship with Du Rietz ended in October 1768, Gustav suggested a love affair to Eva Löwen, but she declined with the motivation that his infatuation for her was surely but a whim of wounded self pride, and although she could love him, she could not come between him and her own future Queen.

Löwen is confirmed as an agent employed by the French state. She is one of the confirmed names mentioned on a list from the last years of the age of liberty, consistent of influential Swedish citizens who received secret allowances from the French Crown in exchange for using their influence to lobby French interests in Swedish politics. Her French allowance consisted of a third of the salary paid to a Swedish member of parliament of this period, and almost equal to that of the President of Svea Hovrätt. Nine names are identified on the list, of which three were women. Another female agent was Christina Sofia Bielke, the mother of Magdalena Rudenschöld: women were often financed to hold salons to benefit French interests.

After the revolution of 1772 performed by Gustav III of Sweden, which was in effect a victory for French interests in Sweden, Eva Löwen was favored by the king and enjoyed a platonic friendship with the monarch: she could bee seen visiting the Royal Swedish Opera in the royal box and regularly chosen to sit at the side of the king during suppers, and it was noted that they often discussed France and all things French together. In 1778, a break occurred between Eva Löwen and Gustav III when she was pointed out as one of the instigators behind the rumor that the king had asked Adolph Fredrik Munk af Fulkila to impregnate the queen and that Munck was consequently the father of the father the Crown Prince: the queen dowager supported this hypothesis, and Löwen took the side of the queen dowager against the king during the scandal, which caused her to fall out of favor with Gustav III. A partial reconciliation followed two years later.