Hedvig Catharina De la Gardie

Hedvig Catharina von Fersen
Hedvig Catharina von Fersen
Born	20 May 1732 Stockholm
Died	24 April 1800 Stockholm
Known for	Hedvig Catharina was the heir of Löfstad Castle. Through her marriage, she became the matriarch of one of the most powerful noble families in Sweden.

Hedvig Catharina von Fersen, née De la Gardie (Stockholm, 20 May 1732–Stockholm, 24 April 1800) was a Swedish noble. She was the daughter of the General and riksråd count Magnus Julius De la Gardie and the political salonist Hedvig Catharina Lilje, and sister of scientist Eva Ekeblad.

She married the riksråd count Axel von Fersen the Elder in 1752. Hedvig Catharina was the heir of Löfstad Castle, and her marriage thereby strengthened both the social and economic position of her spouse. She became the mother of Hedvig Eleonora von Fersen (1753–1792), Hans Axel von Fersen (1755–1810), Sophie von Fersen (1757–1816), and Fabian Reinhold von Fersen (1762–1818).

Through her marriage, she became the matriarch of one of the most powerful noble families in Sweden and a riksrådinna (spouse of a riksråd), securing her a position in the very elite of the Swedish aristocracy, and socialized in the circles of the royal court: Queen Louisa Ulrika once referred to her and Eva Ekeblad as her only true friends. Despite her position, however, there are no mentions of her ever having played a political role, despite this being fashionable for women of her status during the age of liberty. She is sometime mentioned in passing in contemporary diaries and letters, such as in 1774, when her relative count Claes Julius Ekeblad mention in his correspondence to Brita Horn, that her spouse, Axel von Fersen the Elder, had recently been succeeded as the lover of Eva Löwen by her son, Hans Axel von Fersen, and that his aunt Hedvig Catharina von Fersen "has been affected enough by this to cry - she, who never hesitate to separate a man from his wife."