Princess Sophia of Sweden

Princess Sophia of Sweden also "Sofia Gustavsdotter Vasa" (October 29, 1547 – March 17, 1611), was a Swedish princess, daughter of King Gustav Vasa of Sweden and Margareta Leijonhufvud, a Swedish noblewoman.

Biography

Princess Sofia is by many historians called the unhappiest of all the children of Gustav Vasa. She was married to Magnus II, Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg, in a discreet ceremony in the shadow of her half-brother King Eric XIV's wedding to Karin Månsdotter in 1568. The marriage became extremely unhappy; the duke was an alcoholic known to mistreat his subordinates and his servants, and he abused her both mentally and physically in such a violent way that she became insane. It seems that the reasons for this was severe jealousy; according to the cronicle of Aegidius Girs, Magnus: " "...showed his princess all unkindness, spit and shamefull slander, that she of the sorrow was caused great weakness of the head."

The unhappy union was finally dissolved after ten years when her brother King John III forced her husband to leave the country in 1578. After his accession, John also gave her the fiefs Ekolsund and Vänngarn.

Princess Sofia lived the rest of her life in seclusion at Ekolsund Castle. She remained mentally unstable, but recuperated enough to run her own household, which she did in a somewhat lively way; she changed head butler twenty-one and housekeeper twenty-three times during these years. In 1597, she was granted the fiefs Lagunda and Håbo. She became a widow when her absent husband died in 1603.

Her only son Gustaf, (1570-1597), was made governor in Kalmar and died unmarried at the age of twenty-seven.

References

*Herman Lindqvist, "Historien om Sverige"