Ulrika Eleonora of Sweden

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Swedish Royalty
House of Palatinate-Zweibrücken

Charles X Gustav

Children
Charles XI
Charles XI
Children
Hedvig Sophia, Duchess of Holstein-Gottorp]]
Charles XII
Ulrika Eleonora
Charles XII
Ulrika Eleonora

Ulrika Eleonora (January 23, 1688 – November 24, 1741) was Queen regnant of Sweden from November 30, 1718, to February 29, 1720, and then Queen consort until her death.

She was the youngest child of King Charles XI and Queen Ulrika Eleonora the Elder and was named after her mother. After the death of her brother, King Charles XII, at Fredrikshald on November 30, 1718, she claimed the throne over the rights of her nephew Charles Frederick, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp, the only son of her late elder sister, on basis of being the closest surviving relative of the deceased king (the idea of proximity of blood), though not his heiress in primogeniture. The succession discussions ultimately ended in her favour after she had agreed to abolish the absolute monarchy.

In 1715 she had married Landgrave Friedrich I of Hesse-Kassel, whose counsel she constantly sought in political matters. She wanted him to become co-regent, but this was not permitted and she abdicated in his favour after just one year of her reign, which succession was confirmed by the Riksdag of the Estates. Frederick succeeded her on the Swedish throne as King Frederick I. Queen Ulrika Eleonora died of smallpox in 1741 after a childless marriage. Succession after them was source of recurring plotting. The reigns of Ulrika Eleonora and her husband saw the birth of the era of Swedish history traditionally known as the Age of Liberty, when the monarch had to give up most of his power to the aristocracy.