The Story Behind The Legend
The history about Brita Karth and her alleged children with prince Gustav was the product of baron Adolf Ludvig Stierneld (1755-1835), courtier and a well-known collector of historical documents, whom historians have later found also to be a ruthless forger of such documents. Wishing to claim a royal ancestry for his own family Stierneld reported having found handwritten notes by Brita Karth herself regarding her relation and family with Gustav in an old pious book that was to have been given to her by Gustav's mother, Karin Månsdotter.
Although Stierneld's claims were at the time accepted by the Swedish House of Nobility they were also soon refuted by historians and genealogists, beginning with an essay by A.T.G. Oxenstierna in 1869 and later by noted archivist and genealogist Victor Örnberg (1839-1908) in Svenska ättartal. Today Brita Karth and her children are regarded as completely fictional.
Read more about this topic: Brita Persdotter Karth
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