Catherine of Saxe-Lauenburg - Biography

Biography

King Gustav married Catherine for political reasons. Negotiations began in 1528. He wanted closer connections with German Protestant rulers in order to gain support for his reformation efforts and his throne. The marriage also gave Gustav closer connections to the throne of Denmark, as Catherine's older sister Dorothea was engaged to Christian, the Crown Prince of Denmark.

Catherine was 18 years old when Gustav's proposal was accepted, and she travelled to Sweden in the company of her mother. They were married on 24 September 1531. The short marriage was allegedly stormy and remained so after the birth of their son and only child, the future King Eric XIV of Sweden, in 1533. Catherine never learned to speak Swedish, and as her husband's German was less than perfect, they had difficulty in communicating and did not spend much time together. It has been claimed that Queen Catherine was not popular, was intrigant, melancholy and full of whims, and that she also complained about her husband to Count John of Hoya who was married to her sister-in-law Margaret.

During a visit by her brother-in-law Christian III, the recently crowned King of Denmark (and her sister's husband as noted above), she allegedly accused Gustav of planning to murder him. At a castle ball, she and Christian fell while dancing, which caused her to have a miscarriage. She died soon after Christian's departure, on 23 September 1535, two weeks after her fall, and was eventually buried in Uppsala Cathedral after Gustav died in 1560.

After her death, rumors about the cause of it were spread by Gustav's enemies, claiming that he had killed Catherine with a silver hammer he used to summon servants. No formal accusation was made by Catherine's family, and an analysis of her remains, made during the 20th century, showed no damage to her skull or to the rest of her skeleton.