Hedvig Taube - Royal Mistress and Salonist

Royal Mistress and Salonist

The countess herself lived an unhappy and discreet life. After her first public appearance at court after her acknowledgement in 1735 the Queen protested by claiming to be indisposed and refused to leave her rooms, and after this, Taube never appeared at court again. She had never wanted to be a mistress, and when foreign ambassadors visited her to ask her to use her influence, she told them she had none and that she did not wish to have any. She did, however, became a noted patron of artists, and her salon became its own little court that rivaled that of the religious Queen; one of her favorites was the poet Olof von Dahlin, who was regarded as somewhat of the Court Poet. Indirectly, however, she really was to play a political role. She had a lot of influence when it came to the offices appointed by the king; it was said, that one need only to be recommended by her to become a favorite to the king and receive an office. Her court was the center of the Gylleborg party, which opposed Arvid Horn, who had opposed her position as mistress, but she herself favoured Horn, as she had been opposed to her position herself, and refused to be influenced to be anything but neutral during the 1739 election.

On 10 March 1735, Taube bore a second child, a son, named Fredrik Vilhelm, later Prince of Hessenstein. Two years later, on 26 November 1737, she gave birth to his third child and second son, Karl Edvard, created Count of Hessenstein, who died unmarried in Paris in 1769.