Josephine of Leuchtenberg - Queen

Queen

In 1844, Josephine became Queen of Sweden and Norway at the accession of her spouse. She was crowned in Sweden 28 September 1844, but not in Norway. In Norway, there was opposition to the coronation of a Catholic; the official reason was that the ceremony was unnecessary, as the queen had no position in the Norwegian constitution.

Josephine was very popular both within the court and with the public from the moment she arrived as Crown Princess, and she was more popular as queen than either her predecessor or her successor. She was a success both socially and as a queen consort, and though she remained a devout Catholic, this did not lessen her popularity. She played a great part in making the new dynasty popular in Sweden. She was described as charming, beautiful and dignified.

Her closest companions were Bertha Zück, who was responsible for her personal economic management, and her Catholic chaplain and confessor J.L. Studach (d.1873) ; both followed her from Bavaria, and they were called the trio.

The degree of her political influence during her husband's reign is debated. She was said to have acted as her husband's advisor and to have exerted influence in several matters; in 1848, she tried to prevent the First Schleswig War, in 1855, she was rumoured to be responsible for the treaty between Sweden, Norway, France and Great Britain, and in 1860, she was, according to the rumours, the active force behind the new law permitting freedom of religion. Previously, the law allowed different religious beliefs only to those born to them; conversion from the Lutheran faith was not allowed. Josephine is thought to have been the instigator of the laws providing equal inheritance for men and women (1845), reforms in the prisons and social care, and the abolition of the guilds. It is confirmed that, when a crisis occurred, the king and the queen withdrew in private to discuss the matter before the king made a decision. In 1857, her husband became ill; she tried to conceal his condition, and was opposed to her son's appointment as a regent, as he did not wish to allow her any political influence. The king and queen showed themselves to the city in a carriage, the king waving to the public, but Josephine in fact had to hold up and move his hand.

She mourned when her cousin Napoleon III of France was dethroned in 1870. In 1873, she visited her sister Amalie in Portugal. The same year, she was moved when she received the public's adoration during the celebration of her fifty years in Sweden. In 1875, she visited the Pope Pius IX in Rome.

Josephine died in Stockholm in 1876 at the age of sixty-nine and received a Catholic burial. Her last words were "I am going home now. I am very happy."