Hedvig Eleonora von Fersen (1753–1792, Pisa) was a Swedish noble, lady in waiting to the Swedish queen, Sophia Magdalena of Denmark. She was the daughter of Axel von Fersen the Elder and Hedvig Catharina De la Gardie and the sister of Count Axel von Fersen the Younger and Sophie Piper. She married marshal Count Thure Leonard Klinckowström in his second marriage (1773), and with him had four children.
She was considered to be a cultivated intellectual. It was said about Hedvig Eleonora that she had : "the most passionate wit, surpassing perhaps all other women in Sweden, along with the strongest soul". She was a friend of Princess Hedvig Elizabeth Charlotte, who described her as a truly good friend, witty and cleverly critical i the presence of friends, but distanced to the world, indifferent to her appearance and often poorly dressed.[1] She had accepted her position as lady in waiting unvillingly on the wish of her spouse, who wished for her to accept the position for economic reasons [1]
In December 1775 she received a letter from Gustav III of Sweden asking her husband to recommend Bellman, "also called the Anacreon of Sweden" as king's secretary. He wrote:
"You know that I loved poets and in particular Swedish ones. You know these gentlemen are always poor and always ask for support. You also know that their verse-craft is neither happy nor fruitful unless their purse is filled."
Bellman became secretary, for 3,000 thalers per annum, of hich he gave half to the person who held the service.
Gustav III and Hedvig Eleonora was initially friends, and she is noted to have discussed political issues with him. In 1779, she made an unsuccessful attempt to convince him to make peace with his mother, the queen dowager Louisa Ulrika of Prussia, after a break caused by the queen dowagers support to the rumour that king Gustav had hired Count Adolf Fredrik Munck af Fulkila to imregnant the queen and that Munck was the father of the heir [2], and in 1782, she warned him not to be lenient with a religious sect, Collinisterna, which had caused disturbencies [3]
Eventually, she came to belong to the opponents of Gustav III; at his death bed in 1792, the monarch asked for her to meet him, as he wished to reconcile with her before he died, and asked her to make peace with him.[1] [4]