| Ulla von Höpken | |
|---|---|
Ulla von Höpken |
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| Born | Ulrika Eleonora von Fersen 24 March 1749 Sweden |
| Died | 17 September 1810 Frötuna, Sweden |
| Nationality | Swedish |
| Other names | Ulla von Fersen, Ulla von Wright |
| Occupation | Lady in waiting |
| Known for | One of "The tree graces", for her love life, and as a source of inspiration in culture and litterature |
Ulla (Ulrika Eleonora) von Höpken, later von Wright, née von Fersen (24 March 1749 – 17 September 1810), was a Swedish lady-in-waiting and noble. She was a leading socialite of the Gustavian age, and known in history as one of the "Three Graces" alongside her sister Augusta von Fersen and Lovisa Meijerfeldt, which inspired the poem of Johan Henric Kellgren "Gracernas döpelse". She is one of the best known profiles of the Gustavian age.
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Ulrika Eleonora von Fersen was the daughter of the noble royal Crown Forester Count Carl Reinhold von Fersen and Charlotta Sparre and cousin of count Axel von Fersen the Younger, granddaughter of Hans von Fersen, and niece of Axel von Fersen the Elder. Her father, the brother of the Caps party leader, was known as "one of the most elegant and spirited gentlemen of his time", and her mother made a success at the French royal court of Versailles as a great beauty when she accompanied her relative Ulla Tessin, spouse of the Swedish ambassador Carl Gustaf Tessin, to France in 1739–1742.
Ulla was early introduced to court where she made a success with her beauty and charm. Prince Frederick Adolf of Sweden fell in love with her and wished to marry her. Reportedly, she regarded this only as a flattering amusement. Prince Frederick Adolf proposed to her in the garden at Drottningholm Palace, and: "She laughed and accepted without a moments doubt, amused and flattered. She laughed still when he suggested that they exchanged rings, and was not more serious when he begun to shower her with jewels and gifts". [1]Her family, however, was convinced that a royal marriage would be a mistake and refused to permit it. They forced her to return the ring and presents and decided that the next proposal to her would be accepted.
To avoid a royal match, her family arranged a marriage with Baron Nils von Höpken (1750–1780), cavalry captain of the Scanian cavalry, a man described as a great beauty who was almost ruined by gambling and spending. Prince Frederick later proposed to her cousin, Sophie Piper. Ulla and Höpken were married in 1770. Initially, the marriage was very happy and passionate: it was said that they did not care about economic problems as long as they had a bed, and they were described as Amor and Psyche. In 1773, they separated after her husband abused her out of jealousy, and after this, they lived separate lives: he spent his time drinking and gambling, and she in "pleasing others". She returned to court, where she was appointed lady-in-waiting to Queen Sophia Magdalena.
Ulla became one of the three leading socialites known as the "Three Graces" alongside Augusta von Fersen and Lovisa Meijerfeldt, expressed by Johan Henric Kellgren in the poem «Gracernas döpelse». The mother of Augusta and Ulla had studied dance under Marie Sallé during her stay in Paris and in turn taught her daughters, who became known for their grace and talent within dance in the amateur theatre in the court of Gustav III[2] She was noted for her love life: in 1778, she was the subject of a scandal when letters purporting to be from her circulated, in which she apparently invited several men to join her on the same occasion,[3] and in 1781, the caricture Lisimons was written by the courtiers portraying her relationship with her three lovers.[4] Ulla had a good relationship to Gustav III, and it was noticed that they enjoyed to talk to each other as if they were flirting. Gustav III once said to her: "Well Ulla, you and me are surely friends for ever and will never leave each other", upon which she answered: "Thank you very much, I have had one unhappy marriage already and that is quite enough".[5]
In 1789, she temporary withdrew from court in protest when the king arrested her uncle. In 1795, Ulla von Höpken left court: her mother, formally head of the court of the queen dowager, although in reality bedridden, was fired from her position and her daughters left the court in protest, officially to take care of their mother's health, and she formally lost her position in June 1795.[6]
In 1797, she married her "faithful admirer", the much younger Colonel Georg John Jonas von Wright (d. 1800). She spent her last years with her sisters and became appreciated for her charity, kindness and, as it was said, for: "the refinement, primarily recognized in the people formed by the court of Gustav III".
An 18-gun frigate of the Swedish Royal Navy, Ulla Fersen was named after her. The frigate participated in the campaign of 1790 and the Battle of Reval. In March 1801 the ship was detained by the British Royal Navy while on passage to the Swedish colony Saint Barthelemy, but was released after negotiations. She was wrecked in 1807.[7]
Ulla is the subject of the novel Venus i rokoko; en roman om Ulla von Fersen (English: Roccoco Venus; a novel of Ulla von Fersen) by Ole Söderström (1960). She has been suggested as a role model for Bellman's character Ulla Winblad in her "aristocratic version".
Ulla was used as the model of the naked Venus sculpture by Johan Tobias Sergel, Venus aux belles fesses (1779): King Gustav III wished to have a statue of Venus opposite his statue of Apollo in his salon, and "as a compliment to our ladies in waiting", Ulla von Höpken was chosen as the model. The statue was later placed in the National Museum of Fine Arts.