Swedish-German duchess. She was a Princess of Sweden of the Wittelsbach Dynasty and by marriage a Duchess of Holstein-Gottorp in Germany. She was one of the three children of King Charles XI and Queen Ulrica Eleanor of Sweden who survived childhood, four of her five brothers having died in infancy. She was also called just Sophia alone, without the more usual compounded given name, and had six fingers on each hand. Since her brother King Carl XII had no male heirs, and based on the right of women to inherit the Swedish throne as had been arranged for her grandfather's cousin Queen Christina in the 1620s, she was next in line to the throne as of her father's death. Married in 1698 to Duke Fredrick VI of Holstein-Gottorp, she soon lost him killed in action fighting alongside her brother in the Battle of Kliszów in 1702. She then acted as the duchy's regent for their minor son until her own death six years later. When she died her brother the famous soldier king, to whom she was close, was seen to weep for the only time known to anyone. When he too was killed in action in Norway in 1718 her son should have become Swedish king, but her younger sister Ulrica Eleanor the Younger was in Stockholm and managed to claim the throne for herself. The son went on in 1724 to marry a Grand Duchess of Russia which started a new dynasty there with their son Peter III.
Swedish-German duchess. She was a Princess of Sweden of the Wittelsbach Dynasty and by marriage a Duchess of Holstein-Gottorp in Germany. She was one of the three children of King Charles XI and Queen Ulrica Eleanor of Sweden who survived childhood, four of her five brothers having died in infancy. She was also called just Sophia alone, without the more usual compounded given name, and had six fingers on each hand. Since her brother King Carl XII had no male heirs, and based on the right of women to inherit the Swedish throne as had been arranged for her grandfather's cousin Queen Christina in the 1620s, she was next in line to the throne as of her father's death. Married in 1698 to Duke Fredrick VI of Holstein-Gottorp, she soon lost him killed in action fighting alongside her brother in the Battle of Kliszów in 1702. She then acted as the duchy's regent for their minor son until her own death six years later. When she died her brother the famous soldier king, to whom she was close, was seen to weep for the only time known to anyone. When he too was killed in action in Norway in 1718 her son should have become Swedish king, but her younger sister Ulrica Eleanor the Younger was in Stockholm and managed to claim the throne for herself. The son went on in 1724 to marry a Grand Duchess of Russia which started a new dynasty there with their son Peter III.
Bio by: Count Demitz
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