Charlotta Sparre

Charlotta Sparre by Antoine Pesne.

Charlotta Sparre by François Boucher, 1741.

Charlotta Sparre (1719 – 1795), commonly named Lotta Sparre was a Swedish noble and court lady.

Lotta Sparre was the daughter of Fredrik Henrik Sparre and Virginia Christina Lilliehöök af Fårdala. Her beauty made her famous at the royal French court at Versailles, where she was known as “la charmante rose” when she stayed in France 1739–1742 with her relative Ulla Sparre, the wife of Carl Gustaf Tessin. She also followed Tessin to Berlin, where Prince Augustus William of Prussia is reported to have fallen in love with her.

Sparre was a lady-in-waiting to Louisa Ulrika of Prussia from 1744 and a court lady and Mistress of the Robes to queen Sophia Magdalena of Denmark. By Hedvig Elisabeth Charlotte of Holstein-Gottorp she was described as a pleasing but eccentric character, lazy while her husband was frivolous, and not one to meddle in intrigues. She was present at the baptism of the Crown Prince in 1778 and at the delivery of the Queen in 1782. However, her health and increasing weight caused her to spend more time in retirement in her rooms and her position as courtier was a mere formality when she eventually lost the position in 1795, which made her daughters leave court in solidarity with her^[1]

In 1748 she married royal Crown Forester Count Carl Reinhold von Fersen and became the mother of Ulla von Höpken and Augusta von Fersen. During her stay in Paris, she studied dance under Marie Sallé, which she in turn taught her daughters, who were to become famous for the grace and talent within dance in the amateur theater of Gustav III ^[2]

Notes

1. ^ Cecilia af Klercker (1923) (in Swedish). Hedvig Elisabeth Charlottas dagbok V 1795-1796 (The diaries of Hedvig Elizabeth Charlotte V 1795-1796). P.A. Norstedt & Söners förlag Stockholm. p. 116. ISBN 231845. 
2. ^ Gunilla Roempke (1994). Gunilla Roempke. ed. Vristens makt – dansös i mätressernas tidevarv (The power of the ankle - dancer in the epoch of the royal mistresses) Stockholm: Stockholm Fischer & company. ISBN 91-7054-734-3

References

• Olof Jägerskiöld: Lovisa Ulrika (1945)
• Cecilia af Klercker (1908) (in Swedish). Hedvig Elisabeth Charlottas dagbok I 1775-1782. P.A. Norstedt & Söners förlag. ISBN. 
• http://runeberg.org/pht/1899/0267.html
• http://runeberg.org/pht/1905/0110.html
• Gunilla Roempke (1994). Gunilla Roempke. ed. Vristens makt – dansös i mätressernas tidevarv (The power of the ankle - dancer in the epoch of the royal mistresses) Stockholm: Stockholm Fischer & company. ISBN 91-7054-734-3

Persondata
Name	Sparre, Charlotta
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1719
Place of birth
Date of death	1795
Place of death