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Hedvig Elisabeth Charlotte of Holstein-Gottorp

Eutin, 22 Mar 1759 – Stockholm, 20 Jun 1818

10 facts3 sources

Facts and their sources

A life in time

  1. 22 Mar 1759

    Born in Eutin

  2. 1797–1798

    2 children are born

  3. 1809–1818

    Queen Consort of Sweden

  4. 20 Jun 1818

    Dies in Stockholm, aged 59

During her lifetime

She lived through 7 decades. Pick one to hear and see what it was like around Eutin.

General history, not a record about the family: each item says where it comes from.

The 1750s · Hedvig is born in Eutin

In the news1756–1763

Seven Years' War casualties and destruction

During the Seven Years' War, some 160,000 Prussian soldiers died in battle or from disease, devastating the population.

Getting around

Stagecoach Travel at Walking Speed

In the mid-18th century, the stagecoach was the primary mode of travel for those who could afford it, moving at a walking pace of about 4 to 5 kilometers per hour. A trip from Nuremberg to Leipzig typically took around 70 hours, while the journey from Nuremberg to Regensburg required 20 hours.

In Europe1755

Lisbon is destroyed by an earthquake

On All Saints’ Day an earthquake, a tsunami and fires levelled Lisbon and killed tens of thousands; Europe’s thinkers argued over it for decades.

Daily life

Open Hearth Cooking and Pump Well Water

Cooking took place in the living room over an open fireplace or a masonry hearth with a recessed grate, using wood or brown coal for fuel. Drinking water was typically sourced from communal pump wells located in the village center.

What people wore

Women's Caps Served Many Purposes

Most women, regardless of their status, wore a cap as both a fashionable and practical accessory to protect their hair while working near heat or dust.

Music

Regulated music at weddings and funerals

Weddings were major social events where music was highly regulated by status, dictating the number of performers and the duration of the celebrations. Musicians often played at these weddings and funerals, with societies in places like Leuben attending up to 18 weddings annually.

At the table

Kitchen tools for open fire cooking

To save time while cooking soups, housewives used hooks with a sawtooth design to quickly adjust the height of pots over the fire. They also used a specialized iron tool called a Cold Hand to remove hot pots because oven mitts were not yet in use.