This is a portrait of the sister of the Swedish king Charles XII, the same one who fought against Russia in the Northern War of 1700 - 1721. (However, he did not live to see the end of the war and the crown passed to his sister Ulrika-Eleanor).
On this occasion, I remembered a “bearded” joke (however, it is so old that it may have long been forgotten).
However, this anecdote can also be considered a parable. Well, I think you yourself will draw certain parallels with our time.
ANECDOTE-PARABLE
The monarch of one of the powerful states, who spent his entire life in numerous warriors and lost his right leg and right eye in them, decided to capture himself for posterity in a ceremonial portrait.
For this purpose, three artists were invited to the king’s court: a romanticist, a realist and a socialist realist. They were warned that if the king did not like the portrait, then a terrible execution awaited them (the king was, not surprisingly, a cruel tyrant), and if he liked it, then they would receive a reward that they could not even dream of.
The first artist to offer his painting to the king was a representative of the romantic movement in painting. On it, the great monarch was depicted as a real handsome man, 20 or even 30 years younger than in reality, with two legs and two eyes.
“All this is very beautiful,” the king said calmly and looked at the romantic artist with his only eye so that even the courtiers, who knew well the harsh disposition of their sovereign, had cold sweat running down their backs. “But don’t you see that in your portrait I don’t look like myself at all? And if you show this portrait to my loyal subjects, they will laugh at me, is that what you want?!!!”
Two royal guards immediately grabbed the unfortunate romantic artist by the arms, and since he could no longer walk for fear of the inevitable punishment, they dragged him towards the dungeon, where the executioner, a real professional who adores his work like all real professionals, he was sharpening a huge ax with an ominous smile.
The realist artist always believed that true art should reflect reality as it is, because truth is always above all, and to embellish something or someone is unworthy of a true artist. Therefore, he depicted the king as he was: one-legged and one-eyed, with a large wart on his nose, a bloody, ugly scar on his cheek and disgusting ulcers all over his face. At the same time, the abscesses were drawn out especially carefully, and the king’s empty eye socket in his portrait was framed by boils. Since there was nothing left of the monarch’s once luxurious hair, the artist especially emphasized the royal bald spot, his lumpy skull and the pitiful remnants of hair hanging in gray strands behind his protruding ears, making the crowned lady look like an elderly comedian.
The king looked for a long time at his portrait, presented by a realist artist, then went to the mirror, which he also peered into for a long time. Then his face was distorted by an angry grimace, which did not bode well for either the artist or those courtiers who were present at the demonstration of this portrait.
“So, so, so...,” the king said slowly and measuredly. “So you want me to remain a terrible freak in the memory of my descendants and the descendants of my subjects?!!!”
At these words of the king, those courtiers who stood near the doors tried to slip out of the main hall unnoticed, which they were unable to do, since the royal guards blocked their exit, closing their halberds almost in front of their noses.
The realist artist tried to remain calm, and it should be noted that he did it well. His fear and excitement were revealed only by slightly trembling hands (however, this may have been a consequence of his excessive passion for absinthe) and drops of sweat on his forehead (it was not hot at all in the hall, rather cold, and two lit fireplaces on both sides of the royal throne warmed only the king himself and two ceremonial guards, who, in their long caftans and huge hats made of bear skins, were waiting for only one thing - when they would finally be replaced).
“Your Majesty,” the realist artist began to say, not completely overcoming his excitement, “I depicted you exactly as you should remain in the memory of posterity - a great warrior, wounded in battles in the name of the greatness of our country. The eye and leg you lost are nothing more than visible evidence of your exploits in the name of the greatness of our Fatherland. I hoped that you would appreciate this and..."
“Enough!” the king interrupted the artist, rising from his throne. “In the wars that I waged, many lost their limbs! But I am the king!!! And you portrayed me as a simple cripple!!! Take him away,” he gave the order to his to the guards. “And these cowards who tried to hide from my righteous anger, also take them away from my eyes. Let them suffer the same punishment as this truth-loving artist!”
The guards immediately rushed to the four courtiers and dragged them into the torture chamber. And the artist, spitting on the floor in front of the royal throne, pushed the “guides” away from him, finally looking boldly into the king’s only eye, and went to the slaughter himself.
The executioner, on whose ax blood stains were still visible, left after the execution of the romantic artist (his headless body was unceremoniously pushed into the corner of the dungeon, and the severed body was ready with for some reason eyes wide open and a mouth twisted in horror, in the corner of which a drop of blood froze , lying like a cabbage next to the block), stretched his hands, but seeing that not only the artist was being led to him, but also six courtiers, two of whom were counts, and the rest barons, he was somewhat confused.
However, his confusion quickly passed. “Throw these six in the torture room, I’ll deal with them later,” he ordered his henchmen, “And give the artist here!”
After a few seconds, the head of the realist artist joined the head of the romantic painter.
The angry king ordered a third artist, known for his ceremonial portraits in the style of socialist realism, to be brought in. The artist did not enter alone; his huge painting was carried in by four assistants.
The painting depicted the king on horseback. The rearing front legs of the horse symbolized the king’s desire for new conquests; his (the horse’s) bared teeth were supposed to emphasize intolerance towards defeated enemies. And the great ruler himself sat on a horse (naturally black) in profile: in such a way that no one could see either the absence of his right eye or the stump of his right leg. The royal bald spot was covered with a wide-brimmed hat, from under which curled curls of a luxurious wig.
The king was silent for some time, examining the painting of the socialist realist artist in all its details. He was not disturbed by the groans of the courtiers, who were impaled, or the whispers of the courtiers remaining in the hall, who were awaiting their fate in horror.
He assessed his image, which showed the most truth as he imagined it.
The socialist realist artist, knowing that the king could not dislike his work (this was not the first order for him), was completely calm.
“It’s these kind of artists that I need!” the king suddenly and loudly declared. “Now he will become my chief minister! And whoever doesn’t agree with these, I’ll impale him!!!”
The courtiers obediently bowed their heads before the new prime minister: “As you say, Your Majesty!”
Ulrika Eleonora.
Reproduction from the site http://monarchy.nm.ru/
Ulrika Eleonora, Queen of Sweden
Ulrika Eleonora
Years of life: February 23, 1688 - November 24, 1741
Reign: November 30, 1718 - February 29, 1720
Father: Charles XI
Mother: Ulrika Eleonora of Denmark
Husband: Friedrich von Hesse-Kassel
Ulrika Eleonora inherited the throne after the unexpected death of her older brother Charles, who had no children. Ulrika immediately agreed to the signing of a new constitution that limited the power of the monarch in favor of parliament and officials. When making political decisions, she always consulted with her husband Frederick, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel, and even wanted to officially appoint him regent, but did not receive the consent of the Riksdag. Then Ulrika decided to abdicate the throne altogether in favor of her husband.
The reign of Ulrika Eleonora is considered in Sweden to be the beginning of the "Age of Freedoms", when a significant part of the powers of the monarch again passed to the aristocracy.
Material used from the site http://monarchy.nm.ru/ Ulrika Eleonora the Younger (23.I.1688 - 24.XI.1741) - Queen of Sweden (1719-1720), younger sister Charles XII . She was elected queen with the support of the aristocratic opposition, hostile to absolutism, but at the same time signed a law on a new form of government that transferred decisive power to the Riksdag. Stopped the reduction and restored a number of privileges of the highest nobility (letter of grant to the Baltic nobility in 1719, etc.). Ulrika Eleonora was completely dependent on her husband Frederick of Hesse
, in whose favor she abdicated the throne in 1720.
Soviet historical encyclopedia. In 16 volumes. - M.: Soviet Encyclopedia. 1973-1982. Volume 14. TAANAKH - FELEO. 1971.
Read further: Sweden
Ulrika Fredrika Pasch, or Ulla at home, was considered one of the very, very few professional artists in Sweden until the very beginning of the 19th century. Let us note, however, that her life occurred in the 18th century, when women artists could be counted on one hand. As a true northerner and daughter of her age, Ulla was not ambitious. The rather meager biography of her brother, also an artist, looks much more extensive than the biography of her sister. Nevertheless, there is a lot to tell about Ulrika, and her biography is much more impressive than the biography of her brother.
Ulla was born in Stockholm on July 10, 1735 into a family of artists. Her father, Lorenz Pasch the Elder, was a famous portrait painter; Let's talk about the older brother separately; and his uncle, Johan Pash, was a court artist, which in itself was recognition of his talent.
Ulrika's father, noticing the girl's talent for drawing, began teaching her together with her brother. No information has been preserved about Ulrika’s mother. Most likely, she was already dead at that time. In the 1750s, the painter father's star began to decline, and the family's financial situation fell into some decline. At that time, my brother was studying abroad, and 15-year-old Ulrika had to become a servant for one of her maternal relatives.
It sounds like the beginning of a drama about an unfortunate orphan in the house of an elderly rich man, but in reality everything was, to put it mildly, not at all dramatic. Ulla was a girl who matured early, and therefore serious and responsible. Secondly, a relative is still not a stranger, and therefore, knowing the girl, he hired her not as a simple servant, but as a housekeeper. The management of the entire household was in the hands of the housekeeper; in fact, she was the mistress of the house. And thirdly, the relative turned out to be a far-sighted man: seeing Ulla’s talent for painting, he gave her the opportunity to continue her studies in her free time.
After a few years, Ulrika’s work began to be in demand, she had her own clients, not only among the wealthy middle class, but even in aristocratic circles. Her well-being improved so much that she could almost completely support her family on her own. In 1766, her father dies, and Ulrika decides to open her own studio. The decision turned out to be so correct that the brother returning from abroad was surprised to find his sister a fully established professional artist with a promising clientele.
Ulrika invited her brother to share the studio with her. The younger sister, Helena Sofia, took care of the housekeeping in their small family. They said that she was also not deprived of the talent of a painter, but chose to devote herself to the house. Unfortunately, some of her works, if any, have not survived.
Portrait of the Swedish Queen
Since 1760, Ulrika begins to paint portraits of members of the royal family.
A portrait of the Swedish Queen Ulrika Eleonora, which some attribute to Ulla, is circulating on the Internet. In fact, I was unable to find the author of this portrait, but it was definitely not Ulrika Pash. The queen's portrait looks more like a caricature copied from Ulla's work.
Queen Ulrika Eleonora did not shine with beauty, but at the same time she was distinguished by her femininity and refined manners. In addition, she received an excellent education and had a strong character. Ulla managed to convey all this in the portrait of the queen. Compare it to the cartoon mocked by short-sighted web surfers who greedily circulate the theme of aristocratic ugliness due to incest.
Portrait of Queen Ulrika Eleonora by Ulrika Fredrika Pasch 
Caricature of a portrait of Ulrika Eleonora by an unknown artist
By the way, let me quote the statement of fashion historian Galina Ivankina: “When I read that Nicholas II or his wife, as well as anyone else from the highest aristocracy, have “degenerate traits,” or “how scary all these princesses are,” I understand why people write this . These individuals are not related to them, to critics, at the genetic level. Even on the sociocultural level. Narrow faces with straight noses, without vulgar lips on half the face, long fingers, high foreheads - this is unnatural for admirers of the young Pamela Anderson.”
The first female academician
Ulrika's prestige as a portrait painter was quite high. Surprisingly, she herself did not consider herself a serious artist at all, and always said that she was simply earning her living. This might seem like a pose and false modesty, if not for one nuance: working in the same studio with her brother, Ulrika, according to the researchers, “helped him in the execution of some details of his portraits,” or rather, painted costumes, fabrics and draperies, which Lorenz seemed boring and uninteresting. Agree, drawing such details in creating a portrait is by no means an important thing.
At the age of 38, Ulrika was accepted into the newly created Royal Academy of Liberal Arts. She became the first woman elected as an academician. And although she was elected on the same day as her brother, the members of the Academy valued her joining their ranks much more.
Brother's career
The reader might get the wrong impression, so I hasten to explain. Lorenz Pasch the Younger was not a bad artist at all. He received his theological education in Uppsala. Returning to Stockholm, he studied painting with his father until 1752, when he went to Copenhagen, where he studied at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. His teachers were such prominent painters as Carl Gustav Pilo, Jacques François Joseph Saly and Johann Martin Preisler. In 1757, Lorenz Pasch went to Paris, where he studied at the School of Fine Arts with Alexander Roslin, Jean-Baptiste Pierre, Louis-Michel van Loo, and Francois Boucher. His fame was brought to him by numerous portraits of members of the royal family, which are now in the largest museums in the world, including the Hermitage.
His election to the Royal Academy of Arts speaks volumes, even if its members valued Ulrika’s skill above.
Portrait of Queen Sophia Magdalene of Denmark 
Child portrait of King Gustav III of Sweden 
Portrait of King Gustav III 
Portrait of Queen Sophia Magdalene of Denmark
Ulrika Eleonora was a Swedish queen who reigned from 1718-1720. She is the younger sister of Charles XII. And her parents are Ulrika Eleonora of Denmark and Charles XI. In this article we will describe a short biography of the Swedish ruler.
Potential regent
Ulrika Eleonora was born in Stockholm Castle in 1688. As a child, the girl was not much spoiled with attention. Her elder sister Gedviga Sofia was considered her parents' favorite daughter.
In 1690, Ulrika Eleanor of Denmark was named by Charles as a possible regent in the event of his death, provided that their son did not reach adulthood. But due to frequent childbirth, the health of the king’s wife deteriorated greatly. After the winter of 1693 she was gone.
The Legend of the Queen's Death
There is a legend on this topic. It says that when Karl's wife was dying in the palace, Maria Stenbock (her favorite maid of honor) was lying sick in Stockholm. On the night when Ulrika Eleonora passed away, Countess Stenbock arrived at the palace and was allowed into the deceased’s room. One of the officers looked through the keyhole. In the room, the guard saw the Countess and the Queen talking by the window. The soldier's shock was so great that he began to cough up blood. Around the same time, Maria and her crew seemed to disappear. An investigation began, during which it turned out that that night the Countess was seriously ill and did not leave her house. The officer died of shock, and Stenbock died a little later. Karl personally gave the order never to talk about what happened anywhere.
Marriage and authority
In 1714, King Ulric's daughter Eleonora was engaged to Frederick of Hesse-Kassel. A year later their wedding took place. The princess's authority grew significantly, and those close to Charles XII had to take her opinion into account. The girl's sister, Gedviga Sophia, died in 1708. Therefore, in fact, Ulrika and Karl's mother were the only representatives of the Swedish royal family.
At the beginning of 1713, the monarch already wanted to make his daughter a temporary regent of the country. But he did not carry out this plan. On the other hand, the royal council wanted to enlist the support of the princess, so they persuaded her to attend all its meetings. At the first meeting where Ulrika was present, they decided to convene the Riksdag (parliament).
Some participants were in favor of appointing Eleanor as regent. But the royal council and Arvid Gorn were against it. They feared that new difficulties would arise with the change in government. Subsequently, Charles XII allowed the princess to sign all documents emanating from the council, except those sent to him personally.
Fight for the throne
In December 1718, Ulrika Eleonora learned of the death of her brother. She took this news calmly and forced everyone to call herself queen. The council did not oppose this. Soon the girl gave the order for the arrest of supporters of Georg Goertz and canceled all the decisions that came from his pen. At the end of 1718, at the convening of the Riksdag, Ulrika expressed a desire to abolish the autocracy and return the country to its previous form of government.
The Swedish military high command voted to abolish absolutism, not recognize the right of succession, and award Eleanor the title of queen. Members of the Riksdag had a similar position. But in order to gain the support of the royal council, the girl announced that she had no right to the throne.
Swedish Queen Ulrika Eleonora
At the beginning of 1719, the princess renounced hereditary rights to the throne. After that, she was proclaimed queen, but with one caveat. Ulrika approved a form of government composed by the estates. According to this document, most of her power passed into the hands of the Riksdag. In March 1719, Eleanor's coronation took place in Uppsala.
The new ruler was unable to cope with the difficulties that arose when she assumed a new position. Ulrika's influence dropped significantly after disagreements with the head of the Chancellery A. Gorn. She also did not have a good relationship with his successors - Krunjelm and Sparre.
Upon ascending the throne, the Swedish Queen Ulrika Eleonora wanted to share power with her husband. But in the end she was forced to abandon this idea due to the persistent resistance of the nobility. The inability to adapt to the new constitution, the autocracy of the ruler, as well as the influence of her husband on her decisions gradually pushed government officials to the desire to replace the monarch.
New King
Ulrika's husband Friedrich of Hesse began to actively work in this direction. To begin with, he became close to A. Gorn. Thanks to this, in 1720 he was elected Landmarshal at the Riksdag. Soon, Queen Ulrika Eleonora submitted a petition to the estates to rule jointly with her husband. This time her proposal was met with disapproval. On February 29, 1720, the heroine of this article abdicated the throne in favor of her husband, Frederick of Hesse-Kassel. There was only one caveat: in the event of his death, the crown would return to Ulrike. On March 24, 1720, Eleanor's husband became monarch of Sweden under the name Frederick I.
Far from power
Ulrika was interested in public affairs until her last days. But after 1720 she distanced herself from them, preferring to engage in charity work and reading. Although from time to time the former ruler replaced her husband on the throne. For example, in 1731 during his trip abroad or in 1738 when Frederick became seriously ill. It is worth noting that, replacing her husband on the throne, she showed only her best qualities. November 24, 1741 is the date when Ulrika Eleonora died in Stockholm. The Swedish queen left no descendants.
In the fall of 1718, the Swedish king Charles XII led his army against the Danes. The offensive was carried out towards the city of Fredrikshald, an important strategic point of defense for all of Southern Norway. Norway and Denmark at that time were a personal union (that is, a union of two independent and independent states with one head).
But the approaches to Fredrikshald were covered by the mountain castle Fredriksten, a powerful fortress with several external fortifications. The Swedes came to the walls of Fredriksten on November 1, trapping a garrison of 1,400 soldiers and officers in a siege. Captivated by military fervor, the king personally supervised all siege operations. During the assault on the outer castle fortification of Gyllenlöwe, which began on December 7, His Majesty himself led two hundred grenadiers into battle and fought in desperate hand-to-hand combat until all the defenders of the redoubt lay dead. There were less than 700 steps left from the frontline trenches of the Swedes to the walls of Fredriksten. Three large-caliber Swedish siege batteries, each with six guns, methodically bombarded the castle from different positions. Staff officers assured Charles that there was a week left before the fall of the fortress. Nevertheless, sapping work on the front line continued, despite the continuous shelling of the Danes. As always, disregarding danger, the monarch did not leave the battlefield, day or night. On the night of December 18, Karl wished to personally inspect the progress of the excavation work. He was accompanied by his personal adjutant, the Italian Captain Marchetti, General Knut Posse, Cavalry Major General von Schwerin, sapper Captain Schultz, Lieutenant Engineer Karlberg, as well as a team of foreign military engineers - two Germans and four French. In the trenches, the king's retinue was joined by a French officer, adjutant and personal secretary of Generalissimo Frederick of Hesse-Kassel, the husband of His Majesty's sister, Princess Ulrika-Eleanor. His name was Andre Sicre, and there was no obvious reason for him to be present at that hour and in that place.
At about nine o'clock in the evening, Karl once again climbed onto the parapet and, with the flashes of flares launched from the castle, inspected the progress of the work through a telescope. In the trench next to him stood the French colonel engineer Maigret, to whom the king gave orders. After another remark, the king fell silent for a long time. The pause was too long even for His Majesty, who was not known for his verbosity. When the officers called out to him from the trench, Karl did not respond. Then the adjutants climbed onto the parapet and, in the light of another Danish rocket launched into the night sky, saw that the king was lying face down, with his nose buried in the ground. When they turned him over and examined him, it turned out that Charles XII was dead - he had been shot in the head.
The body of the deceased monarch was taken out on a stretcher from the forward positions and taken to the main headquarters tent, handing it over to the life physician and personal friend of the deceased, Dr. Melchior Neumann, who began to prepare everything necessary for embalming.
The very next day, the military council meeting in the Swedish camp, in connection with the death of the king, decided to lift the siege and stop this campaign altogether. Due to the hasty retreat, as well as the fuss associated with the change of government, no hot investigation into the death of Charles XII was carried out. There was not even an official report drawn up on the circumstances of his death. All those involved in this story were completely satisfied with the version according to which the king’s head was hit by buckshot the size of a pigeon’s egg, fired into the Swedes’ trenches from a fortress cannon. Thus, the main culprit in the death of Charles XII was declared to be a military accident, sparing neither kings nor commoners.
However, in addition to the official version, almost immediately after the death of Charles, another one arose - the German archivist Friedrich Ernst von Fabrice writes about this in his work “The True History of the Life of Charles XII,” published in 1759 in Hamburg. Many of the king's comrades assumed that he was killed by conspirators near Fredriksten. This suspicion was not born out of nowhere: in the royal army there were enough people who wanted to send Charles to his forefathers.
The Last Conquistador
In 1700, the king went to war with Russia and spent almost 14 years in a foreign land. After his military luck failed him near Poltava, he took refuge in the possessions of the Turkish Sultan. He ruled his kingdom from a camp near the village of Varnitsa near the Moldovan city of Bendery, driving couriers to Stockholm across the entire continent. The king dreamed of military revenge and intrigued in every possible way at the Sultan's court, trying to start a war with the Russians. Over time, the government of the Ottoman Empire became pretty tired of him and he received delicate offers to go home several times.
In the end he was placed with great honor in a castle near Adrianople, where he was given complete freedom. This was a cunning tactic - Karl was not forced to leave, but simply deprived of his ability to act (couriers were not allowed through). The calculation turned out to be accurate - after lying on the sofas for three months, the restless king, prone to impulsive actions, announced his desire to no longer burden the Sublime Porte with his presence and ordered the courtiers to get ready for the journey. By the autumn of 1714, everything was ready, and the caravan of Swedes, accompanied by an honorary Turkish escort, set off on a long journey.
On the border with Transylvania, the king released the Turkish convoy and announced to his subjects that he would travel further, accompanied by only one officer. Having ordered the convoy to go to Stralsund - a fortress in Swedish Pomerania - and to be there no later than a month later, Karl, with forged documents in the name of Captain Frisk, crossed Transylvania, Hungary, Austria, Bavaria, passed Württemberg, Hesse, Frankfurt and Hanover, reaching to Stralsund in two weeks.
The king had reasons to hurry with his return. While he was enjoying military adventures and political intrigue in distant lands, things were going very badly in his own kingdom. On the lands conquered from the Swedes at the mouth of the Neva, the Russians managed to found a new capital, in the Baltic states they took Revel and Riga, in Finland the Russian flag flew over Kexholm, Vyborg, Helsingfors and Turku. The allies of Emperor Peter crushed the Swedes in Pomerania, Bremen, Stetten, Hanover and Brandenburg fell under their onslaught. Soon after his return, Stralsund also fell, which the king left under enemy artillery fire on a small rowing boat, escaping capture.
The Swedish economy was completely ruined, but all the talk that the continuation of the war would turn into a complete economic disaster did not frighten the knight king at all, who believed that if he himself was content with one uniform and one change of linen, fed from a soldier’s cauldron, then his subjects could wait until he defeats all the enemies of the kingdom and the Lutheran faith. Von Fabrice writes that in Stralsund, the former Holstein minister, Baron Georg von Goertz, who was seeking service, introduced himself to the king, who promised the king a solution to all financial and political problems. Having received carte blanche from the king, Mr. Goertz quickly pulled off a scam reform, equating the silver Swedish daler by decree with a copper coin called “notdaler”. The head of Hermes was minted on the reverse of the notdalers, and the Swedes called him “the god of Hertz,” and the coppers themselves “the money of need.” 20 million of these unsecured coins were minted, which aggravated the economic crisis of the kingdom, but still made it possible to prepare for a new military campaign.
By order of Charles, the regiments were replenished with recruits, guns were cast again, fodder and food supplies were made, and headquarters developed plans for new campaigns. Everyone knew that the king would still not agree to end the war, if only out of simple stubbornness, for which he had been famous since childhood. However, opponents of the war also did not intend to sit idly by. The king placed his headquarters in Lund, declaring that he would return to the capital of the kingdom only as a winner, and news came from Stockholm, one more alarming than the other. In 1714, when the king was still “visiting” the Sultan, the Swedish nobility assembled the Riksdag, which decided to persuade the monarch to seek peace. Karl ignored this decree and did not make peace, but he and his supporters had an opposition - an aristocratic party, the head of which was considered the Hessian Duke Friedrich, who in 1715 was legally married to Princess Ulrika-Eleanor, Karl’s only sister and heir to the Swedish throne. Members of this organization became the first suspects in preparing the murder of their crowned relative.
Revelations of Baron Kronstedt
The death of Charles brought Ulrike-Eleanor, the wife of Frederick of Hesse-Kassel, the royal crown, and as Roman jurists taught, Is fecit cui prodest - “It was done by the one who benefits.” In the spring of 1718, before setting off on a Norwegian campaign, Duke Frederick instructed the court councilor Hein to draw up a special memorandum for Ulrika-Eleanor, which described in detail her actions in the event that King Charles died and her husband was absent at that time in the capital. And the mysterious appearance at the scene of the murder of the king of the adjutant of Prince Frederick, Andre Sicre, whom close officers initially believed to be the direct executor of the order of the conspirators, looks completely ominous.
However, if desired, these facts can be interpreted in a completely different way. The drafting of the memorandum for Ulrika-Eleanor is fully explained by the fact that her husband and brother were not going to a ball, but to a war, where anything could happen. Realizing that his wife, not distinguished by any special abilities, would most likely become confused in a crisis situation, Friedrich could well be concerned with the issue of safety net. Mr. Adjutant Sikr turned out to have a solid alibi: on the night of the death of Charles XII, there were several other people in the trench next to Sikr, who showed that none of those present fired. In addition, Sikra stood so close to the king that if he had shot, traces of gunpowder would certainly have remained in the wound and around it - but there were none.
Foreigners from the king's retinue also came under suspicion. As the German historian Knut Lundblad writes in the book “The History of Charles XII,” published in 1835 in Kristianstad, they were ready to write down the engineer Maigret as the murderer of the Swedish king, who allegedly could take sin on his soul in the name of the interests of the French crown. As a matter of fact, everyone who was in the trench that night was suspected in turn, but no reliable evidence was found against anyone. However, rumors that King Charles was killed by conspirators continued for many years, thereby casting doubt on the legitimacy of Charles's successors on the Swedish throne. Unable to refute this rumor in any other way, the authorities, 28 years after the death of Charles XII, announced the beginning of an official investigation into the murder.
In 1746, by order of the highest order, the crypt in the Riddarholm Church in Stockholm, where the remains of the king rested, was opened, and the corpse was subjected to detailed examination. At one time, the conscientious Doctor Neumann embalmed Karl's body so thoroughly that decay almost did not touch him. The wound on the head of the late king was carefully examined, and experts - doctors and military - came to the conclusion that it was not left by round cannon shot, as previously thought, but by a conical rifle bullet fired from the direction of the fortress.
Calculations, writes Lundblad, showed that the bullet would have reached the place of Karl’s death from where the enemy could have shot at him, but its destructive force was no longer enough to pierce through the head, knocking out the temple, as was discovered during the examination. Fired from a nearby Danish position, the bullet would have remained in the skull or even lodged in the wound itself. This means that someone shot the king from a much closer distance. But who?
Four years later, says Lundblad, in December 1750, the pastor of the Stockholm Church of St. Jacob, the famous preacher Tolstadius, was urgently called to the bedside of the dying Major General Baron Karl Kronstedt, who asked to accept his last confession. Clutching the pastor's hand, Monsieur Baron begged him to immediately go to Colonel Stierneros and demand from him in the name of God a confession of the same thing that he himself, tormented by pangs of conscience, was going to repent of: they were both guilty of the death of the king of the Swedes.
General Kronstedt was in charge of fire training in the Swedish army and was known as the inventor of high-speed shooting methods. A brilliant marksman himself, the baron trained many officers who today would be called snipers. One of his students was Magnus Stierneros, who was promoted to lieutenant in 1705. Two years later, the young officer was enlisted in the detachment of drabants - the personal bodyguards of King Charles. Together with them, he went through all the troubles that abounded in the biography of the warlike monarch. What the general said on his deathbed was completely at odds with the reputation of a loyal and valiant servant that Stierneros enjoyed. However, fulfilling the will of the dying man, the pastor went to the colonel’s house and conveyed to him Kronstedt’s words. As one would expect, Mr. Colonel only expressed regret that his good friend and teacher, before his death, fell into madness, began to talk, and in his delirium spewed sheer nonsense. Having heard this answer from Stierneros, conveyed to him by the pastor, Monsieur Baron again sent Tolstadius to him, ordering him to say: “So that the colonel does not think that I am talking, tell him that he made “this” from the carbine hanging third on the weapon wall of his office.” . The baron's second message infuriated Stierneros, and he kicked the respected pastor out. Bound by the secret of confession, the Monk Tolstadius remained silent, fulfilling his priestly duty in an exemplary manner.
Only after his death in 1759, among the papers of Tolstadius, they discovered a summary of the story of General Kronstedt, from which it followed that, on behalf of the conspirators, he selected the shooter, offering this role to Magnus Stierneros. Secretly, unnoticed by anyone, the general made his way into the trenches following the king's retinue. Drabant Stierneros followed at this time as part of a team of bodyguards who accompanied Charles everywhere. In the nighttime confusion of the intertwining trenches, Stierneros quietly broke away from the general group, and the baron himself loaded the carbine and handed it to his student with the words: “Now it’s time to get down to business!”
The lieutenant got out of the trench and took a position between the castle and the advanced fortifications of the Swedes. After waiting for the moment when the king rose above the parapet up to his waist and was well illuminated by another rocket fired from the fortress, the lieutenant shot Charles in the head, and then managed to return to the Swedish trenches unnoticed. Later, he received 500 gold rewards for this murder.
After the death of the king, the Swedes lifted the siege of the castle, and the generals divided the military treasury, which consisted of 100,000 dalers. Von Fabrice writes that the Duke of Holstein-Gottorp received six thousand, field marshals Renskold and Mörner took twelve, some received four, some three. All major generals were given 800 dalers, senior officers - 600. Kronstedt received 4,000 dalers “for special merits.” The general claimed that he himself gave Magnus Stierneros 500 coins from the amount that was due to him.
The evidence recorded by Tolstadius is accepted by many as a correct indication of the perpetrators of the assassination attempt, but it did not in any way affect the career of Stierneros, who rose to the rank of cavalry general. The recording of the late pastor outlining the contents of Baron Kronstedt's dying confession was not enough for an official accusation.
Click to enlarge
Siege of Fredrikshald, during which Charles XII died
1. Fort Gyllenløve, taken by the Swedes on December 8, 1718
2, 3, 4. Swedish siege artillery and its firing sectors
5. Swedish trenches built during the siege of Gyllenløve
6. The house where Charles XII lived after the capture of the fort
7. New Swedish assault trench
8. Front assault trench and the place where Charles XII was killed on December 17
9 Fredriksten Fortress
10, 11, 12. Sectors of fire of the Danish fortress artillery and artillery of auxiliary forts
13, 14, 15 Swedish troops blocking the Danish retreat routes
16 Swedes camp
Fortress rifle
Already at the end of the eighteenth century, in 1789, the Swedish king Gustav III, in a conversation with the French envoy, confidently named Cronstedt and Stierneros as the direct perpetrators of the murder of Charles XII. In his opinion, the English king George I acted as an interested party in this incident. Towards the end of the Northern War (1700–1721), a complex multi-step intrigue began, in which Charles XII and his army played an important role. There was an agreement, Lundblad writes, between the Swedish king and the supporters of the son of King James II, who was claiming the English throne, according to which, after the capture of Fredriksten, a Swedish expeditionary force of 20,000 bayonets was to set off from the coast of Norway to the British Isles to support the Jacobites (Catholics, supporters of James . - Ed.), who fought with the army of the reigning George I. Baron Goertz, whom Karl completely trusted, agreed with the plan. Mister Baron was looking for money for the king, and the English Jacobites promised to pay well for Swedish support.
But even here there is reason to doubt. Secret correspondence between the Swedes and Jacobites was intercepted, and the fleet intended to transport the Swedish army to the English theater of operations was destroyed by the Danes. After this, if there was still a threat of the Swedes entering into the English civil strife, it was perhaps speculative, which did not require an immediate attempt on the life of Charles XII. Lundblad says that the contradictory and unproven evidence of Charles XII's death at the hands of the conspirators has led some scholars to suggest that the king's death was the result of an accident. He was hit by a stray bullet. Researchers cite practical experience and accurate calculations as arguments. In particular, they claim that the king was hit in the head by a bullet fired from a so-called serf gun. It was a type of handgun, of greater power and caliber than ordinary handguns. They were fired from a stationary stand, and they fired further than ordinary infantry rifles, giving the besieged the opportunity to fire at the besiegers at the distant approaches to the fortifications.
The Swedish doctor, Dr. Nyström, one of the researchers interested in the history of Karl’s death, decided in 1907 to check the version with a shot from a fortress gun. He himself was a staunch supporter of the version of the atrocity of the conspirators and believed that a targeted shot at the required distance from the fortress to the trench was impossible in those days. Having a scientific mindset, the doctor was going to experimentally prove the fallacy of his opponents' statements. At his order, an exact copy of a serf gun from the early 18th century was made. This weapon was loaded with gunpowder - an analogue of that used at the siege of Fredrikshald, and exactly the same bullets as those used at the beginning of the 18th century.
Everything was reproduced down to the smallest detail. At the place where Charles XII was found dead, a target was installed, at which Nyström himself fired 24 bullets from the castle wall from a reconstructed fortress gun. The result of the experiment was amazing: 23 bullets hit the target, entering it horizontally, piercing right through the target! Thus, proving the impossibility of this scenario, the doctor confirmed its full possibility.
The colorful life of King Charles is a treasure trove of stories for novelists and film screenwriters. But nothing has been established for sure yet.
