Characters

Aurora De Geer

Full name and title: Countess Charlotta Aurora De Geer
Born: September 19, 1779
Died: May 14, 1834

Jacquette’s mother, sister to Emilie, Gerard, and Jacques. At the age of sixteen, she married her 27-year-old second cousin, Nils Gyldenstolpe (called Philip in the novel). Divorced in 1810. Aurora married her longtime love, Gustaf af Wetterstedt, in 1811.

Image credit: Wikimedia Commons

Crown Prince Charles Jean

Portrait of Charles XIV John as Crown Prince of Sweden

Full name and title: Crown Prince Charles Jean
Born: January 26, 1763 (Pau, Kingdom of France)
Died: March 8, 1844 (Stockholm, Sweden)

Oscar’s father, Crown Prince and power behind the throne

Image credit: Wikimedia Commons

Crown Princess Désirée

Full name and title: Crown Princess Désirée
Born: November 8, 1777 (Marseille, France)
Died: December 17, 1860 (Stockholm Palace, Sweden)

Oscar’s mother

Image credit: Wikimedia Commons

Frederik Due

Full name and title: Frederik Due
Born: April 14, 1796 (Trondheim, Norway)
Died: October 16, 1873 (Christiania, Norway)

Prince Oscar’s cavalier

Image credit: Wikimedia Commons (picture is from 1850)

Gustaf af Wetterstedt

Full name and title: Gustaf af Wetterstedt
Born: December 29, 1776 (Vaasa, Finland)
Died: May 15, 1837 (Stockholm, Sweden)

Aurora’s second husband; stepfather to Jacquette; powerful court chancellor

Image credit: Gustaf af Wetterstedt (1776-1837), gouache by Giovanni Domenico Bossi, 1811. Original painting held by Zornmuseet, Sweden. Photograph by Zornmuseet. Public domain.

Jacquette Gyldenstolpe

Full name and title: Jacquette Gyldenstolpe
Born: July 4, 1797
Died: January 7, 1839

Swedish countess navigating court scandal, family betrayal, and forbidden love.

Image credit: Litography by Johan Elias Cardon (1802-1878) after a painting by Anders Gustaf Andersson (1780-1833)

Carl Löwenhielm

Full name and title: Count Carl Gustaf Löwenhielm
Born: January 30, 1790 (Värmland, Sweden)
Died: May 18, 1858 (Sweden)

Oscar’s cavalier, also a Swedish military officer.

Image credit: Painting by Leopold Fertbauer

Oscar Bernadotte

Full name and title: Prince Oscar
Born: July 4, 1799 (Paris, France)
Died: July 8, 1859 (Stockholm, Sweden)

Only child of Charles XIV Jean and Queen Désirée, Oscar was born in Paris when his father was Napoleon’s Minister of War, and became a Swedish prince when his father was selected to become Sweden’s next king. At his father’s death in 1844, he was crowned King Oscar I of Sweden and Norway.

Image credit:

Oscar I of Sweden (as Crown Prince), 1823, oil on canvas by Joseph Karl Stieler.
Public Domain. Image via Wikimedia Commons: File:Crownprince Oscar of Sweden … Stieler.

Queen Charlotte

Full name and title: Hedvig Elisabeth Charlotte of Holstein-Gottorp
Born: March 22, 1759 (Eutin, Prince-bishopric of Lübeck)
Died: June 20, 1818 (Stockholm, Sweden)

Married to King Karl; aunt to former Crown Prince Gustav

Image credit: Wikimedia Commons