Victoria of Baden

Victoria of Baden (; 7 August 1862 – 4 April 1930) was Queen of Sweden from 8 December 1907 until her death in 1930 as the wife of King Gustaf V. She was politically active in a conservative fashion during the development of democracy and known to be pro-German during the First World War.

Early life Princess Victoria was born on 7 August 1862 at Karlsruhe Palace, Baden. Her parents were Grand Duke Frederick I of Baden, and Princess Louise of Prussia. Victoria was named after her aunt by marriage, Crown Princess Victoria of Prussia, daughter of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom.

Victoria was tutored privately in the Karlsruhe Palace, by governesses and private teachers, in an informal "Palace School" with carefully selected girls from the aristocracy. She was given a conventional education for her gender and class with focus on art, music and languages, and could play the piano, paint and speak French and English. Victoria was given a strict and Spartan upbringing with a focus on duty. Among other things, her mother ordered her to sleep on hard mattresses by an open window. Such spartan methods were recommended at the time as beneficial and something that would harden the child's future health, but it is believed that this in fact had negative consequences for Victoria's health later in life.

Victoria was confirmed in 1878. After this, she made her debut in adult social life and her marriage prospects were discussed. The marriage was popular in Sweden, where she was called "The Vasa Princess" because of her descent from the old Vasa dynasty, and she received a very elaborate welcome on the official cortege into Stockholm 1 October 1881. On 1 February 1882, Victoria and Gustaf visited Oslo, where they were welcomed with a procession of 3,000 torch bearers.

She and Gustaf were brought together by their families and their marriage was reported not to have been a happy one. Their marriage produced three children. In 1890–1891, Victoria and Gustaf travelled to Egypt in an attempt to repair their relationship, but it did not succeed, allegedly due to Victoria's interest in one of the courtiers, and she repeated the trip to Egypt in 1891–1892. After 1889, the personal relationship between Victoria and Gustaf is considered to have been finished, in part, as estimated by Lars Elgklou, due to Gustaf's bisexuality. She suffered from postnatal depression after the birth of her first child in 1882, and after this, she often spent the winters at spas abroad. She would continue to spend the winters outside Sweden from that year until her death. By 1888, her winter trips had made her unpopular, and she was described as very haughty. In 1889, she had pneumonia, and was formally ordered by her doctors to spend the cold Swedish winters in a southern climate. She had conflicts with her parents-in-law about her expensive stays abroad.

She greatly disapproved of the marriage between her brother-in-law Prince Oscar and her lady-in-waiting Ebba Munck af Fulkila in 1888. She is described as strong-willed and artistically talented. She was an accomplished amateur photographer and painter, and she also sculpted. On her travels in Egypt and Italy she both photographed and painted extensively, and experimented with various photo-developing techniques, producing high-quality photographic work. She was also an excellent pianist and, for example, could play through the complete Ring of the Nibelung by Wagner without notes. She had had a good music education, and in her youth she had turned the notes at court concerts for Franz Liszt. Her favourite composers were Schubert and Beethoven. She was also described as a skillful rider.

Queen Victoria, Crown Princess of Sweden with her mother, Grand Duchess Louise of Baden (only daughter of Wilhelm I, German Emperor) and her eldest son, baby Gustaf Adolf, 1883.

Victoria became Queen-consort of Sweden with her father-in-law's death on 8 December 1907. As queen, she was present in Sweden only during the summers, but she still dominated the court. She arranged the marriage between her son Wilhelm and Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna of Russia in 1908. She was very strict with discipline, and if any member of the palace guard forgot to salute her, he was generally put under arrest.

Queen Victoria lost much popularity among Swedes for her often noted pro-German attitude, particularly politically during World War I when she is said to have influenced her husband to a large extent. During World War I, she gave a personal gift to every Swedish volunteer to the German forces. She founded "Drottningens centralkomittée" ("The Queen's Central Committee") for defence equipment. She deeply resented the social democratic election victories in 1917 and worked to prevent them from taking part in the government. Victoria's political influence was founded upon the power position of her first cousin, the German Emperor and King of Prussia, and in 1918–19, after he was deposed, she lost all political influence in Sweden. After this, she left Sweden for Italy for good: she died two years afterwards.

The sarcophagi of King Gustaf V and Queen Viktoria inside Riddarholmen Church.

Death Toward the end of her life, with her health declining, Munthe recommended she no longer spend time in Capri, and she returned to Sweden for some time, building a Capri-styled villa there. She then moved to Rome.

Her final visit to Sweden was on her husband's 70th birthday in June 1928, and Queen Victoria died on 4 April 1930 in her home Villa Svezia in Rome aged 67.

Issue NameBirthDeathNotes King Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden 11 November 1882 married 1) Princess Margaret of Connaught (1882–1920), had issue (including Ingrid, Queen of Denmark); married 2) Louise Mountbatten (1889–1965), a stillborn daughter Prince Wilhelm, Duke of Södermanland 17 June 1884 married Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna of Russia (1890–1958), had issue Prince Erik, Duke of Västmanland 20 April 1889 died of the Spanish flu, unmarried and without issue

Arms

Ancestry

Photographic work