From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Hedwig Sophia of Sweden (1681-1708), Duchess of Holstein-Gottorp, was the eldest child of King Charles XI of Sweden. As early as 1698 she married her father's cousin, Duke Frederick IV of Holstein-Gottorp.
She is perhaps most well-known for the extensive correspondence between her and her brother King Charles XII, who lived most of his life in war-campaigns abroad. When he died in 1718 and left no male heirs to the throne, the late Hedwig Sophia's son Duke Charles Frederick was a main candidate for succeeding him, although the choice ultimately fell on Hedwig Sophia's younger sister Ulrike Eleonora.
