Charlotta Sparre

Who was Charlotta Sparre?

Charlotta Sparre, commonly named Lotta Sparre, was a Swedish noble and court lady.

Lotta Sparre was the daughter of Baron Fredrik Henrik Sparre and Virginia Christina Lilliehöök af Fårdala. Her beauty made her famous at the royal French court at Versailles, where she was known as “la charmante rose” when she stayed in France 1739–1742 with her relative Ulla Sparre, the wife of Carl Gustaf Tessin. She also followed Tessin to Berlin, where Prince Augustus William of Prussia is reported to have fallen in love with her. In 1748 she married royal Crown Forester Count Carl Reinhold von Fersen and became the mother of Ulla von Höpken and Augusta von Fersen. During her stay in Paris, she studied dance under Marie Sallé, which she in turn taught her daughters, who were to become famous for the grace and talent within dance in the amateur theater of Gustav III

Sparre was, with the Count and Countess Tessin, a part fo the entourage which accompanied Louisa Ulrika of Prussia from Prussia to Sweden upon her marriage to the Swedish Crown Prince Adolph Fredrik in 1744, and she served as a lady-in-waiting to Louisa Ulrika in 1744-48.