Countess Palatine Maria Eufrosyne of Zweibrücken

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Magnus Gabriel De la Gardie with his spouse Maria Eufrosyne of Pfalz-Zweibrücken, the sister of King Charles X of Sweden. Painting from 1653 by Hendrik Münnichhoven. The picture is filled with symbolic details: Magnus Grabriel is standing lower than his wife because she is sister of the king; their holding hands symbolizes fidelity; the bean in Maria Eufrosyne's hand shows that she is pregnant. The painting is regarded as one of the finest from the early Swedish baroque era.

Countess Palatine Maria Eufrosyne of Zweibrücken, (1625-1687), was a cousin of Queen Christina of Sweden and sister of king Charles X of Sweden.

[edit] Biography

Maria Eufrosyne was born to Count Palatine John Casimir of Zweibrücken and Princess Catharina of Sweden. The family fled from Germany during the Thirty Years War, and Maria and her siblings grew up in her mother's country. She was brought up with Christina at first, but soon, Christina was tutored separately, as she was given the same education as a man was given, due to her being a monarch. In 1645, she was married to Christina's favourite, Count Magnus Gabriel de la Gardie, a marriage believed to be arranged by Christina. A play has been performed about this. The couple had to leave the court in 1653 after a disagreement with the queen.

At the coronation of her brother Charles X in 1654, Maria Eufrosyne was granted the rank and status of a royal princess of Sweden,^{[citation needed]} although this was not approved by all of the nobility. In 1676, a witness in a witch trial tried to implicate her. A lot of the family's property was confiscated by the crown during the 1680s reduction.