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About Cecilia of Sweden
Cecilia of Sweden, also known as Cäcilia Wasa, was born in Stockholm on November 16, 1540 to King Gustav I and Queen Margareta Leijonhufvud. Princess Cecilia is often talked about as the "Black Sheep" of her family; she was an adventurous woman who lived an exciting and often scandalous life. Several negotiations were made to marry her off, but the scandals she was involved in prohibited the plans for several years. At the wedding in Vadstena between her oldest sister Katharina Vasa and Edzard II of Ostfriesland in 1559, her brothers observed a man climbing into her window several nights in a row. Upon investigation, they discovered John of Ostfriesland, brother of the groom, in her room without any pants on. This caused a great scandal and the Count was thrown in jail for a year.
She finally married Christopher, Marquis of Baden-Rodemachern (1537 - 1575), in 1564. Immediately after the wedding, she traveled to England in an attempt to convince Queen Elizabeth I to marry Cecilia's brother, King Eric XIV. While there she delivered her first child, Edward, who was carried to his christening by Elizabeth.
In 1571, feeling threatened by the religious war in the Netherlands, she moved back to Sweden. She was given the city of Arboga as a fief and lived there ruling the city as the Countess of Arboga. She supported herself by taxes, financing a fleet of pirates on the sea, iron mining, and merchandizing. She converted to Catholicism in 1575 to secure the domains of her sons.
She was allowed to take over the regency of Baden after many years of processes against the stipulation in the will of her husband, Christoph II of Baden (1537-75). Her son, Eduard Fortunatus von Baden (1565-1600), was Margrave of Baden-Baden (1588-96). When Eduard Fortunatus died, his oldest son Wilhelm was only 7. He did not become Margrave of Baden-Baden until 1621 and it is not clear if either Cecilia or her daughter-in-law, Marie von Eichen (d. 1636), played any role during his minority. Apart from her oldest son she was mother of 5 sons who all were unmarried or died young. In 1579, she also had an illegimate daughter, Caritas, by the Spanish Ambassador, Francisco de Eraso. Cecilia died in 1627 at the age of 86 and is buried under the floor in the church in Rodemack.
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