by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2021

The third wife of Gustav I Vasa, King of Sweden, Katarina Gustavsdotter Stenbock was born on July 22, 1535, at the Torpa Stenhus (Torpa Stonehouse), a medieval castle near Lake Åsunden, in Västragötaland, Sweden. Descendants of the Stenbock family still own the well-preserved castle. Katarina was the second of the six daughters and the second of the eleven children of Gustaf Olofsson Stenbock and Birgitta Eriksdotter Leijonhufvud. Both Katarina’s parents were from Swedish noble families. Her father Gustaf Olofsson Stenbock was part of the contingent that brought Gustav Vasa’s first wife Katharina of Saxe-Lauenburg to Sweden. Over the years, he was appointed a state councilor, Governor of Västergötland, and a Marshal of Sweden.

Katarina’s mother Birgitta Eriksdotter Leijonhufvud was the sister of King Gustav I Vasa’s second wife Margareta Eriksdotter Leijonhufvud. Therefore, Katarina was the first cousin of the ten children of Gustav Vasa and Margareta Leijonhufvud. Katarina’s parents, like Margareta’s other relatives, were part of the Kungafränderna (The King’s Relatives). They were given prominent positions and had much influence at court. King Gustav I Vasa often attended their family celebrations and Katarina’s parents were considered his personal friends.

Katarina had ten siblings:

• Beata Gustavsdotter Stenbock (1533 – 1583), married Per Brahe the Elder (nephew of King Gustav I Vasa), had thirteen children
• Olof Gustavsson Stenbock (circa 1536 – 1599)
• Karl Gustavsson Stenbock (circa 1537 – 1609), married Brita Claesdotter, had four children
• Erik Gustavsson Stenbock (1538 – 1602), married his cousin Malin Sture, had two children
• Arvid Gustafsson Stenbock (1541 – circa 1609), married Carin Månsdotter
• Cecilia Gustavsdotter Stenbock
• Margareta Gustavsdotter Stenbock
• Märta Gustavsdotter Stenbock, married Svante Stensson Sture, had fifteen children
• Ebba Gustavsdotter Stenbock (? – 1614), married Clas Eriksson Fleming, had four children
• Abraham Gustafsson Stenbock (? – 1567)

Very little is known about Katarina’s life before she became Queen of Sweden. It is quite probable that she served as a maid of honor to her aunt Margareta Leijonhufvud. Margareta’s ten pregnancies in thirteen years took a toll on her health and she died from pneumonia at the age of 35 on August 26, 1551. After Margareta’s death, her children were placed in the care of her sisters Birgitta (Katarina’s mother) and Märta Eriksdotter Leijonhufvud (Katarina’s aunt) who had married Svante Stensson Sture.

In Sweden at that time, it was the norm for a noble widower with minor children to remarry, and King Gustav I Vasa stated that he needed a queen for his court and a mother for his children. In March 1552, Katarina’s mother, her aunt Märta and her husband Svante Stensson Sture, and Per Brahe the Elder (nephew of King Gustav I Vasa and the husband of Katarina’s sister Beata) were called to a family council. At this meeting, Gustav Vasa probably proposed marriage to Katarina, despite the king being 56 and Katarina being 17. Gustav Vasa saw this marriage as a way to forgo the costs and the time-consuming negotiations necessary to arrange a marriage with a foreign princess in the complicated political climate in Europe due to the ongoing conflicts caused by the Protestant Reformation. Katarina’s family saw the marriage as a way to preserve the family connection they had made with Gustav Vasa through his previous marriage with Margareta Leijonhufvud. On August 22, 1552, at Vadstena Abbey in Vadstena, Sweden, Katarina married King Gustav I Vasa, and the next day, she was crowned Queen of Sweden.

Katarina and Gustav Vasa had no children but Katarina served as a stepmother to her first cousins, the children of Gustav Vasa and her aunt Margareta Leijonhufvud. She was given responsibility for the royal nursery, especially for the upbringing of Gustav Vasa’s daughters.

Katarina’s stepchildren, also her first cousins:

• Johan III, King of Sweden (1537 – 1592), married (1) Katarina Jagellonica of Poland, had three children including his successor Sigismund III Vasa, King of Sweden (2) Gunilla Bielke, had one son
• Katarina Gustavsdotter Vasa (1539 – 1610), married Edzard II, Count of East Frisia, had ten children
• Cecilia Gustavsdotter Vasa (1540 – 1627), married Christoph II, Margrave of Baden-Rodemachern, had seven children
• Magnus Gustavson Vasa, Duke of Östergötland (1542 – 1595), unmarried, mentally ill
• Karl Gustavson Vasa (born and died 1544), died in infancy
• Anna Gustavsdotter Vasa (1545 – 1610), married of Georg Johann I, Count Palatine of Veldenz, had eleven children
• Sten Gustavson Vasa (1546 – 1547), died in infancy
• Sofia Gustavsdotter Vasa (1547 – 1611), married Magnus II, Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg, had six children but only one lived past infancy
• Elisabet Gustavsdotter Vasa (1549 – 1597), married Christoph, Duke of Mecklenburg-Gadebusch, had one daughter
• Karl IX, King of Sweden (1550 – 1611), married (1) Anna Marie of Palatinate-Simmern, had six children but only one daughter survived childhood (2) Christina of Holstein-Gottorp, had four children including his successor Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden

In the late 1550s, King Gustav I Vasa’s health declined. He died on September 29, 1560, aged 64, at Tre Kronor Castle (Three Crowns Castle) which stood on the site of the present Stockholm Palace in Stockholm, Sweden. The official cause of death was cholera but it may have been dysentery or typhoid. Gustav I, King of Sweden was buried in the Vasa Chapel at Uppsala Cathedral in Uppsala, Sweden with his first two wives. Katarina never remarried despite being only 25-years old when King Gustav I died. She dressed in mourning for the rest of her life.

Katarina lived during the reigns of the next five Kings of Sweden who were either sons or grandsons of her husband:

King Erik XIV (reigned 1560 – 1568) – Gustav Vasa’s only surviving child from his first marriage to Katharina of Saxe-Lauenburg. Erik was deposed via a rebellion by his half-brother who became King Johan III. He was then imprisoned in various castles for nine years. He died in 1577 and was most likely murdered due to the three major conspiracies that attempted to depose his half-brother Johan III and place Erik back on the Swedish throne. An examination of his remains in 1958 confirmed that Erik probably died of arsenic poisoning.

King Johan III (reigned 1568 – 1592) – son of King Gustav I Vasa and his second wife Margaret Leijonhufvud and therefore, he was Katarina’s first cousin. During the reign of King Johan III, Katarina no longer had such a prominent place at court. However, because of her royal rank, she occupied a more dominant role in her own birth family, and often hosted family meetings and arranged family occasions such as weddings and funerals, and continued to act as a channel between her relatives and the royal house. King Johan III died in 1592.

King Sigismund III Vasa (reigned 1592 – 1599) – son of King Johan III and grandson of King Gustav I Vasa. Sigismund was not only King of Sweden but also King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania through his mother. Sigismund, who was Catholic, was deposed in 1599 as King of Sweden by his Protestant uncle who reigned as King Karl IX, and lived the remainder of his life in Poland.

King Karl IX (Regent of Sweden 1599 – 1604, King of Sweden 1604 – 1611) – youngest son of King Gustav I of Sweden and his second wife Margaret Leijonhufvud.  Karl became King of Sweden by championing the Protestant cause and deposing his Catholic nephew.

King Gustavus Adolphus (reigned 1611 – 1632) – son of Karl IX, King of Sweden and grandson of King Gustav I Vasa. 16-year-old Gustavus Adolphus became King of Sweden with his mother serving as Regent until he became of age. Gustavus Adolphus, aged 37, was killed in the Battle of Lützen during the Thirty Years War.

Katarina spent her last years tending to her estates, engaging in her financial and business enterprises, and spending time with her relatives, especially her sisters. Katarina was well known for providing a safe haven for many female relatives of the exiled supporters of the deposed King Sigismund III Vasa and other charitable work. During her last years, she had mobility issues and was not able to attend the wedding of her husband’s grandson King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden in 1620.

Katarina survived her husband by sixty-one years, dying on December 13, 1621, aged 86, at her home Strömsholm Castle in Strömsholm, Västmanland, Sweden. Upon her death, it was noted, “The poor have lost a friend, the orphans their mother.”  Katarina was buried in Uppsala Cathedral in Uppsala, Sweden with her husband and his first two wives but she has no monument or memorial.

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Works Cited

• En.wikipedia.org. 2021. Catherine Stenbock – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catherine_Stenbock> [Accessed 27 April 2021].
• Flantzer, Susan, 2021. Gustav I, King of Sweden. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/gustav-vasa-i-king-of-sweden-reigned-1523-1560/> [Accessed 27 April 2021].
• Sv.wikipedia.org. 2021. Gustaf Olofsson (Stenbock) till Torpa – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustaf_Olofsson_(Stenbock)_till_Torpa> [Accessed 27 April 2021].
• Sv.wikipedia.org. 2021. Katarina Gustavsdotter (Stenbock) – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katarina_Gustavsdotter_(Stenbock)> [Accessed 27 April 2021].