Helene I of Arendaal

Helene I of Arendaal ("Helene the Beautiful" or "The Magdalene") (1765 - 1791) was the Queen Regent of Arendaal between 1782 and 1790. She was the daughter of King Edvard IV of Arendaal and his second wife Victoria of Breotonia.

Helene was known for her beauty, audacity, and charm, but was said to lack "good sense", and to have been spoiled by her dotting parents. She is considered a controversial character in the History of Arendaal, as she openly had affairs and, having borne two illegitimate children, even tried to fight for their right to the succession.

After the fall of her uncle and successor Hathor III during the 1790-1800 Revoltion of Light, and with the ascent of her cousin, Karl V, Helene was lauded as a tragic figure thwarted by the constraints of the time by many Romantics. Others saw her as imprudent and even foolish. This conflicting view of Helene as a tragic heroine and foolhardy still exists today.

Helene was a renowned beauty said to greatly resemble her grandmother, Queen Beatrix I. She was so striking in appearance that by the time she was fifteen, the Wieser Ambassador to Arendaal reported that there was not a man at court who was not infatuated with the young Princess.

A tall and ravishing blonde with a noble carriage and the loveliest of faces, she had dazzling eyes with dark lashes, a delicate complexion, and a rosebud mouth to which laughter came easily. Painters of every standing were anxious to have her as a model.

The philosopher Magnusen wrote that the young Queen "had all the graces, all the freshness and all the gaiety of youth; she danced, sang, played comedy; she lacked no agreeable talent. She liked literature and the arts. She had a lofty soul, sensitive and generous. She was well brought up, amiable, graceful and talented, born with a keen mind and a good heart".

Despite her myriad personal graces, Helene would prove to be a disastrous politician. She had little mind for political affairs and lacked the discipline to be the efficient administrator that her Kingdom so sorely needed. The socio-political and economic organization of government desperately needed to be restructured but Helene, like her immediate successor Hathor III, lacked the political wherewithal to undertake such reforms.

At the age of 16, in 1781, she was promptly married to X, a Prince of Suionia (?), only a year before she became Queen. The marriage was arranged to cement the 1771 peace treaty between the two Kingdoms.

The relationship of Helene I and her husband was tumultous. Although the pair were infatuated with each other, both had stormy tempers and often fought. Their only child, Crown Prince Magnus, was born in 1786 but died shortly afterwards. The couple were grief stricken and the following year X followed their son to an early grave after a riding accident. Helene was reportedly "mad with grief" at the loss of her husband, and her behaviour became increasingly reckless.

After her husband's death in 1787, Helene openly began a series of affairs with various noblemen at her court. The young Queen's indiscretions were the source of ferverant gossip which grew to fever pitch when, in the autumn of 1789, she gave birth to a child. To the astonishment of Europe, Helene openly acknowledged that her child was illegitimate, fathered by the married Niklaas der Vasterkvist, Count of Göteborg.

Her comportment created a scandal and the country's more conservative elements openly called for her immediate abdication. What was unusual about Helene I was not her affairs, for previous Queen Regents and even Queen Consorts had done likewise, but that she did so openly. The stringent opposition she faced exposed the hypocrisy of the supposed equal 18th century Aren society: whereas Kings could and did have illegitimate issue whom they acknowledged, Queens simply could not. In late 1790, while visiting Lulea in Northern Arendaal, and was pregnant with her second illegitimate child, Helene was forcibly ousted by her Council and replaced by her uncle, Hathor III of Arendaal. She was confined at Lulea Palace where she died giving birth to her daughter Marguerite in 1791. Rumours of poisoning and murder abounded as soon as news of her death became public.

Helene I's reign is notable for little else than her dramatic personal life: she was never much of a politician, entrusting much of the business of government to her ministers and was swayed by the whims of her favourites. Her lack of action or interest in governance lent credance to writers and activists calling for political reform and the granting of greater power to ordinary citizens.

Helene's policies did little to remedy archaic economic and military practices, and thus it is likely that Helene I would have faced the same kind of popular uprising that her uncle and successor Hathor III encountered in the Revolution of Light (1790-1800).

On a social level her reign saw the continued increase of the middle class and a continued flourishing in the arts. The merchant class grew ever more powerful, thanks in large part to the success of the KNH, the joint Aren-Scanian trading company. Helene I shared her father's love of music and surpassed him in her love to painting. In her own right she proved an accomplished, if not original, artist. She was re-buried with honours at the Palace of Versailles by her cousin King Karl V in 1800, nine years after her death.

Family, Marriage and Children
Queen Helene I of Arendaal married. Their children included:
 * Magnus, Crown Prince of Arendaal - who died shortly after is birth in 1786

After her husband's abrupt death in 1787, Helene had two illegitimate children with Niklaas der Vasterkvist, Count of Göteborg. They were:
 * Harald der Vasterkvist, Duke of Svealand (1789 - 1865) - created Duke of Svealand by his uncle Karl V of Arendaal in 1810
 * Marguerite der Vasterkvist, Countess of Göteborg (1791 - 1870) - received her brothers title of Count of Göteborg in 1810

Siblings

 * Viktoria of Arendaal, Queen of Franken (b. 1773) - Helene I's sister. Consort of Sebastian IV von Franken

Other Royal Relations

 * Karl V of Arendaal - first cousin
 * Rurik, Prince of Arendaal - first cousin
 * Hathor III of Arendaal - uncle. Hathor would come to the throne after her death
 * Trigve, Prince of Arendaal - uncle. Father of King Karl V
 * Evelina of Arendaal, Empress of the Talemantine Empire - aunt. Stefano Emanuelle IV of the Talemantine Empire
 * Klara of Arendaal, Queen of Cambria - aunt. Consort of Owain I of Cambria
 * Adelaide of Arendaal, Queen of Anglyn - aunt. Consort of Alfred IV of Anglyn
 * Evelynn of Anglyn, Queen of Arendaal - father's first wife
 * Elisabeth of Lorraine, Queen of Arendaal - aunt by marriage (wife of Hathor III)
 * Francoise of Montelimar, Princess of Arendaal - aunt by marriage (wife of Prince Trigve)
 * Pîeter II of Arendaal - nephew (cousin's son)
 * Alexandra of Arendaal, Queen of Montelimar - niece (cousin's daughter). Consort of King Henri X of Montelimar
 * Klarissa of Arendaal, Marquise d'Hennessy - niece (cousin's daughter). Consort of Marquis Jas Lyon Moët-Hennessy
 * Anastasia of Arendaal, Czarina of Gorno-Altai - niece (cousin's daughter). Consort of Czar Edvard II of Gorno-Altai
 * Juliette of Arendaal, Queen of Cambria - niece (cousin's daughter). Consort of Morgan II of Cambria
 * Julienne of Cambria, Queen of Arendaal - cousin Karl V's first wife
 * Ekaterina of Serbovia, Queen of Arendaal - cousin Karl V's second wife
 * Clemence of Lorraine, Princess of Arendaal - cousin Rurik's wife

Ancestors
's ancestors in four generations: