From the Royal Court to the Throne: Katarina Jagellonica in Eskilstuna

A dramatized lecture performed by Victoria Enefors.

The performance draws on events from the summer of 1568, when Polish princess Katarina Jagellonica - after four years imprisoned at Gripsholm Castle - finds refuge at the royal court in Eskilstuna. There, by the Eskilstuna River, her daughter Anna Vasa is born, and just weeks later a rebellion against King Erik XIV breaks out. In a personal and dramatic monologue, Victoria Enefors portrays Katarina's brief but pivotal time in Eskilstuna - a story of motherhood, power struggles, and how a Sörmland idyll became the springboard to the Swedish throne.

Like Katarina Jagellonica, Victoria Enefors was born in Poland, and it was after moving to Sweden that she became fascinated by the queen's history. Since then she has studied her life and followed in her footsteps to Poland, Lithuania, and Finland, and has also sewn a dress inspired by Katarina's portrait.