Carin or Karin (Catharina) du Rietz (1766–1788) was a Swedish woman who became a soldier at the Royal guard in the guise of a man. She was the first woman to obtain such a position. #CelebratingWomen
The daughter of lieutenant Carl du Rietz and Eva Cronhjelm, she was described as a woman with the stunning intelligence of an Amazon, with power and courage, temperament and beauty, and a "mind of fire".
She ran away from home three times; the cause was thought to have been the strictness of her parents combined with the "reading of too many novels".
The first time, she reached Stockholm, where she was discovered and captured by her brothers; the second time she escaped to her doting grandparents. The third time she dressed as a man and enlisted in the Royal regiment at court in Stockholm.
During her time as a guard soldier, she preserved her male identity, but had so many troubles with sexual advances (from both women and men) that in the end she could see no other solution but to reveal her identity to the king.
When she did so, the king, Gustav III, was highly amused by her story. He allowed her to marry a librarian at the royal court, Erik Johan Paulin. They were both described as very happy about this.
De Rietz died in childbirth shortly after the family moved into their new home; her husband and child died soon after.
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