thumb|250px|Hedvig Taube by [[Lorens Pasch.]]
Hedvig Ulrika Taube (31 October 1714 – 11 February 1744), also Countess von Hessenstein, was a Swedish courtier and countess, a countess of the Holy Roman Empire, and royal mistress to king Frederick I of Sweden from 1731 to 1744. She and Sophie Hagman are the only two official royal mistresses in Swedish history.
Early life
Hedvig Taube was one of nine children of Count Edvard Didrik Taube (1681–1751) and Christina Maria Falkenberg (1686–1753). Her sister, Catherine Charlotte, was to marry the brother of scientist Countess Eva Ekeblad, who was also the aunt of the renowned Axel von Fersen the Younger.
In 1716, the future king Frederick became one of the godparents to her sister Christina Beata. During the 1720s, her father was nearly ruined and placed in heavy debt because of gambling and bad business: in 1730, the family had been forced to change their city residence to a cheaper one.
Hedvig Taube was described as a beauty, and in 1730, the king noticed her, likely on a visit to baron Otto Reinhold Strömfelt, who was married to her paternal aunt. He started to court her with baskets of fruit and flowers sent to the home of her indebted father: reportedly, jewels and other valuable items were hidden beneath the fruit. and he sent his wife alone to the country and kept his daughter with him in the capital. Her betrothed, Erik Sparre, was also removed, as he was included to be a part of the entourage accompanied the king to his visit to Hesse, Her father was appointed , and others who had participated in the affair in the king's favor were rewarded. The queen did not consider it proper to expose the monarch to slander in public, and participated in protecting the king's reputation. During the hunting trip to Dalarna, which the royal court undertook in 1732 to celebrate the visit of the king's brother Prince William of Hesse, the queen demonstrated her disregard to the rumors by displaying affection to her maid of honor Hedvig Taube, when they were seen by the public during walks. After this Hedvig Taube hosted her own receptions in her residence, sometimes alone, and sometimes in the company of the king, and were courted by artists and supplicants. She acted as the patron of artists, the most noted one being Olof von Dahlin, who has been referred to as her court poet. According to contemporaries, Hedvig Taube had "power over the king's mind", and "the use she made of it eventually came to have rather significant consequences in both interior- and foreign policy". Another reason to her change of conduct was reportedly that she, as an orthodox Lutheran, was concerned for the king's soul because of his adultery.