Queen dowager
Elizabeth Carlsdotter was born posthumously after the death of her father, and it was not until after his death that the marriage of her parents was revealed. Though legitimate, she was granted the name Gyllenhielm, a name previously often granted to illegitimate children of royalty: she herself, however, referred to herself only by her patronymic Elizabeth Carlsdotter. She was raised at the court of her paternal grandmother, Queen dowager Christina.