page_title: Sophia of Nassau
section_title: Queen dowager
hierarchical_section_title: Sophia of Nassau / Queen dowager
context_page_description: Sophia of Nassau was Queen consort of Sweden and Norway as the wife of King Oscar II. She was Queen of Sweden for 35 years, longer than anyone before her, and the longest-serving queen until 2011, when she was surpassed by Queen Silvia. She is also the most recent woman to have been officially Dowager Queen of Sweden.
context_section_description: In 1907, Oscar II died and she became queen dowager. Though she no longer could exert any influence upon the affairs of state, she kept herself updated on politics. The dissolution of the union Sweden-Norway meant she no longer visited Norway, but she continued her trips to Great Britain and the continent: in 1909, for example, she visited Germany by car. She spent her last years engaging in philanthropy and in the Sophiahemmet, where she continued to be the acting chairperson. Her last official assignment was the exam celebration of the nurses at Sophiahemmet, one of whom was her granddaughter Maria Bernadotte, daughter of Prince Oscar and Ebba Munck: when the turn came to Maria, Sophia forgot her words and embraced her. She died a few days later.
  Queen Sophia believed in the view of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom: that the private life of a royal should be a good example for her subjects, and she was a respected figure in this aspect.
caption: Sophia of Nassau as queen dowager by Anders Zorn (1909)
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