Maria Aurora of Spiegel

Who is Maria Aurora of Spiegel?

Maria Aurora of Spiegel, born Fatima, was a mistress of Augustus II the Strong and the wife of a Polish noble. Originally a Turkish slave, she was brought to the royal courts of Sweden and Poland from Buda and trained as a lady-in-waiting.

During the Imperial "reconquest" of Buda from the Ottoman Empire in 1686, soldiers of the Imperial army took the slaves and property belonging to the Turks. The Swedish baron Alexander Erskin, then in Austrian service, took four women: Raziye; Asiye; Emine; and Fatma. Fatima claimed to have been the wife of a mullah. Baron Erskin returned to Sweden with Philip Christoph von Königsmarck, and gave Fatima to Philip's sister Maria Aurora of Königsmarck. The four women were baptised in Stockholm on 7 November 1686 in the presence of the royal court. Crown Prince Charles and Aurora of Königsmarck stood as Fatima's godparents, and she was christened Maria Aurora after Maria Aurora of Königsmarck.

She was taught etiquette and French and became a well-liked companion to Aurora of Königsmarck. In 1691 she followed her mistress to Saxony and Poland, where Aurora of Königsmarck became the royal mistress of King Augustus.