Axel Munthe - Queen Victoria of Sweden

Queen Victoria of Sweden

In 1892, Munthe was appointed as physician to the Swedish royal family. In particular, he served as the personal physician of the Crown princess, Victoria of Baden, and he continued in these duties while she was Queen consort, up until the time of her death in 1930, although this does not mean that he was constantly in attendance on her.

Victoria suffered from severe bronchitis and possibly also from tuberculosis. Munthe recommended that she spend her winters on Capri for her health. While initially hesitant, in the autumn of 1910 she traveled to Capri, and from then on, except during the First World War and a few years towards the end of her life, she spent several months a year on Capri.

While in residence, the Queen went to the Villa San Michele many mornings in order to join Munthe for walks around the island. Munthe and the Queen also arranged evening concerts at San Michele, at which the Queen played the piano. The Queen shared Munthe's love of animals, keeping a pet dog, and helping support his efforts to purchase Mount Barbarossa to set it aside as a bird sanctuary. Perhaps inevitably given the small local population and their close friendship, it was rumored that Munthe and the Queen were lovers, but this has not been substantiated.

Further evidence of his passionate nature hinges on an affair he seems to have had with a famous English socialite, Lady Ottoline Morrell, beginning when they first met in July or August 1898. Ottoline was then an unmarried 25-year old lady inhabiting London's privileged society yet slightly contemptuous of it. Her intellectual and spiritual interest drew her to more mature men, such as Herbert Asquith, especially if they were imbued with an air of iconoclasm. Axel Munthe and she were drawn to each other, meaningfully, and they managed to spend significant private time together in Capri. The episode is described in Sandra Jobson Darroch's biography of Ottoline, early in chapter 2.