Marie Magdalena "Lillemor" Rustad (21 December 1859 – 22 June 1943), was a Norwegian court official. She served as the ''

Overhoffmesterinne Court Mistress (; ; ; ; ) or Chief Court Mistress (; ; ; ; ; ) is or was the title of the senior lady-in-waiting in the courts of Austria, Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Sweden, Imperial Russia, and the German princely and royal courts. Chief c ...

'' for Queen Maud of Norway.

Life

Marie Magdalena Rustad was the daughter of the industrialist

Halvor Schou Halvor Arntzen Schou (11 May 1823 – 5 February 1879) was a Norwegian industrialist. He was the founder of the Hjula Væveri weaving mill in Oslo. Biography Halvor Schou was born in Christiania (now Oslo, Norway). He was a son of Ch ...

and Anna Cecilie Crowe and sister of the industrialist Olaf Schou. She married

Fritz Rustad Fredrik "Fritz" Frantz Michael Wilhelm Rustad (19 July 1852 – 9 October 1930) was a Norwegian civil and royal servant. He was born in Kristiania as a son of chamberlain Carl Emil Rustad and Henriette Benedicte Løvenskiold. In April 1880 in S ...

in 1880, and became the mother of the military officer and director Carl Rustad. She was an amateur photographer and many of her photographs are preserved.

Court career

After Norway became an independent Kingdom in 1905, she was appointed ''Overhoffmesterinne'' or principal

lady-in-waiting A lady-in-waiting (alternatively written lady in waiting) or court lady is a female personal assistant at a Royal court, court, attending on a royal woman or a high-ranking nobility, noblewoman. Historically, in Europe, a lady-in-waiting was o ...

to the queen, while her spouse was appointed to the equivalent position to the newly elected king. During the Union of Sweden-Norway the royal family mainly lived in Sweden, and the Norwegian royal court staff only served when the royal family visited Norway. Her predecessor Elise Løvenskiold had served queen Sophie of Norway and Sweden when the queen visited Norway. There were thus tradition to build upon, however the duties of the new court staff were to be more extensive and the court became a permanent institution. The court was however to be small: in 1914, she had only two ''hoffdame'' or ladies-in-waiting (maids-of-honours Marie Fougner and Fredrikke Dorothea Hagerup) under her. Both she and her spouse participated in the coronation in Trondheim on 22 June 1906, where she and the three ladies-in-waiting Mimi (Emilie) Krag, Alexandra Huitfeldt and Marie Fougner followed after admiral Sparre, general

Ole Hansen Ole Hansen may refer to: * Ole Hansen (politician) (1855–1928), Danish politician * Ole Hansen (officer) (1842–1922), Norwegian army officer * Ole Christoffer Heieren Hansen (born 1987), Norwegian footballer * Ole Jacob Hansen (1940–2000), No ...

and the king and queen, and she and her spouse personally escorted the queen to the altar when she was crowned by the bishop Wexelsen.Erindringer fra nittiårene og tiden omkring århundredeskittef.
/ref> Queen Maud did not care for representational duties. However, such duties were numerous because she was the only female member of the new royal family. Furthermore, the queen made frequent visits to her native Britain, which prevented her from fulfilling representational duties in Norway. Consequently, she was given much support by Rustad. The office of the principal lady-in-waiting in Norway came to be that of a deputy hostess to the queen. Rustad participated in many representational events, such as during the visit of

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. (October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), also known as Teddy or T.R., was the 26th president of the United States, serving from 1901 to 1909. Roosevelt previously was involved in New York (state), New York politics, incl ...

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

in 1910. Marie Magdalena Rustad and her spouse both retired in 1925.

References

1859 births 1943 deaths Norwegian ladies-in-waiting Mistresses of the Robes (Norway) {{Norway-bio-stub