Anna Konstancia Kozel Favorite of King Augustus II, King of Poland and Elector of Saxony, daughter of the Danish Colonel Brockdorff Date of Birth: 17.10.1680 Country: Denmark

Biography of Anna Constance Kozel

Anna Constance Kozel was the favorite of Augustus II, King of Poland and Elector of Saxony. She was the daughter of Danish Colonel Brockdorf. According to Lady Montague, Augustus first approached Mrs. von Goym with a horseshoe in one hand, which he broke in front of her, and a bag of a hundred thousand thalers in the other. In this way, he used force and money to win the favor of the woman who held a special place among all his courtesans. Anna Constance von Brockdorf came from an ancient noble family. Her father was a Danish cavalry colonel, and her mother was a wealthy Dutchwoman. At the age of twenty-two, she married Adolph von Goym, a nobleman. It soon became clear that the thirty-four-year-old husband disgusted his young wife, and she refused to live with him. Anna Constance was beautiful, intelligent, determined, but also hot-tempered and very jealous. She did not immediately respond to the advances of the ruler, to which he was clearly unaccustomed. Adolph von Goym claimed that in 1705, the king told him during a meeting that from now on, his life and death depended on possessing his former wife, and he said it as if he were enchanted by her.

Augustus became close to the baroness at the end of her divorce proceedings - in June 1705, she began receiving expensive gifts from the elector (wine, furniture, houses, Turkish carpets, and money). After the divorce, Anna Constance demanded that he sever ties with his former lover, Princess von Teschen, and provide her with an annual allowance of 15,000 thalers, a written promise that she would take her place after the death of the queen, and that any children she bore would be recognized as legitimate children of Augustus. The monarch, unable to resist his passion, agreed to all the conditions. In February 1706, the king's favorite became Countess von Kozel, and she was to be addressed as "Your Excellency." A palace was built for her. According to contemporaries, she was worth as much to her lover as an entire army. The favorite constantly accompanied Augustus. A bold and skilled rider, a good shooter, she was the only woman who joined him on his journeys and participated in hunting parties. However, the monarch had numerous mistresses, and he had to come up with thousands of excuses to get away from the persistent watchfulness of his favorite. Nevertheless, Anna Constance slept with him every night and was so skilled in love that in her embrace, Augustus forgot about his other passions. However, the elector wanted variety. He bestowed his attention on the dancer Duparc from Brussels. By that time, the Countess von Kozel had already given birth to a girl. In October 1709, she gave birth to a second daughter for Augustus. Both were recognized as "legitimate royal daughters and noble countesses." For eight years, Kozel was the mistress of the extremely fickle Augustus, which in itself was evidence of her extraordinary energy and intelligence. The favorite led a carefree life because she had no doubt about her influence on the monarch.

However, nine months after the birth of her third child, this time a son, Anna's dominion was shaken. She had many powerful enemies. When the king was in Warsaw, he was advised to take a Polish mistress alongside the Saxon ones, and immediately presented him with Countess Maria Magdalena von Denhof. This time, Kozel changed her plans and did not follow Augustus, which proved to be her fatal mistake. Before returning to Dresden, the elector announced that he no longer wanted to see Kozel. In desperation, Anna left Dresden, taking with her all the documents related to their relationship with Augustus. He managed to obtain a royal warrant specifying the lifelong privileges of the countess, as well as other intimate documents. Subsequently, the former favorite was sentenced to life imprisonment as a victim of the king's revenge and fear, as the powerful Augustus was afraid of the countess. He promised to marry her and guaranteed the inviolability of her property, but he deceived her and abandoned her, as he did with his former and future mistresses. He made no distinction between her and Kessel, Spiegel, and Duval. However, all the other mistresses knew that sooner or later, the king would part with them. Countess von Kozel naively believed that she was his lawful wife and would always remain so. However, for Augustus, there was no permanence, and he found no other place for his most outstanding mistress after he broke up with her, except for the gloomy walls of a mountain castle, where she was imprisoned. The immense thirst for revenge that overwhelmed him every time his plans and desires encountered any resistance was particularly strong this time.

King Augustus the Strong died in Warsaw on February 1, 1733, without ever setting Anna free...