Denmark and Germany, but none came to fruition. The reason was likely that she had no wish to marry. She stated herself that she appreciated the "sweet, independent life" her unmarried status gave her: according to the Civil Code of 1734, all unmarried women were under the guardianship of their closest male relative unless she petitioned for legal majority, and when a law reform in 1858 allowed for unmarried women to be automatically declared of legal majority by a simple application to the closest court, Eugénie belonged to the first women to use this right. Early on, she had a great interest in the arts, and was active as a composer, painter, sculptor and writer. The year of 1852 signified a great crisis in her life. This year, the royal family fell ill during a visit to Oslo. Her favorite brother and closest friend, Prince Gustaf, Duke of Uppland, died, which had a great effect on her emotional life. She herself had pneumonia, and her health never truly recovered from this. For the rest of her life, she suffered from chest problems and had some trouble walking, and in 1861, she is described as prematurely aged by suffering. In 1871, Fritz von Dardel commented that she was yellow and thin, though somewhat less grave like than before. In 1860, her doctor Magnus Huss recommended that she would benefit from the climate of Gotland. She visited the island the summer of that year, and from 1861 onward, she spent every summer at her own villa Fridhem outside Visby, where she did feel somewhat better. The winters, she still resided in her apartments at the royal palace in Stockholm, but was forced to confine herself to the smaller rooms of the palace, which could be entirely heated, during the cold season: she referred to the winter season as her "winter imprisonment". The crisis of her destroyed health and the death of her brother gave Eugénie a great interest in religion. As the daughter of a Protestant and a Catholic, she was tolerant and predominately an ecumenical Christian, who focused on Christianity as a whole and did not wish commit herself to a particular branch of Christianity and disliked division and discord between the different Christian branches. She was inspired by the teachings of Thomas a Kempis, and supported the revival movement of Carl Olof Rosenius, which had been recommended by her lady