Charles Frederick, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp () (30 April 1700 – 18 June 1739) was a
Prince of Sweden and Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp and an important member of European royalty. His dynasty, the Dukes of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp, were a cadet branch of the ancient
House of Oldenburg
The House of Oldenburg is a German dynasty with links to Denmark since the 15th century. It has branches that rule or have ruled in Denmark, Iceland, Greece, Norway, Russia, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Schleswig, Holstein, and Oldenburg. The cu ...
, which at that time was ruling
Denmark-Norway. His mother was a sister of
Charles XII of Sweden. Charles Frederick married a daughter of
Peter the Great and became the father of the future
Peter III of Russia. As such, he is the progenitor of the Russian imperial house of
Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov
The House of Romanov (also transcribed Romanoff; rus, Романовы, Románovy, rɐˈmanəvɨ) was the reigning imperial house of Russia from 1613 to 1917. They achieved prominence after the Tsarina, Anastasia Romanova, was married to th ...
and the patrilineal ancestor of all Russian emperors starting with
Peter III, except for
Catherine II
, en, Catherine Alexeievna Romanova, link=yes
, house =
, father = Christian August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst
, mother = Joanna Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp
, birth_date =
, birth_name = Princess Sophie of Anha ...
.
Early life
![1700 Karl Friedrich](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ad/1700_Karl_Friedrich.JPG)
Charles Frederick was born in Sweden, the son of
Frederick IV of Schleswig-
Holstein-Gottorp
Holstein-Gottorp or Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp () is the historiographical name, as well as contemporary shorthand name, for the parts of the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein, also known as Ducal Holstein, that were ruled by the dukes of Schlesw ...
and his consort,
Hedvig Sophia, daughter of
King Charles XI of Sweden. He became reigning duke in infancy, upon his father's death in 1702 at the
Battle of Kliszów
The Battle of Kliszów (also spelled Klissow or Klezow) took place on July 19, 1702, near Kliszów in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth during the Great Northern War. A numerically superior Polish–Saxon army led by king Augustus II the Str ...
, co-ruling, however under guardianship till 1717, with his father's cousin King
Frederick IV of Denmark in the
Duchy of Holstein
The Duchy of Holstein (german: Herzogtum Holstein, da, Hertugdømmet Holsten) was the northernmost state of the Holy Roman Empire, located in the present German state of Schleswig-Holstein. It originated when King Christian I of Denmark had hi ...
, a Holy Roman imperial fief, and the
Duchy of Schleswig, a Danish fief, there as a vassal to the Danish-Norwegian king. All his life he was a legitimate claimant to the throne of Sweden, as ''pro forma'' heir to
Charles XII
Charles XII, sometimes Carl XII ( sv, Karl XII) or Carolus Rex (17 June 1682 – 30 November 1718 O.S.), was King of Sweden (including current Finland) from 1697 to 1718. He belonged to the House of Palatinate-Zweibrücken, a branch line of ...
, who was his maternal uncle.
Charles Frederick's parents had been offered refuge by maternal uncle,
Charles XII of Sweden, during the outbreak of the
Great Northern War
The Great Northern War (1700–1721) was a conflict in which a coalition led by the Tsardom of Russia successfully contested the supremacy of the Swedish Empire in Northern, Central and Eastern Europe. The initial leaders of the anti-Swed ...
, and they resided in Stockholm. Charles Frederick succeeded to the dukedom at the age of two, upon the death of his father in the
Battle of Kliszów
The Battle of Kliszów (also spelled Klissow or Klezow) took place on July 19, 1702, near Kliszów in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth during the Great Northern War. A numerically superior Polish–Saxon army led by king Augustus II the Str ...
. His mother became his regent, and they continued to reside in Stockholm. Actual daily co-rule in the Duchies of Schleswig and Holstein was left to administrators. His mother is said to have raised him tenderly but firmly, but she died in 1708, when Charles Frederick was only eight years old. He was then placed in the care of his great-grandmother (his mother's paternal grandmother), Queen Dowager
Hedwig Eleonora of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp, who reportedly spoiled him terribly, resulting in making him passive and indolent.
[Lundh-Eriksson, Nanna (Swedish): Den glömda drottningen. Karl XII:s syster. Ulrika Eleonora D.Y. och hennes tid (The Forgotten Queen. The Sister of Charles XII. The Age of Ulrika Eleonora the Younger) Affärstryckeriet, Norrtälje. (1976)] His mother, and later Hedwig Eleonora, both supported and worked for his right to be considered heir of Sweden after his childless uncle.
Since his guardians sided with Sweden against Denmark-Norway in the
Great Northern War
The Great Northern War (1700–1721) was a conflict in which a coalition led by the Tsardom of Russia successfully contested the supremacy of the Swedish Empire in Northern, Central and Eastern Europe. The initial leaders of the anti-Swed ...
, Danish troops ravaged the Gottorp ducal share in the duchies during that war and conquered its northern portions in 1713, including the ancestral ducal seat
Gottorp castle
Gottorf Castle (german: Schloss Gottorf, da, Gottorp Slot, Low German: ''Gottorp'') is a castle and estate in the city of Schleswig, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is one of the most important secular buildings in Schleswig-Holstein, and ...
near
Schleswig city in the homonymous duchy. In 1721 Frederick IV of Denmark-Norway, being the liege lord in Danish Schleswig who
had enfeoffed Charles Frederick with the ducal title in Schleswig in 1702, officially withdrew this
fief
A fief (; la, feudum) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a form ...
.
Swedish career
Charles Frederick met his uncle Charles XII for the first time in 1716. He was declared of legal majority in 1717, and was then given some military responsibility. Charles Frederick was in a tense relationship to his aunt Ulrika Eleonora, whose followers pointed him out to be too rude and arrogant and in lack of any sense of responsibility to be a suitable heir to the throne.
Upon the
death in 1718 of his maternal uncle and second cousin, Charles XII of Sweden, Duke Charles Frederick was presented as claimant to the throne. However, his aunt
Ulrika Eleonora the Younger
Ulrika Eleonora or Ulrica Eleanor (23 January 1688 – 24 November 1741), known as Ulrika Eleonora the Younger, was Queen of Sweden, reigning in her own right from 5 December 1718 until her abdication on 29 February 1720 in favour of her husband ...
(1688–1741) managed to wrest the throne for herself, claiming that her elder sister had not "acquired the consent of the Parliamentary
Estates" for her marriage to his father, according to laws of succession laid down in ''Norrköpings arvförening''. The duke's party asserted that the
absolute monarchy
Absolute monarchy (or Absolutism (European history), Absolutism as a doctrine) is a form of monarchy in which the monarch rules in their own right or power. In an absolute monarchy, the king or queen is by no means limited and has absolute pow ...
in Sweden, which his grandfather King Charles XI had created, made that marriage clause irrelevant. Upon the news of the death of his uncle, he was reportedly too grief-stricken to take any action. Ulrika Eleonora's husband
Frederick I Frederick I may refer to:
* Frederick of Utrecht or Frederick I (815/16–834/38), Bishop of Utrecht.
* Frederick I, Duke of Upper Lorraine (942–978)
* Frederick I, Duke of Swabia (1050–1105)
* Frederick I, Count of Zoll ...
, however, who was also present with him in Tistedalen, rushed to assist her in claiming the throne. When Charles Frederick was confronted with Ulrika Eleonora, he was forced by
Arvid Horn
Count Arvid Bernhard Horn af Ekebyholm (6 April 166418 April 1742) was a Swedish general, diplomat and politician, a member of the noble Horn family. He served twice as President of the Privy Council Chancellery (1710–1719 and 1720–1738) ...
to greet her as queen.
He asked to be granted the title Royal Highness and to be recognised as her heir, but when her husband instead was given the title, he left Sweden in 1719. In 1723, he was granted the title Royal Highness in his absence, but his pro-Russian policy made him impossible as heir to the Swedish throne.
Charles Frederick withdrew from Sweden, eventually settling in Russia, where in May 1725 he married
Grand Duchess Anna Petrovna, elder daughter of Tsar
Peter the Great. Meanwhile, the so-called
Holstein Party in Sweden continued to advance Charles Frederick's claims. The party made preparations and awaited the childless Ulrika Eleonora's death, but Charles Frederick died before his aunt and left his claims to his infant son. By this time however, Sweden had enacted new laws of succession which specifically excluded Charles Frederick and his heirs because of their
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...
n politics, because at that time, Russia and Sweden had a strained relationship. The exclusion of Charles Frederick and his progeny from the Swedish succession avoided the
personal union
A personal union is the combination of two or more states that have the same monarch while their boundaries, laws, and interests remain distinct. A real union, by contrast, would involve the constituent states being to some extent interlink ...
of Sweden and Russia, because Charles Frederick's only child would become Tsar
Peter III of Russia.
The question then became who was to become the next king of Sweden after the death of the childless incumbent. The so-called "
Hat faction" in Sweden managed to elect Charles Frederick's first cousin
Adolph Frederick, who was his father's younger brother's son and thus belonged to the same
Oldenburg dynasty, as Crown Prince of Sweden.
Later life
![Martin Engelbrecht Carl Friedrich Holstein-Gottorp](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0e/Martin_Engelbrecht_Carl_Friedrich_Holstein-Gottorp.jpg)
Charles Frederick left for
Hamburg
(male), (female) en, Hamburger(s),
Hamburgian(s)
, timezone1 = Central (CET)
, utc_offset1 = +1
, timezone1_DST = Central (CEST)
, utc_offset1_DST = +2
, postal ...
, as the Gottorp ducal share in the duchies of German Holstein and Danish Schleswig had been occupied by Denmark since 1713. Having lost the title as duke of Schleswig, succeeded to have the occupation of the ducal share in German Holstein removed by application to his Holstein liege lord, the Holy Roman Emperor. In 1720, Sweden and Denmark-Norway concluded the
Treaty of Frederiksborg
The Treaty of Frederiksborg ( da, Frederiksborgfreden) was a treaty signed at Frederiksborg Castle, Zealand, on 3 July 1720Heitz (1995), p.244 (14 July 1720 according to the Gregorian calendar), ending the Great Northern War between Denmark-Norwa ...
, in which Sweden pledged to cease its support of the House of
chleswig-olstein-Gottorp. Duke Charles Frederick opposed the treaty, made by a Swedish government which he regarded as rebellious against his own right to the Swedish succession; the treaty also made virtually impossible the regaining of his lost ducal share in the northern duchy of Schleswig. (This was to be a motivation for his son Peter in 1762, upon his Russian accession, to start preparations for the use of Russian troops to reconquer the lost lands from Denmark-Norway.)
Duke Charles Frederick was married to
Anna Petrovna
Grand Duchess Anna Petrovna of Russia (russian: А́нна Петро́вна; 27 January 1708 – 4 March 1728) was the eldest daughter of Emperor Peter I of Russia and his wife Empress Catherine I. Her younger sister, Empress Elizabeth ...
,
Tsesarevna
Tsesarevich (russian: Цесаревич, ) was the title of the heir apparent or presumptive in the Russian Empire. It either preceded or replaced the given name and patronymic.
Usage
It is often confused with "tsarevich", which is a dis ...
of Russia and elder daughter of
Tsar
Tsar ( or ), also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar'', is a title used by East and South Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word ''caesar'', which was intended to mean "emperor" in the European medieval sense of the ter ...
Peter I Peter I may refer to:
Religious hierarchs
* Saint Peter (c. 1 AD – c. 64–88 AD), a.k.a. Simon Peter, Simeon, or Simon, apostle of Jesus
* Pope Peter I of Alexandria (died 311), revered as a saint
* Peter I of Armenia (died 1058), Catholico ...
and
Marta Skavronskaya (who would later become Empress Catherine I of Russia). As Charles was the Swedish heir, Peter saw the marriage as politically useful. Charles Frederick was officially engaged to Anna by Tsar Peter. After the death of Peter in 1725, he was given a place in the council, his own court, palace and income by
Catherine I of Russia
Catherine I ( rus, Екатери́на I Алексе́евна Миха́йлова, Yekaterína I Alekséyevna Mikháylova; born , ; – ) was the second wife and empress consort of Peter the Great, and Empress Regnant of Russia from 1725 u ...
and married to Anna. Anna was not enthusiastic about the marriage, because of his reputation of consorting with prostitutes.
![Carl Frederick of Sweden grave 2010 (1)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/eb/Carl_Frederick_of_Sweden_grave_2010_%281%29.jpg)
Charles Frederick, then commander of the palace guard in St. Petersburg, attempted to secure his wife's succession to the Russian throne upon the death in 1727 of her mother, the Empress
Catherine I of Russia
Catherine I ( rus, Екатери́на I Алексе́евна Миха́йлова, Yekaterína I Alekséyevna Mikháylova; born , ; – ) was the second wife and empress consort of Peter the Great, and Empress Regnant of Russia from 1725 u ...
. His attempt failed, but his son by Duchess Anna Petrovna,
Charles Peter Ulrich (who - as Duke of Holstein-Gottorp - succeeded in the ducal share of Holstein in 1739), eventually became Russian tsar in 1762, as Peter III.
Charles Frederick and Anna left for Gottorp ducal share of Holstein in 1727, taking residence in
Kiel Castle, where Anna died following the birth of their son in 1728. Charles Frederick spent the rest of his life in Holstein-Gottorp at
Kiel
Kiel () is the capital and most populous city in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 246,243 (2021).
Kiel lies approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the southeast of the Jutland ...
. His prime concern was to secure his son's succession to the Russian throne. He did support his followers in Sweden also, but did not pay much attention to Holstein-Gottorp. Before a member of the family of Holstein-Gottorp was to sit on either the Swedish or the Russian throne, Duke Charles Frederick died in 1739 in the Saxon village of
Rolfshagen. His grave is in the Cloister Church at
Bordesholm.
Ancestors
References
{{Authority control
Carl Frederick 1700
Dukes of Holstein-Gottorp
Holstein-Gottorp, Karl Friedrich of
Holstein-Gottorp, Karl Friedrich of
Charles Frederick, Duke of Schleswig
Disinherited European royalty
Members of the Supreme Privy Council