Charles (; 6 March 18236 October 1891) was

King of Württemberg King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a constitutional monarch if his power is restrained by f ...

from 25 June 1864 until his death in 1891. Charles I married Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna of Russia in 1846 and ascended to the throne in 1864. Despite their marriage, the couple had no children, likely due to Charles' homosexuality. Charles was involved in several scandals, including a close relationship with American Charles Woodcock. In 1870, the couple adopted Olga's niece, Vera Konstantinovna. Charles I aligned with

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

during the

Austro-Prussian War The Austro-Prussian War (German: ''Preußisch-Österreichischer Krieg''), also known by many other names,Seven Weeks' War, German Civil War, Second War of Unification, Brothers War or Fraternal War, known in Germany as ("German War"), ''Deutsc ...

but later sided with

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

in the

Franco-Prussian War The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the War of 1870, was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the North German Confederation led by the Kingdom of Prussia. Lasting from 19 July 1870 to 28 Janua ...

, joining the new

German Empire The German Empire (),; ; World Book, Inc. ''The World Book dictionary, Volume 1''. World Book, Inc., 2003. p. 572. States that Deutsches Reich translates as "German Realm" and was a former official name of Germany. also referred to as Imperia ...

in 1870. He died childless and was succeeded by his nephew, William II.

Early life

Charles was born on 6 March 1823 in

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...

as the only son of King

William I William I may refer to: Kings * William the Conqueror (–1087), also known as William I, King of England * William I of Sicily (died 1166) * William I of Scotland (died 1214), known as William the Lion * William I of the Netherlands and Luxembour ...

and his third wife Pauline Therese (1800–1873). As the king's eldest son he became Crown Prince of Württemberg. His father's first wife was Princess Caroline Augusta, daughter of King

Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria Maximilian I Joseph (; 27 May 1756 – 13 October 1825) was Duke of Zweibrücken from 1795 to 1799, prince-elector of Bavaria (as Maximilian IV Joseph) from 1799 to 1806, then King of Bavaria (as Maximilian I Joseph) from 1806 to 1825. He was ...

and Princess Augusta Wilhelmine of Hesse-Darmstadt. After their 1814 divorce, without issue, he married his first cousin, Grand Duchess Catherine Pavlovna of Russia, daughter of Emperor

Paul I of Russia Paul I (; – ) was Emperor of Russia from 1796 until his assassination in 1801. Paul remained overshadowed by his mother, Catherine the Great, for most of his life. He adopted the Pauline Laws, laws of succession to the Russian throne—rules ...

and Princess Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg. Catherine died in 1819 after having two daughters, Princess Marie Friederike Charlotte of Württemberg (wife of Alfred, Count von Neipperg) and Princess Sophie of Württemberg (wife of King

William III of the Netherlands William III (Dutch language, Dutch: ''Willem Alexander Paul Frederik Lodewijk''; English: ''William Alexander Paul Frederick Louis''; 19 February 1817 – 23 November 1890) was King of the Netherlands and Grand Duke of Luxembourg from 1849 until ...

). From his parents marriage, he had two sisters, Princess

Catherine Katherine (), also spelled Catherine and Catherina, other variations, is a feminine given name. The name and its variants are popular in countries where large Christian populations exist, because of its associations with one of the earliest Ch ...

(who married Prince Frederick of Württemberg) and Princess Augusta (wife of Prince Hermann of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach). His paternal grandparents were King Frederick I of Württemberg and Augusta of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (a daughter of Charles William Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick and Princess Augusta of Great Britain, elder sister to King

George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland, Ireland from 25 October 1760 until his death in 1820. The Acts of Union 1800 unified Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and ...

). His grandmother's younger sister, Princess Caroline married King

George IV George IV (George Augustus Frederick; 12 August 1762 – 26 June 1830) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from 29 January 1820 until his death in 1830. At the time of his accession to the throne, h ...

. His maternal grandparents were

Duke Louis of Württemberg Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and above sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they a ...

and Princess Henrietta of Nassau-Weilburg. Charles studied in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

and

Tübingen Tübingen (; ) is a traditional college town, university city in central Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated south of the state capital, Stuttgart, and developed on both sides of the Neckar and Ammer (Neckar), Ammer rivers. about one in ...

Reign

Charles acceded to the throne of Württemberg upon his father's death on 25 June 1864 and was crowned on 12 July 1864. More liberal-leaning than his father, he replaced Chief Minister Joseph von Linden with Karl von Varnbüler, and restored freedom of the press and association on 24 December 1864 followed by

universal suffrage Universal suffrage or universal franchise ensures the right to vote for as many people bound by a government's laws as possible, as supported by the " one person, one vote" principle. For many, the term universal suffrage assumes the exclusion ...

introduced for the People's Deputies of the Second Chamber on 26 March 1868. In relation to

foreign policy Foreign policy, also known as external policy, is the set of strategies and actions a State (polity), state employs in its interactions with other states, unions, and international entities. It encompasses a wide range of objectives, includ ...

, after siding with Austria in the

of 1866, he moved closer to the

Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (, ) was a German state that existed from 1701 to 1918.Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. Rev. ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1946. It played a signif ...

. Following the

Battle of Sadowa A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...

, he enacted a secret military treaty with Prussia (which became public in 1867) and recognized the dissolution of the

German Confederation The German Confederation ( ) was an association of 39 predominantly German-speaking sovereign states in Central Europe. It was created by the Congress of Vienna in 1815 as a replacement of the former Holy Roman Empire, which had been dissolved ...

in 1866. Nevertheless, an anti-Prussian attitude was officially represented by the Court, the government and the people. Because of the alliance, Württemberg took Prussia's side in the

of 1870 to 1871. At the end of October 1870 the king withdrew to

Friedrichshafen Friedrichshafen ( or ; Low Alemannic: ''Hafe'' or ''Fridrichshafe'') is a city on the northern shoreline of Lake Constance (the ''Bodensee'') in Southern Germany, near the borders of both Switzerland and Austria. It is the district capital (''K ...

and in October 1870, signed one of the November treaties, joining the

North German Confederation The North German Confederation () was initially a German military alliance established in August 1866 under the leadership of the Kingdom of Prussia, which was transformed in the subsequent year into a confederated state (a ''de facto'' feder ...

which began on 1 January 1871 and renamed itself the

. He was represented at the

Palace of Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; ) is a former royal residence commissioned by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, Yvelines, Versailles, about west of Paris, in the Yvelines, Yvelines Department of Île-de-France, Île-de-France region in Franc ...

at the

Proclamation of the German Empire The proclamation of the German Empire, also known as the ''Deutsche Reichsgründung'', took place in January 1871 after the joint victory of the German states in the Franco-Prussian War. As a result of the November Treaties of 1870, the souther ...

by his cousin, Prince August of Württemberg. The King showed a tendency to withdraw into private life in other ways, going around the country and, later, spending time in

Nice Nice ( ; ) is a city in and the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative city limits, with a population of nearly one million Palermo Palermo ( ; ; , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The ...

to the 23-year-old Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna of Russia, the daughter of Emperor

Nicholas I of Russia Nicholas I, group=pron (Russian language, Russian: Николай I Павлович; – ) was Emperor of Russia, List of rulers of Partitioned Poland#Kings of the Kingdom of Poland, King of Congress Poland, and Grand Duke of Finland from 18 ...

and Charlotte of Prussia (a daughter of King

Frederick William III of Prussia Frederick William III (; 3 August 1770 – 7 June 1840) was King of Prussia from 16 November 1797 until his death in 1840. He was concurrently Elector of Brandenburg in the Holy Roman Empire until 6 August 1806, when the empire was dissolved ...

and sister to

William I, German Emperor Wilhelm I (Wilhelm Friedrich Ludwig; 22 March 1797 – 9 March 1888) was King of Prussia from 1861 and German Emperor from 1871 until his death in 1888. A member of the House of Hohenzollern, he was the first head of state of a united Germany. ...

). Olga's grandmother, Empress Maria Feodorovna, was the younger sister of Charles' grandfather, King Frederick. They married on 13 July 1846 at

Peterhof Palace The Peterhof Palace ( rus, Петерго́ф, Petergóf, p=pʲɪtʲɪrˈɡof; an emulation of German "Peterhof", meaning "Peter's Court") is a series of palaces and gardens located in Petergof, Saint Petersburg, Russia, commissioned by Peter th ...

Petergof Petergof (), known as Petrodvorets () from 1944 to 1997, is a administrative divisions of Saint Petersburg, municipal town in Petrodvortsovy District of the federal cities of Russia, federal city of Saint Petersburg, St. Petersburg, located ...

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

. The young couple moved to

, and from 1854 until Charles' accession in 1864, lived at the Crown Prince Palace () built between 1846 and 1850 at state expense on Königstraße, corner of Schloßplatz (which was demolished in ). For their summer residence, the crown prince couple stayed at Villa Berg, which had been designed by Christian Friedrich von Leins according to their own ideas and is considered one of the first

Renaissance Revival Renaissance Revival architecture (sometimes referred to as "Neo-Renaissance") is a group of 19th-century architectural revival styles which were neither Greek Revival nor Gothic Revival but which instead drew inspiration from a wide range of ...

style buildings in Germany. The couple had no children, perhaps because of Charles'

homosexuality Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or Human sexual activity, sexual behavior between people of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexu ...

,Sabine Thomsen. ''Die württembergischen Königinnen. Charlotte Mathilde, Katharina, Pauline, Olga, Charlotte – ihr Leben und Wirken'' he Queens of Wuerttemberg: Charlotte Matilde, Katharina, Pauline, Olga, Charlotte – Their Lives and Legacies Silberburg-Verlag, 2006. and, in 1870, Olga and Charles I adopted Olga's niece Vera Konstantinovna, the daughter of her brother Grand Duke

Konstantin The first name Konstantin () is a derivation from the Latin name '' Constantinus'' ( Constantine) in some European languages, such as Bulgarian, Russian, Estonian and German. As a Christian given name, it refers to the memory of the Roman empe ...

. After a stay at Bebenhausen Palace where he spent his autumns at Bebenhausen (and had tasked architect with renovating the palace's rooms), he returned to Stuttgart on 3 October 1891, three days before his death on 6 October 1891. He was succeeded as King of Württemberg by his nephew, William II. His wife died a year later, on 30 October 1892, and was buried together with him in the Old Castle in Stuttgart.

Homosexuality

Charles I became the object of scandal several times for his closeness with various men. A first "intimate" long-standing "heart friendship" was with his adjutant general, Baron Wilhelm von Spitzemberg. Another friend was Richard Jackson of

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

, the secretary of the U.S. Consulate. Charles' most notorious relationship was with the American Charles Woodcock, a 30-year-old he met in 1883. The King made Woodcock his chamberlain and even elevated him as to Freiherr von Woodcock-Savage in 1888. 'Mann für Mann'', Bernd-Ulrich Hergemöller, Pages 409, 410">Bernd-Ulrich_Hergemöller.html" ;"title="'Mann für Mann'', Bernd-Ulrich Hergemöller">'Mann für Mann'', Bernd-Ulrich Hergemöller, Pages 409, 410/ref> Charles I and Charles Woodcock became inseparable, going so far as to appear together in public dressed identically. It was less the king's homosexuality than the fact that Woodcock used his position to exercise significant influence over the king's personnel decisions that became a scandal. This did not go unnoticed by the press, and together with the political establishment, headed by Prime Minister Hermann von Mittnacht, the King was put under intense pressure to give up Woodcock. In 1889, however, Charles found a new friend in Wilhelm Georges, the technical director of the royal theater. The relationship with Georges lasted until the King's death two years later.

Honours

Arms

File:Royal Monogram of King Charles I of Württemberg.svg, Royal Monogram of King Charles I of Württemberg File:Coat of Arms of the Kingdom of Württemberg 1817-1921.svg, Coat of Arms of the Kingdom of Württemberg, 1817 File:Royal Monogram of King Charles I of Württemberg, Variant.svg, Royal Monogram of King Charles I of Württemberg, Variant

Bibliography

For Karl's

and other familiar issues: * Queen Olga of Württemberg. ''Traum der Jugend goldener Stern'', Reutlingen, Günther Neske, 1955 * Jette Sachs-Colignon. ''Königin Olga von Württemberg'', Stieglitz, 2002 * Paul Sauer. ''Regent mit mildem Zepter. König Karl von Württemberg'', Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt Stuttgart, 1999

References

External links

Karl von Wurttemberg, King Charles of Wurttemberg, 1866
at

Marshall University Marshall University is a public university, public research university in Huntington, West Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1837 and is named after John Marshall, the fourth Chief Justice of the United States, chief justice of the Uni ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Charles 01 of Württemberg 1823 births 1891 deaths 19th-century German LGBTQ people 19th-century kings of Württemberg Extra Knights Companion of the Garter Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour Grand Crosses of the Order of Saint Stephen of Hungary Knights of the Golden Fleece of Spain Grand Crosses of the Order of Saint-Charles Kings of Württemberg LGBTQ heads of state LGBTQ royalty German gay men LGBTQ Protestants 19th-century German landowners Lieutenant generals of Württemberg Lieutenant generals of Prussia Members of the Württembergian Chamber of Lords Nobility from Stuttgart Crown princes of Württemberg Gay military personnel German LGBTQ military personnel