Charlotte Sophie of Aldenburg (4 August 1715– 5 of February 1800), was the ruling Countess of Varel and Kniphausen,Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels, Fürstliche Häuser IV. "Portland". C.A. Starke Verlag, 1956, pp. 484-485. (German). adjacent lordships on the German/

Frisia Frisia is a cross-border cultural region in Northwestern Europe. Stretching along the Wadden Sea, it encompasses the north of the Netherlands and parts of northwestern Germany. The region is traditionally inhabited by the Frisians, a West Ger ...

n border along the North Sea, from 1738 to 1748. She was the daughter of Anton II, Count of Aldenburg and Princess Wilhelmine Marie of Hesse-Homburg.

Life

Background

Charlotte Amalie was the last of the Aldenburgs who were, in turn, an illegitimate line descended from Anton Gunther (1583-1667), the last of the independent

Counts of Oldenburg 120px, Shield of the Counts of Oldenburg 120px, Shield of the Counts of Oldenburg-Delmenhorst This is a list of the counts, dukes, grand dukes, and prime ministers of Oldenburg. Counts of Oldenburg * 1088/1101–1108 Elimar I * 1108–114 ...

. His main domains, Oldenburg and Delmenhorst, were inherited on his death by

Frederick II of Denmark Frederick II (1 July 1534 – 4 April 1588) was King of Denmark and Norway and Duke of Schleswig and Holstein from 1559 until his death. A member of the House of Oldenburg, Frederick began his personal rule of Denmark-Norway at the age of ...

, head of the senior, legitimate branch of the House of Oldenburg. Leaving no children by his consort, an Oldenburg princess of the Danish Sonderburg line, Anton Gunther was free to confer his unentailed lordships of Varel and Kniphausen on Anton I of Aldenburg (1633-1681), the son of his long-time liaison with Baroness Elisabeth Margareta Ungnad zu Sonnegg (c.1605-1683), for whom he also procured the rank of Imperial count in 1653. Although Anton's daughters by his first wife, Countess Auguste Johanna zu

Sayn-Wittgenstein-Hohenstein Sayn-Wittgenstein-Hohenstein was a county and later principality between Hesse-Darmstadt and Westphalia. History The county with imperial immediacy was formed by the 1657 partition of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Wittgenstein and raised from a county to ...

(1638-1669) married into the Scandinavian nobility, his second marriage was to Princess Charlotte Amélie de la Trémoïlle (1652-1732), a Huguenot '' princesse étrangère'' whose descent from the Dutch leader, William the Silent, would eventually bring the Aldenburgs within the orbit of their powerful neighbors to the south, the

House of Orange-Nassau The House of Orange-Nassau (Dutch: ''Huis van Oranje-Nassau'', ) is the current reigning house of the Netherlands. A branch of the European House of Nassau, the house has played a central role in the politics and government of the Netherlands ...

Marriage

Count Anton II (1681-1738), the last male of his line, left his domains to his only child, Charlotte Sophie. The family being under the influence of the Dutch Prince of Orange, who had become William III of England in 1688, it was thought desirable to marry the heiress to a liege man whose family, the Bentincks, had been part of the entourage which accompanied the conqueror from the Netherlands to London in 1688. However, as the bride was a ruling countess, it was thought necessary that the selected groom, William Bentinck, younger son of the first Earl of Portland, needed to have commensurate rank, whereas legally a peer's son was a commoner. So on 29 December 1732 the

Holy Roman Emperor The Holy Roman Emperor, originally and officially the Emperor of the Romans ( la, Imperator Romanorum, german: Kaiser der Römer) during the Middle Ages, and also known as the Roman-German Emperor since the early modern period ( la, Imperat ...

obligingly elevated Bentinck to an Imperial count, and he married Countess Charlotte Sophie von Aldenburg zu Varel und Knyphausen on 1 March 1733.

Reign

Charlotte Sophie inherited the throne from her father in 1738. She had two sons within her marriage: Count Christian Friedrich Anton (1734-1768) and (the British naval officer and mechanical inventor) Count John Bentinck (1737-1775). However, she lived from 1737 to 1748 in a relationship with Count Albrecht Wolfgang of Schaumburg-Lippe (1699-1748), which caused a great scandal in contemporary Germany, and prevented her from having contact with her sons, although she would also have a son, Karl von Donop, with her lover in 1740.

Later life

In 1748, she was deposed as ruler of Varel and Delmenhorst, legal control of which territories was transferred to her former husband as guardian of their sons. She made many visits to the courts of Europe seeking support to retake her lands, but was treated as an outcast. In 1767, she took up residence in Hamburg, where she lived in retirement with her natural son.

Legacy

She is portrayed in the film '' Charlotte Sophie Bentinck''.

References

External links

*''Biography of Charlotte Sophie, Countess Bentinck (1715-1800)'', The University of Nottingham, Manuscripts and Special Collections
online
{{DEFAULTSORT:Charlotte Sophie of Aldenburg 18th-century women rulers 1715 births 1800 deaths 18th-century German people Monarchs who abdicated