Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna of Russia (11 September 1822 – 30 October 1892) was a member of the
Russian imperial family who by marriage to
Charles I of Württemberg
Charles (german: Karl Friedrich Alexander; 6 March 18236 October 1891) was King of Württemberg, from 25 June 1864 until his death in 1891.
Early life
Charles was born on 6 March 1823 in Stuttgart as the son of King William I and his third wif ...
became
Queen consort of the
Kingdom of Württemberg until Charles' death.
She was the second daughter of
Nicholas I of Russia and
Charlotte of Prussia. She was thus a sister of
Alexander II of Russia
Alexander II ( rus, Алекса́ндр II Никола́евич, Aleksándr II Nikoláyevich, p=ɐlʲɪˈksandr ftɐˈroj nʲɪkɐˈlajɪvʲɪtɕ; 29 April 181813 March 1881) was Emperor of Russia, Congress Poland, King of Poland and Gra ...
. She married
King Charles of Württemberg, with whom she had no children.
Early life
Grand Duchess Olga of Russia was born on 11 September 1822 in
St. Petersburg,
Russia. Her father was
Emperor Nicholas I of Russia
, house = Romanov-Holstein-Gottorp
, father = Paul I of Russia
, mother = Maria Feodorovna (Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg)
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Gatchina Palace, Gatchina, Russian Empire
, death_date ...
, the son of
Emperor Paul I of Russia
An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife ( empress consort), mother (empr ...
and
Empress Maria Feodorovna of Russia (née Duchess Sophia Dorothea of Württemberg). Her mother was
Empress Alexandra of Russia (née Princess Charlotte of Prussia), the daughter of
King Frederick William III of Prussia and
Queen Louise of Prussia (née Duchess Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz).
Olga grew up as part of a close family of seven sisters and brothers. She had two elder siblings:
Emperor Alexander II of Russia
Alexander II ( rus, Алекса́ндр II Никола́евич, Aleksándr II Nikoláyevich, p=ɐlʲɪˈksandr ftɐˈroj nʲɪkɐˈlajɪvʲɪtɕ; 29 April 181813 March 1881) was Emperor of Russia, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Finlan ...
and
Grand Duchess Maria of Russia; and four younger siblings:
Grand Duchess Alexandra of Russia,
Grand Duke Constantine of Russia,
Grand Duke Nicholas of Russia and
Grand Duke Michael of Russia Grand Duke Michael may refer to:
* Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich of Russia (1878–1918), youngest son of Tsar Alexander III of Russia
* Grand Duke Michael Mikhailovich of Russia (1861–1929), second son of Grand Duke Michael Nikolaievich of R ...
.
Attractive, cultured and intelligent, she was considered to be one of the most eligible princesses in Europe. She spoke several languages, and was fond of
music and
painting.
Marriage
Olga met ''
Kronprinz''
Karl of Württemberg Karl may refer to:
People
* Karl (given name), including a list of people and characters with the name
* Karl der Große, commonly known in English as Charlemagne
* Karl Marx, German philosopher and political writer
* Karl of Austria, last Austr ...
in early 1846 in
Palermo
Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , 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 ...
,
Two Sicilies. Her parents wished that she make a dynastic marriage, especially since her siblings Alexander,
Maria and Alexandra had married relatively insignificant royal partners. There had already been several marriages between members of the
Russian Imperial Family and members of the
Württemberg Royal Family (in addition to the marriage between Olga's paternal grandparents): Olga's future father-in-law,
King Wilhelm I of Württemberg, married Olga's paternal aunt,
Grand Duchess Catherine of Russia; Olga's paternal uncle,
Grand Duke Michael of Russia Grand Duke Michael may refer to:
* Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich of Russia (1878–1918), youngest son of Tsar Alexander III of Russia
* Grand Duke Michael Mikhailovich of Russia (1861–1929), second son of Grand Duke Michael Nikolaievich of R ...
, married Wilhelm I's niece,
Princess Charlotte of Württemberg.
Olga gave her consent to Karl's proposal of marriage after only a few meetings, on 18 January. The wedding was held in great splendour on 13 July 1846 at the
Peterhof Palace,
Russia. The couple came back from Russia to the
Kingdom of Württemberg on 23 September. They lived mostly in the Villa Berg in
Stuttgart
Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...
and in the Kloster Hofen in
Friedrichshafen.
The couple had no children, probably not because of Karl's
homosexuality, which he lived openly in his later age, but of his other health problems. Olga's husband became the object of scandal several times for his closeness with various men. The most notorious of these was
Charles Woodcock
Charles Burger Woodcock, created ''Freiherr'' Woodcock-Savage, later Charles Woodcock-Savage (1 May 1850 – 26 June 1923), was a New Yorker who achieved notoriety as the lover of King Karl I of Württemberg, by some decades his elder.
Early li ...
from the
United States, a former
chamberlain whom Karl elevated to being ''
Freiherr'' Woodcock-Savage (
English:
Baron
Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than a lord or knig ...
Woodcock-Savage) in 1888. The resulting outcry forced Karl to renounce his favourite. In 1863, Olga and Karl adopted Olga's niece,
Grand Duchess Vera of Russia, the daughter of Olga's brother
Grand Duke Constantine.
On 25 June 1864, after the death of his father, Karl acceded the throne and became the third
King of Württemberg, making Olga the fourth
Queen of Württemberg
Queen or QUEEN may refer to:
Monarchy
* Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom
** List of queens regnant
* Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king
* Queen dowager, the widow of a king
* Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...
. The new King was enthroned on 12 July 1864.
Work and influence
Olga dedicated her life to social causes. She was especially interested in the
education of girls, and also supported wounded
veterans and the
disabled assisted in part by philanthropist
Charlotte Wahl
Charlotte Wahl née Mundel, (1817–1899), was a Latvians, Latvian philanthropist who founded of many charitable organizations and is said "to have been the most decorated woman of her time."
Life and work
Charlotte Mundel was born in Riga, La ...
of Stuttgart. A
children's hospital of
Stuttgart
Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...
, the ''Olgahospital'', was named for her in 1849; and an order of
Protestant nursing nuns of Stuttgart, the ''Olgaschwesternschaft'', was named for her in 1872. These charitable enterprises made her very popular among her subjects, much more so than her husband.
Olga was fond of
agriculture and was keenly interested in all happenings on her farming estate which was located in the German
Volhynia colony of Russia. She received detailed reports from her ward Karl Alexander Wieler, a Württemberg orphan, who managed her estate and would rise to prominence in Russia's Imperial government owing to this Imperial association.
Olga was also very interested in
natural science
Natural science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer review and repeatab ...
and collected
minerals systematically. Her collection was left to the ''
Staatliche Museum für Naturkunde'' in Stuttgart. As of 2011 part of the collection is still on display. Her name is attached to a geological formation in the
Northern Territory, Australia. In 1871, King Karl I elevated the
German-born Australian
explorer Ferdinand Mueller to being "''
Freiherr'' von Mueller". He repaid the compliment as follows. A series of massive rock formations was discovered by the
British-born Australian explorer
Ernest Giles
William Ernest Powell Giles (20 July 1835 – 13 November 1897), best known as Ernest Giles, was an Australian explorer who led five major expeditions to parts of South Australia and Western Australia.
Early life
Ernest Giles was born in Bris ...
in central Australia in 1872. Mueller was Giles' benefactor. Giles had wanted to name the tallest peak ''Mt. Mueller'', but Mueller prevailed on Giles to name it ''Mt. Olga'', in honour of the queen. The entire geological formation then became known as "The Olgas", before the indigenous name "
Kata Tjuta" was officially proclaimed in the 1980s.
Later life
Queen Olga was noted for her dignity and queenly demeanor. On a visit by the royal couple to
Austria-Hungary in July, 1873, a lady-in-waiting to
Empress Elisabeth of Austria noted, "He is most insignificant. She makes a most imposing appearance ... the only one who is a queen ..."
In 1881, Olga wrote a memoir called ''Traum der Jugend goldener Stern'' (translated as ''The Golden Dream of My Youth'') which described her childhood at the Russian Imperial Court, her grief at the loss of her sister Alexandra, and her early adult life, ending with her wedding to Karl. It is dedicated to her nieces,
Grand Duchess Olga of Russia and
Grand Duchess Vera of Russia.
When her husband died on 6 October 1891, Olga became queen dowager. She died one year later, on 30 October 1892, in
Friedrichshafen, aged 70. She was buried in the crypt of the ''Altes Schloss'' (
Old Castle) in
Stuttgart
Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...
.
Honours
*: Dame of the
Order of Queen Saint Isabel, ''28 June 1865''
* :
Dame of the Order of Olga, ''1871''
[''Hof- und Staats-Handbuch des Königreich Württemberg'' (1886/7), "Königliche Orden" p]
104
/ref>
Ancestry
References
Further reading
*''Traum der Jugend goldner Stern. Aus den Aufzeichnungen der Königin Olga von Württemberg'' by Sophie Dorothee Podewils, Günther Neske Verlag, 1955.
*''Königin Olga von Württemberg. Historischer Roman'' by Jetta Sachs-Collignon, Stieglitz-Verlag, 1991.
*''Die württembergischen Königinnen. Charlotte Mathilde, Katharina, Pauline, Olga, Charlotte – ihr Leben und Wirken'' by Sabine Thomsen, Silberburg-Verlag, 2006.
Road to Ekaterinburg: Nicholas and Alexandra's daughters 1913-1918
by ECS Banks, published by SilverWood Books, 2013.
Road to Ekaterinburg from Amazon Marketplace
Road to Ekaterinburg Kindle Edition UK
Road to Ekaterinburg Kindle Edition US
External links
Koenigreich-Wuerttemberg.de
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nikolaevna, Olga
1822 births
1892 deaths
Russian grand duchesses
House of Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov
Crown Princesses of Württemberg
Queens consort of Württemberg
Princesses of Württemberg
Memoirists from the Russian Empire
19th-century writers from the Russian Empire
19th-century women writers from the Russian Empire
Dames of the Order of Saint Isabel
Daughters of Russian emperors
Children of Nicholas I of Russia