Pauline of Württemberg (4 September 1800 – 10 March 1873) was a Queen consort of Württemberg by marriage to her first cousin

King William I of Württemberg King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...

Early life

Pauline Therese was born in

Riga Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the Ba ...

, one of the five children of

Duke Louis of Württemberg Duke Ludwig Friedrich Alexander of Württemberg (; 30 August 1756, in Treptow an der Rega20 September 1817, in Kirchheim unter Teck) was the second son of Frederick II Eugene, Duke of Württemberg (1732–1797) and Margravine Sophia Dorothea of Bra ...

and his wife,

Princess Henriette of Nassau-Weilburg Princess Henriëtte of Nassau-Weilburg, then of Nassau (22 April 1780, in Kirchheimbolanden – 2 January 1857, in Kirchheim unter Teck) was a German duchess. She was a daughter of Prince Charles Christian and Carolina of Orange-Nassau, daught ...

. Her siblings included Maria Dorothea, Archduchess of Austria; Amelia, Duchess of Saxe-Hildburghausen; Elisabeth Alexandrine, Princess of Baden, and Duke Alexander of Württemberg himself the founder of the Teck branch of the family. Her paternal grandparents were

Frederick II Eugene, Duke of Württemberg Friedrich Eugen, Duke of Württemberg (21 January 1732 – 23 December 1797) was the fourth son of Karl Alexander, Duke of Württemberg, and Princess Maria Augusta of Thurn and Taxis (11 August 1706 – 1 February 1756). He was born in Stuttg ...

, and

Friederike Dorothea of Brandenburg-Schwedt Friederike of Brandenburg-Schwedt (Friederike Sophia Dorothea; 18 December 1736 – 9 March 1798) was Duchess of Württemberg by marriage to Frederick II Eugene, Duke of Württemberg. She is an ancestor to many European royals of the 19th and ...

. Her maternal grandparents were

Charles Christian, Prince of Nassau-Weilburg Charles Christian, Prince of Nassau-Weilburg (Weilburg, 16 January 1735 – Münster-Dreissen, near Kirchheim, 28 November 1788), till 1753 Count of Nassau-Weilburg, was the first ruler of the Principality of Nassau-Weilburg between 1753 and 17 ...

, and

Princess Carolina of Orange-Nassau Princess Carolina of Orange-Nassau (''Wilhelmine Carolina''; 28 February 1743 – 6 May 1787) was a Dutch regent. She was the daughter of William IV, Prince of Orange, Stadtholder of the Netherlands, and Anne, Princess Royal. She was regent of the ...

, a daughter of

William IV, Prince of Orange William IV (Willem Karel Hendrik Friso; 1 September 1711 – 22 October 1751) was Prince of Orange from birth and the first hereditary stadtholder of all the United Provinces of the Netherlands from 1747 until his death in 1751. During his whole l ...

. She was tutored by her governess, the known memoirist Alexandrine des Écherolles, who described her pupils in her memoirs.

Queen

On 15 April 1820 in Stuttgart, Pauline Therese married her first cousin King

William I of Württemberg William I (german: Friedrich Wilhelm Karl; 27 September 178125 June 1864) was King of Württemberg from 30 October 1816 until his death. Upon William's accession, Württemberg was suffering crop failures and famine in the "Year Without a Summer", ...

. Pauline thus became Queen consort of Württemberg. As his third wife, their marriage was unhappy, particularly because of the deep attachment William showed to his mistress, the actress Amalia Stubenrauch. Nevertheless, they had three children including the future King Charles I. Pauline also served as a stepmother to Marie and

Sophie Sophie is a version of the female given name Sophia, meaning "wise". People with the name Born in the Middle Ages * Sophie, Countess of Bar (c. 1004 or 1018–1093), sovereign Countess of Bar and lady of Mousson * Sophie of Thuringia, Duchess o ...

, future

Queen Consort of the Netherlands A consort of the Netherlands is a person married to a Dutch monarch during his or her reign. All female spouses of the monarchs of the Netherlands have been titled "Queen of the Netherlands" with the style ''Majesty''. The male spouses of the three ...

; they were William's daughters from his second marriage to

Grand Duchess Catherine Pavlovna of Russia Grand Duchess Catherine Pavlovna of Russia (russian: Екатерина Павловна; 21 May 1788 S 10 May 1788– 9 January 1819) later Queen Catharina Pavlovna of Württemberg, was the fourth daughter of Tsar Paul I of Russia and Du ...

. In a letter written to her friend Lady Malet, Queen Sophie would later write of the possibility of how her stepmother Queen Pauline and one of her daughters (Catherine or Augusta) would soon be taking refuge in the Netherlands, as a consequence of the events following the

Revolutions of 1848 in the German states In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...

.Sophie of Württemberg, p. 94.

Queen dowager

William I died at Schloss Rosenstein in Stuttgart on 25 June 1864. Upon his death, their alienation became known to the public; Pauline was completely excluded from her inheritance in his will. She died at

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 ...

, nine years later, on 10 March 1873, having lived her last years in Switzerland. Pauline had been very popular, not only for the kindness she showed to her subjects but also for the devotion she showed to the poor. Upon her death, Württemberg inhabitants gave her name to many roads and places in Stuttgart, Esslingen, and Friolzheim.

Issue

Catherine Katherine, also spelled Catherine, and other variations are feminine names. They are popular in Christian countries because of their derivation from the name of one of the first Christian saints, Catherine of Alexandria. In the early Christ ...

(1821–1898); married

Prince Frederick of Württemberg , image = Prinz Friedrich von Württemberg (1808-1870).jpg , caption = , reign = , coronation = , predecessor = , successor = , succession = , spouse = , issue = William II of Württemberg , house ...

and was mother to

William II of Württemberg , spouse = , issue = Pauline, Princess of WiedPrince Ulrich , house = Württemberg , father = Prince Frederick of Württemberg , mother = Princess Catherine of Württemberg , birth_date = , birth_place = Stu ...

. *

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 ...

(1823–1891); married

Olga Nikolaevna of Russia 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 became Queen consort of the Kingdom of Württemberg until Charles' death. ...

and had no issue. * Augusta (1826–1898); married

Prince Hermann of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. Th ...

and had issue.

Ancestry

References

Sources

* ''The New International Encyclopedia''. Daniel Coit Gilman, Harry Thurston Peck, and Frank Moore Colby (eds). New York: Dodd, Mead, and Company. 1909. *

Sophie of Württemberg Sophie of Württemberg (Sophie Friederike Matilda; 17 June 1818 – 3 June 1877) was Queen of the Netherlands as the first wife of King William III. Sophie separated from William in 1855 but continued to perform her duties as queen in public. Sh ...

. ''A Stranger in The Hague: The Letters of Queen Sophie of the Netherlands to Lady Malet, 1842-1877.'' S.W. Jackson and Hella Haasse (eds.). Duke University Press. 1989. {{DEFAULTSORT:Pauline Therese Of Wurttemberg 1800 births 1873 deaths Nobility from Riga Baltic-German people Queens consort of Württemberg Duchesses of Württemberg Queen mothers