Princess Elisabeth Pauline Alexandrine of Saxe-Altenburg (26 March 1826 – 2 February 1896) was a daughter of

Joseph, Duke of Saxe-Altenburg Joseph Georg Friedrich Ernst Karl, Duke of Saxe-Altenburg (27 August 1789, in Hildburghausen – 25 November 1868, in Altenburg), was a Duke of Saxe-Altenburg. Biography He was the second but first surviving son of Frederick, Duke of Saxe-Hildb ...

and his wife

Duchess Amelia of Württemberg Duchess Amelia of Württemberg (; 28 June 179928 November 1848) was a Duchess of Württemberg and an ancestor of the British, Greek, Romanian, Yugoslavian and Spanish Royal Families. She was a daughter of Duke Louis of Württemberg and Princess He ...

. By marriage, she became Grand Duchess of Oldenburg.

Family and early life

Elisabeth of Saxe-Altenburg, Grand Duchess of Oldenburg

Elisabeth was born on 26 March 1826 in

Hildburghausen Hildburghausen ( IPA adapted from: ) is a town in Thuringia in central Germany, capital of the district Hildburghausen. Geography It is situated in the Franconian part of Thuringia south of the Thuringian Forest, in the valley of the Werra riv ...

. She was the fourth daughter born to Joseph, the then Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Hildburghausen and his wife

. Her official title was Princess Elisabeth of Saxe-Hildburghausen until later that year, when her family moved to Altenburg as a result of a transfer of territories among the various branches of the Ernestine Wettins. Elisabeth then took the title Princess Elisabeth of Saxe-Altenburg. In 1834, her father succeeded as

Duke of Saxe-Altenburg Saxe-Altenburg (german: Sachsen-Altenburg, links=no) was one of the Saxon duchies held by the Ernestine branch of the House of Wettin in present-day Thuringia. It was one of the smallest of the German states with an area of 1323 square kilomete ...

, but was forced to abdicate in the civil revolution of 1848 due to the conservative, anti-reform nature of his government. Elisabeth and her siblings were educated by

Carl Ludwig Nietzsche Carl Ludwig Nietzsche (10 October 1813 – 30 July 1849) was a German Lutheran pastor and the father of the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. Biography Carl Ludwig Nietzsche was born in Eilenburg, in the Kingdom of Saxony, in 1813, the same ...

, a

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...

pastor and the father of the famous philosopher

Friedrich Nietzsche Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (; or ; 15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher, prose poet, cultural critic, philologist, and composer whose work has exerted a profound influence on contemporary philosophy. He began his ...

. Her sisters included Queen Marie of Hanover (wife of George V of Hanover) and

Grand Duchess Alexandra Iosifovna of Russia Grand Duchess Alexandra Iosifovna of Russia (born Princess Alexandra of Saxe-Altenburg, 8 July 1830 – 6 July 1911) was the fifth daughter of Joseph, Duke of Saxe-Altenburg and Duchess Amelia of Württemberg. She is an ancestress of the British, ...

(wife of

Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich of Russia Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich of Russia (21 September 1827 – 25 January 1892) was the Emperor's Viceroy of Poland from 1862 to 1863. Early life Konstantin Nikolayevich was born as the second son of Nicholas I and his wife, Charlotte ...

). Through Alexandra, Elisabeth was an aunt of

Queen Olga of Greece Olga Constantinovna of Russia ( el, Όλγα; 18 June 1926) was queen consort of Greece as the wife of King George I. She was briefly the regent of Greece in 1920. A member of the Romanov dynasty, she was the oldest daughter of Grand Duke C ...

Marriage

On 10 February 1852, Elisabeth married her second cousin Peter, Hereditary Grand Duke of Oldenburg. He would succeed his father the following year as Grand Duke, making Elisabeth Grand Duchess of Oldenburg. She used funds given to her by her father on the occasion of her marriage to set up the ''Elisabeth Foundation'', which still exists today. This fund established the Elisabeth Children’s Hospital, which she oversaw, and throughout her life she was a patron of numerous charities and organizations focused on the well-being of children, sometimes supplemented by her foundation. They had two children: Elisabeth died on 2 February 1896. Her husband died four years later.

Ancestry

References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Saxe-Altenburg, Princess Elisabeth of Elisabeth Elisabeth German duchesses Grand Duchesses of Oldenburg Elisabeth 1826 births 1896 deaths Burials at the Ducal Mausoleum, Gertrudenfriedhof (Oldenburg) Daughters of monarchs