Princess Sophie Friederike Karoline Luise of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (16 August 1778 – 9 July 1835) was a princess of

Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld () was one of the Saxon Duchies held by the Ernestine line of the Wettin Dynasty. Established in 1699, the Saxe-Coburg-Saalfield line lasted until the reshuffle of the Ernestine territories that occurred following the extinct ...

, and the sister of

Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld , house = , father = Francis, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld , mother = Countess Augusta of Reuss-Ebersdorf , birth_date = , birth_place = Coburg, Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, Holy Roman Empire , death_date = , death_pl ...

and King

Leopold I of Belgium * nl, Leopold Joris Christiaan Frederik * en, Leopold George Christian Frederick , image = NICAISE Leopold ANV.jpg , caption = Portrait by Nicaise de Keyser, 1856 , reign = 21 July 1831 – , predecessor = Erasme Loui ...

, and aunt of

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...

. By marriage, she was a Countess of

Mensdorff-Pouilly The House of Mensdorff-Pouilly is the name of a noble family originally from Lorraine. The family derived its name from the barony of Pouilly at Stenay in Meuse. Through Princess Sophie of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, wife of Emmanuel von Mensdorff-P ...

. She was born in

Coburg Coburg () is a town located on the Itz river in the Upper Franconia region of Bavaria, Germany. Long part of one of the Thuringian states of the Wettin line, it joined Bavaria by popular vote only in 1920. Until the revolution of 1918, it was ...

, the eldest child of

Francis, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld en, Francis Frederick Anthony , house = , father = Ernest Frederick, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld , mother = Princess Sophie Antoinette of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel , birth_date = , birth_place = Coburg, S ...

and

Countess Augusta Reuss of Ebersdorf Countess Augusta Caroline Sophie Reuss-Ebersdorf () (19 January 1757 – 16 November 1831), was by marriage the Duchess of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. She was the maternal grandmother of Queen Victoria and the paternal grandmother of Albert, Prince ...

Early life

Sophie had a particularly close relationship with her sister

Antoinette Antoinette is a given name, that is a diminutive feminine form of Antoine and Antonia (from Latin ''Antonius''). People with the name include: Nobles * Antoinette de Maignelais, Baroness of Villequier by marriage (1434–1474), mistress of C ...

and both often attended the Schloss Fantaisie, a sanctuary of French emigrants. It was there where she met her future husband,

Emmanuel von Mensdorff-Pouilly Emmanuel Graf von Mensdorff-Pouilly (24 January 1777 – 28 June 1852) was an army officer in the Imperial-Royal Army of the Austrian Empire, and vice-governor of Mainz. He was the uncle of Queen Victoria and the godfather of her husband, Pri ...

. They married on 23 February 1804 in Coburg. Her husband was elevated to count in 1818. In 1806, her husband was in

Saalfeld Saalfeld (german: Saalfeld/Saale) is a town in Germany, capital of the Saalfeld-Rudolstadt district of Thuringia. It is best known internationally as the ancestral seat of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Saxe-Coburg and Gotha branch of the S ...

, a secondary residence of the Coburg court. Therefore, it was possible for him to have participated in the

Battle of Saalfeld The Battle of Saalfeld took place on 10 October 1806, at which a French force of 12,800 men commanded by Marshal Jean Lannes defeated a Prussian- Saxon force of 8,300 men under Prince Louis Ferdinand. The battle took place in Thuringia in wha ...

, he retrieved the remains of Prince Louis Ferdinand of Prussia from the battlefield and protected the residence of Sophie's father and family against the arrogance of the victorious French troops. From 1824 to 1834 Sophie lived in

Mainz Mainz () is the capital and largest city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Mainz is on the left bank of the Rhine, opposite to the place that the Main (river), Main joins the Rhine. Downstream of the confluence, the Rhine flows to the north-we ...

, where her husband was a commander of the

federal fortress Under the terms of the 1815 Peace of Paris, France was obliged to pay for the construction of a line of fortresses to protect the German Confederation against any future aggression by France. All fortresses were located outside Austria and Prussia ...

; here she was generally referred to as "Princess". She was active as a writer and in 1830 published her romantic collection of fairy tales, ''Mährchen und Erzählungen''. She received the Dame Grand Cross of the

Order of Saint Catherine The Imperial Order of Saint Catherine (russian: Императорский Орден Святой Екатерины) was an award of Imperial Russia. Instituted on 24 November 1714 by Peter the Great on the occasion of his marriage to Catherine ...

.Philipp Carl Gotthard Karche: ''Jahrbücher der Herzoglich Sächsischen Residenzstadt Coburg'', Ahl, 1829, p. 70 Sophie died in Tuschimitz, Bohemia. She was buried in the park of Schloss Preitenstein, the family residence of the Mensdorff-Pouilly family.

Family

Emmanuel and Sophie had six sons: * Hugo Ferdinand von Mensdorff-Pouilly (1806–1847) * Alphons, Count von Mensdorff-Pouilly (1810–1894); married, firstly, in 1843, Countess Therese von Dietrichstein-Proskau-Leslie (1823–1856); married, secondly, in 1862, Countess Maria Thersia von Lamberg (1833–1876) * Alfred Carl von Mensdorff-Pouilly (1812–1814) *

Alexander von Mensdorff-Pouilly Count Alexander Konstantin Albrecht von Mensdorff-Pouilly, 1st Prince von Dietrichstein zu Nikolsburg (german: Alexander Konstantin Albrecht Graf von Mensdorff-Pouilly, 1. Fürst von Dietrichstein zu Nikolsburg; 4 August 1813 in Coburg – 14 F ...

(1813–1871), Fürst von Dietrichstein zu Nikolsburg 1868, was Austrian Foreign Minister and Prime Minister of Austria in the 1860s; married in 1857 Countess Alexandrine Maria von Dietrichstein-Proskau-Leslie (1824–1906) * Leopold Emanuel von Mensdorff-Pouilly (1815–1832) * Arthur August von Mensdorff-Pouilly (1817–1904); married, firstly, in 1853, Magdalene Kremzow (1835–1899), divorced in 1882; married, secondly, in 1902, Countess Bianca Albertina von Wickenburg (1837–1912)

Ancestry

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sophie of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, Princess 1778 births 1835 deaths Sophie Mensdorff-Pouilly family German countesses People from Coburg Collectors of fairy tales