Princess Katharina of Württemberg (full name: Friederike Katharina Sophie Dorothea; 21 February 1783 – 29 November 1835) was Queen of Westphalia by marriage to

Jérôme Bonaparte Jérôme Bonaparte (born Girolamo Buonaparte; 15 November 1784 – 24 June 1860) was the youngest brother of Napoleon, Napoleon I and reigned as Jerome Napoleon I (formally Hieronymus Napoleon in German), Kingdom of Westphalia, King of Westphal ...

, who reigned as King of Westphalia between 1807 and 1813.

Life

Katharina was born in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

, to the later King Frederick I of Württemberg and his first wife, Duchess Augusta of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. Her mother, who died when Katharina was five years old, was a sister of

Caroline of Brunswick Caroline of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (Caroline Amelia Elizabeth; 17 May 1768 – 7 August 1821) was List of British royal consorts, Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Queen of Hanover from 29 January 1820 until her ...

and a niece of King

George III of the United Kingdom George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and Ireland from 25 October 1760 until his death in 1820. The Acts of Union 1800 unified Great Britain and Ireland into the United Kingdom of Great ...

. After the death of Katharina's mother, her father married Charlotte, Princess Royal, eldest daughter of George III and thus a first cousin of his first wife. In 1803,

Württemberg Württemberg ( ; ) is a historical German territory roughly corresponding to the cultural and linguistic region of Swabia. The main town of the region is Stuttgart. Together with Baden and Province of Hohenzollern, Hohenzollern, two other histo ...

entered into an alliance with France under Emperor Napoleon I, and one of the terms of the treaty was the marriage of Katharina with

, Napoleon's younger brother. The wedding was held four years later, on 22 August 1807, at the Royal Palace of Fontainebleau in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. Upon marriage, Katharina became

Queen consort A queen consort is the wife of a reigning king, and usually shares her spouse's social Imperial, royal and noble ranks, rank and status. She holds the feminine equivalent of the king's monarchical titles and may be crowned and anointed, but hi ...

of the

Kingdom of Westphalia The Kingdom of Westphalia was a client state of First French Empire, France in present-day Germany that existed from 1807 to 1813. While formally independent, it was ruled by Napoleon's brother Jérôme Bonaparte. It was named after Westphalia, ...

. Reportedly, Katharina and Jérôme bonded strongly and had a happy marriage, remaining firmly attached to each other. King Jérôme, however, was unfaithful with multiple partners, including a three-year relationship with Diana Rabe von Pappenheim, but Catharina chose to turn a blind eye. When the kingdom of Westphalia was dissolved in 1813, she followed Jerome to France. During the war, she and

Désirée Clary Bernardine Eugénie Désirée Clary (; 8 November 1777 – 17 December 1860) was Queen of Sweden and Norway from 5 February 1818 to 8 March 1844 as the wife of King Charles XIV John. Charles John was a French general and founder of the House o ...

took refuge with

Julie Clary Marie Julie Clary (26 December 1771 – 7 April 1845), also known as Julie Bonaparte, was Queen of Naples, then of Spain and the Indies, as the wife of Joseph Bonaparte, who was King of Naples from January 1806 to June 1808, and later King ...

at Mortefontaine, and when the allied troops took Paris, they took refuge in the home of Desirée Clary in the capital. After the downfall of the Napoleonic Empire in 1814, her father expected her to separate from Jerome, as Empress Marie Louise had done from Napoleon, but instead she followed him into exile to

Trieste Trieste ( , ; ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital and largest city of the Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, as well as of the Province of Trieste, ...

in Austrian Italy. During the

Hundred Days The Hundred Days ( ), also known as the War of the Seventh Coalition (), marked the period between Napoleon's return from eleven months of exile on the island of Elba to Paris on20 March 1815 and the second restoration of King Louis XVIII o ...

in 1815, she helped Jerome to escape and join Napoleon, and was as a consequence deported to

, where she was placed under house arrest. After the defeat of Napoleon, she was joined by her spouse in house arrest. Katharina and Jerome were eventually released from house arrest and spent their remaining life together in Trieste and Switzerland, under the name of the Princess and Prince of Montfort. In November 1835, Katharina died in

Lausanne Lausanne ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of towns in Switzerland, city of the Swiss French-speaking Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud, in Switzerland. It is a hilly city situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, about halfway bet ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

Issue

Katharina and Jérôme had three children: * Jérôme Napoléon Charles Bonaparte (1814–1847), served in the army of his maternal uncle, King William I of Württemberg. * Mathilde Bonaparte (1820–1904), married Anatoly Demidov, Prince of San Donato. She was prominent during and after the Second Empire as a hostess to men of arts and letters. * Napoléon Joseph Charles Paul Bonaparte (1822–1891), was a close advisor to his cousin

Napoleon III Napoleon III (Charles-Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was President of France from 1848 to 1852 and then Emperor of the French from 1852 until his deposition in 1870. He was the first president, second emperor, and last ...

and, in particular, was seen as a leading advocate of French intervention in Italy and of the Italian nationalists (he was son-in-law of King Victor Emmanuel II of Italy).

Ancestry

References

* Sabine Köttelwesch, Katharina von Westphalen (1783–1835), in: Helmut Burmeister und Veronika Jäger (Hrsg.), König Jérôme und der Reformstaat Westphalen, Hofgeismar 2006, S. 73–94, ISSN 0440-7520

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Catharina Of Wuerttemberg, Princess 1783 births 1835 deaths House of Bonaparte German queens consort Royalty from Saint Petersburg Princesses of Württemberg Duchesses of Württemberg Daughters of kings 18th-century people from the Holy Roman Empire German expatriates in the Russian Empire Daughters of prince-electors Daughters of dukes