Charles (; 8 June 1786 – 8 December 1818) was

Grand Duke of Baden The Grand Duchy of Baden () was a German polity on the east bank of the Rhine. It originally existed as a sovereign state from 1806 to 1871 and later as part of the German Empire until 1918. The duchy's 12th-century origins were as a margravi ...

from 11 June 1811 until his death in 1818. He was born in

Karlsruhe Karlsruhe ( ; ; ; South Franconian German, South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, third-largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, after its capital Stuttgart a ...

Life

His father was Charles Louis, Hereditary Prince of Baden, the

heir Inheritance is the practice of receiving private property, titles, debts, entitlements, privileges, rights, and obligations upon the death of an individual. The rules of inheritance differ among societies and have changed over time. Offi ...

to the

Margraviate of Baden The Margraviate of Baden () was a historical territory of the Holy Roman Empire. Spread along the right banks of the Upper Rhine in south-western Germany, it was named a margraviate in 1112 and existed until 1535, when it was split into the tw ...

, which was raised to a

grand duchy A grand duchy is a country or territory whose official head of state or ruler is a monarch bearing the title of grand duke or grand duchess. Prior to the early 1800s, the only Grand duchy in Europe was located in what is now Italy: Tuscany ( ...

after the dissolution of the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire, also known as the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation after 1512, was a polity in Central and Western Europe, usually headed by the Holy Roman Emperor. It developed in the Early Middle Ages, and lasted for a millennium ...

in 1806. His mother was Amalie of Hesse-Darmstadt, the daughter of Louis IX, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt. He was the brother-in-law of the rulers of

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

, and

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. His sister Caroline was the

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 ...

Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria Maximilian I Joseph (; 27 May 1756 – 13 October 1825) was Duke of Zweibrücken from 1795 to 1799, prince-elector of Bavaria (as Maximilian IV Joseph) from 1799 to 1806, then King of Bavaria (as Maximilian I Joseph) from 1806 to 1825. He was ...

, his sister Louise was the

empress consort A queen consort is the wife of a reigning king, and usually shares her spouse's social rank and status. She holds the feminine equivalent of the king's monarchical titles and may be crowned and anointed, but historically she does not formally ...

Alexander I of Russia Alexander I (, ; – ), nicknamed "the Blessed", was Emperor of Russia from 1801, the first king of Congress Poland from 1815, and the grand duke of Finland from 1809 to his death in 1825. He ruled Russian Empire, Russia during the chaotic perio ...

and his sister Frederica was the queen consort of

Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden Gustav IV Adolf or Gustav IV Adolph (1 November 1778 – 7 February 1837) was List of Swedish monarchs, King of Sweden from 1792 until he Coup of 1809, was deposed in a coup in 1809. He was also the last Swedish monarch to be the ruler of Fin ...

. At the age of 15, Charles went on a journey to visit his sisters in their courts in St. Petersburg and Stockholm. He was on his way home with his father, when his father died in a fall from his coach on 15 December 1801. Charles was a witness to this accident. Due to the strong influence of France on the court of Baden, Charles was forced to marry Emperor Napoléon I's adopted daughter,

Stéphanie de Beauharnais Stéphanie Louise Adrienne de Beauharnais (28 August 1789 – 29 January 1860) was a French princess and the Grand Duchess consort of Baden by marriage to Karl, Grand Duke of Baden. Biography Early life Born in Versailles at the beginning of the ...

, in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

on 8 April 1806, this despite his own protests and those of his mother and sisters. Charles apparently preferred the hand of his cousin

Princess Augusta of Bavaria Princess Augusta of Bavaria, Duchess of Leuchtenberg () (21 June 1788 in Munich – 13 May 1851 in Strasbourg) was the second child and eldest daughter of Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria and Princess Augusta Wilhelmine of Hesse-Darmstadt. ...

. It would be five years before the couple would produce an heir. Charles went to war in 1807 as head of the Baden contingent under Marshal Lefebvre. There he took part in the siege of Danzig. In 1808, Charles returned to the side of his grandfather. His grandfather's age was beginning to show and Charles became co-regent. Charles was 25 years old when he succeeded his grandfather Charles Frederick upon the latter's death on 11 June 1811. On 4 October 1817, as neither he nor the other sons from his grandfather's first marriage had surviving male descendants, Charles confirmed the succession rights of his half-uncles from the Hochberg morganatic line, granting each the title, Prince and Margrave of Baden, and the style of ''Highness''. He asked the princely congress in

Aachen Aachen is the List of cities in North Rhine-Westphalia by population, 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, 27th-largest city of Germany, with around 261,000 inhabitants. Aachen is locat ...

on 20 November 1818, just weeks before his death, to confirm the succession rights of the sons of Louise Caroline, Countess of Hochberg, morganatic second wife of Grand Duke Charles Frederick. But this proclamation of Baden's succession evoked international challenges. The Congress of Vienna had, in 1815, recognised the eventual claims of Austria and Bavaria to parts of Baden which it allocated to Charles Frederick in the

Upper Palatinate The Upper Palatinate (; , , ) is an administrative district in the east of Bavaria, Germany. It consists of seven districts and 226 municipalities, including three cities. Geography The Upper Palatinate is a landscape with low mountains and nume ...

and the Breisgau, anticipating that upon his imminent demise those lands would cease to be part of the Grand Duchy. The disputes were resolved by the Treaty of Frankfurt, 1819, under which Baden ceded a portion of Wertheim, already enclaved within Bavaria, to that Kingdom, whereupon the succession as settled in 1817 was recognized by Bavaria and Austria.

Events that occurred during his reign

* The end of

Napoleon I Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

's rule and the

Congress of Vienna The Congress of Vienna of 1814–1815 was a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon, Napol ...

, which confirmed the territorial gains Baden had made during the Napoleonic era. * 1818: The passing of a new, liberal constitution * The height of Friedrich Weinbrenner's career * 1817: The start of the administration of the Rhine by Johann Gottfried Tulla * The premiere of the

velocipede A velocipede () is a human-powered land vehicle with one or more wheels. The most common type of velocipede today is the bicycle. The term was probably first coined by Karl von Drais in French as ''vélocipède'' for the French translation ...

Karl Drais Karl Freiherr von Drais (full name: Karl Friedrich Christian Ludwig Freiherr Drais von Sauerbronn; 29 April 1785 – 10 December 1851) was a noble German people, German forest official and significant inventor in the Biedermeier, Biedermeier pe ...

Marriage and family

Hereditary Prince Charles married

(28 August 1789 – 29 January 1860), daughter of Claude de Beauharnais and adoptive daughter of Emperor

Napoléon I Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

on 8 April 1806. Their children: * Princess Louise Amelie of Baden (5 June 1811 – 19 July 1854) she married Gustav of Sweden on 9 November 1830 and they were divorced in 1843. They had two children. *Prince of Baden (29 September 1812 – 16 October 1812) * Princess Josephine of Baden (21 October 1813 – 19 June 1900) she married

Karl Anton of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen Karl Anton von Hohenzollern may refer to: * Karl Anton, Prince of Hohenzollern (born 1811), reigning Prince of Hohenzollern and Prussian prime minister * Prince Karl Anton of Hohenzollern (born 1868), member of the princely house and Prussian gener ...

on 21 October 1834. They had six children *Hereditary Grand Duke Alexander of Baden (1 May 1816 – 8 May 1816) *

Princess Marie Amelie of Baden Princess Marie Amelie of Baden (Marie Amelie Elisabeth Caroline; 11 October 1817 – 17 October 1888) was the youngest daughter of Charles, Grand Duke of Baden and Stéphanie de Beauharnais. In 1843, she married the Scottish nobleman William H ...

(11 October 1817 – 17 October 1888) she married William Hamilton, 11th Duke of Hamilton on 23 February 1843. They had three children. As Grand Duke Charles did not have any surviving male children, upon his death in

Rastatt Rastatt () is a town with a Baroque core, District of Rastatt, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is located in the Upper Rhine Plain on the Murg river, above its junction with the Rhine and has a population of around 51,000 (2022). Rastatt was an ...

, he was succeeded by his uncle

Louis I Louis I may refer to: Cardinals * Louis I, Cardinal of Guise (1527–1578) Counts * Ludwig I, Count of Württemberg (c. 1098–1158) * Louis I of Blois (1172–1205) * Louis I of Flanders (1304–1346) * Louis I of Châtillon (died 13 ...

. It has been speculated that the foundling

Kaspar Hauser Kaspar Hauser (30 April 1812 – 17 December 1833) was a German youth who claimed to have grown up in the total isolation of a darkened cell. His claims, and his subsequent death from a stab wound, sparked much debate and controversy both in Nur ...

was his son, and therefore the actual hereditary prince. Since Kaspar was unmarried and childless when stabbed to death in 1833 his heavily disputed claim reunited with the actual succession then held by

Leopold, Grand Duke of Baden Leopold (29 August 1790 – 24 April 1852) succeeded in 1830 as the Grand Duke of Baden, reigning until his death in 1852. Although a younger child, Leopold was the first son of Margrave Karl Friederich of Baden by his second, morganatic wife, ...

, since

also died unmarried and childless three years earlier.

Ancestry

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Charles, Grand Duke of Baden 1786 births 1818 deaths 18th-century German people 19th-century German people German commanders of the Napoleonic Wars Grand dukes of Baden Hereditary princes of Baden House of Zähringen Nobility from Karlsruhe 18th-century nobility from the Holy Roman Empire