Charlotte Christine of Brunswick-Lüneburg

Charlotte Christine Sophie ( born August 28, 1694 Wolfenbüttel, .. † 22 Oktoberjul / November 2 1715greg in Saint Petersburg ), Princess of Brunswick- Wolfenbüttel, Tsarevna of Russia, the third daughter of Duke Louis Rudolph of Brunswick- Wolfenbüttel was and his wife Christine Louise of Oettingen.

Life

On October 25, 1711 Charlotte Christine was the Tsarevich Alexei of Russia, the son of Russian tsar Peter I., married. The ceremony took place at Torgau on the Elbe instead of at the court of Saxony, Electress Christiane Eberhardine where Charlotte had been brought up.

Although Charlotte enjoyed the affection of Peter I, however, was soon abused by her erratic and drunken husband, whom his own father was tortured to death later. 1714 she gave birth to her daughter Natalija († 1728), and died in early November 1715, a few days after the birth of the later Tsar Peter II, from puerperal fever.

As the first member of the imperial family, she was buried in the then still unfinished Peter and Paul Cathedral in Saint Petersburg.

Literary afterlife

50 years after her death appeared rumors that Charlotte had not then died, had later lived as the wife of a French officer in America and spent their retirement, financially supported by her niece, Empress Maria Theresa of Austria, in Europe.

This fate was discussed by the writer Heinrich Zschokke in a novella. The actress and author Charlotte Birch -Pfeiffer processed Charlotte Christine's life later in an opera libretto, to the Duke Ernst II of Saxe -Coburg and Gotha composed the music.