Charlotte, Princess Royal

Charlotte Augusta Matilda of Great Britain, Ireland and Hanover, Princess Royal ( * September 29, 1766 at Buckingham Palace, London, † October 5, 1828 in Ludwigsburg ) was a British- Hanoverian princess Princess Royal and by marriage Duchess and later the first Queen of Württemberg.

Life

Princess Charlotte Auguste Mathilde was born on September 29, 1766 in London, the eldest daughter of British King George III. (1738-1820) and his wife Princess Sophie Charlotte of Mecklenburg -Strelitz was born.

On May 18, 1797, the Princess Royal married in London in St. James 's Palace Crown Prince Frederick of Württemberg ( 1754-1816 ). The marriage should Württemberg strengthen your back against France. At the same time the House of Hanover was known to provide his daughters with a high dowry.

Despite the vagaries of the often imperious husband's Charlotte and Frederick cultivated a respectful approach. As an educated, pious and warm-hearted woman she gave him the politics and concentrated on household and family. Charlotte herself remained childless, but she cared for Frederick's children from his first marriage to Princess Augusta Caroline of Brunswick -Wolfenbüttel, in turn, a niece of Charlotte's father George III. Charlotte had a particularly close relationship with her ​​step- daughter, Princess Catherine of Württemberg (1783-1835), later Queen of Westphalia, whose education she took over. To this end, Charlotte committed for the establishment of the Ludwigsburg Mathilde pin, which assumed to neglected children.

When in 1800, French troops occupied Württemberg, Friedrich and Charlotte fled to Vienna. The following year, Duke Frederick began negotiations with Napoleon Bonaparte, at whose side he joined in 1803. Württemberg enlarged considerably and was raised on 1 January 1806 Kingdom. Charlotte was crowned in Stuttgart at the Frederick side to the first queen of the country. Württemberg came from the Holy Roman Empire of German Nation and joined the Confederation of the Rhine was founded under Napoleon's pressure on. As Friedrich and Württemberg were now on the opponent's side of Great Britain, is Charlotte's mother, Queen Charlotte of the United Kingdom, the royal title of her daughter and son in law refused to recognize. However, Friedrich 1813 changed due to its high losses in the Russian campaign of 1812 again on the side of the Allied Powers. As a brother of the British Crown Prince Georg he enjoyed here despite his temporary apostasy privileges: After the fall of Napoleon he took 1814/1815 part of the Congress of Vienna and was confirmed as King of Württemberg.

When King Frederick died in 1816, he was buried in the crypt of the castle Ludwigsburg. Charlotte took up residence in Schloss Ludwigsburg, to be her husband as close as possible. In 1819 Charlotte was the godmother of her niece Princess Victoria of Kent, later Queen Victoria, and thus their agents. 1827 returned to Charlotte for the first time since her marriage in 1797 in their British homeland to leave them there treat pulmonary edema. The following year, on October 5, 1828 Charlotte died in Ludwigsburg. She was buried in the crypt of the castle Ludwigsburg at the side of her husband.