Princess Marie of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (1808–1877)
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Princess Marie of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach | |
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Princess Charles of Prussia | |
Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna of Russia |
Princess Marie Luise Alexandrina of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (3 February 1808 in
Youth
Princess Marie was the eldest daughter of Prince, and later
Marie grew up at the court in Weimar, which was considered one of the most liberal in Germany. Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach adopted a constitution in 1816. The court was very receptive towards literature and other art forms, due to the influence of the late Duchess Anna Amalia, who had died in 1807. Goethe had been managing the court theater in Weimar until 1817 and remained a welcome guest at the ducal court afterwards.
Marie's grandfather, Duke
Marriage
Negotiating a marriage
Marie was 16 years old when she first met her future husband,
King Frederick William III was in favour of Charles marrying Marie and immediately contacted the courts in Saint Petersburg and Weimar to negotiate a marriage arrangement. At the time, Maria Feodorovna, the mother of the Tsar, was still the authority in family matters. Neither she, nor Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna, gave the response that Frederick William III had hoped for. Both courts were hoping that Marie could marry an heir to the throne, albeit a throne of a smaller country. The third son of a king was not quite what they had in mind.
The Russians proposed that Marie could marry William and his younger brother Charles would marry her younger sister Augusta. This would be a better fit in terms of age and would certainly satisfy the court in Weimar, and William liked Marie more than he did Augusta. Frederick William III, however, saw nothing in this proposal, which completely ignored the feelings of his sons.
Things were further complicated by William's being in love with
Negotiations had already lasted more than two years when Maria Feodorovna managed to persuade her daughter to agree to a marriage between Charles and Marie, without putting any conditions on William.
Two marriages
On 26 May 1827, Princess Marie married Prince Charles of Prussia in
Issue
Charles and Marie had three children:
- Prince Frederick Charles of Prussia (1828–1885); married Princess Maria Anna of Anhalt-Dessau
- Princess Louise of Prussia (1829-1901); married Alexis, Landgrave of Hesse-Philippsthal-Barchfeld(1828–1905)
- Frederick William, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel
Court life
Marie's younger sister
Marie loathed both her sister and her successor
Life in Berlin and Glienicke
From 1829, the young family lived in their winter residence Prince Charles Palace at Wilhelmplatz No. 8–9 in Berlin, which had been rebuilt according to a design by Karl Friedrich Schinkel.
In 1824, Prince Charles had purchased a country house in today's Volkspark Glienicke. Between 1824 and 1826, it was rebuilt by Karl Friedrich Schinkel and became Glienicke Palace. This was Charles' and Marie's favourite residence. They added a casino, and the Kleine Neugierde, which was decorated with antique mosaics from Carthage. In 1835, the rotunda Große Neugierde was added and, in the following years, the park was extended.
In 1859, Charles purchased Jagdschloss Glienicke for his son Frederick Charles.
Second Schleswig War
On 7 December 1865, King William I appointed Princess Marie as
Death
Marie died on 18 January 1877 in Berlin, at the age of 68. Her husband had a vault constructed under the church of Ss. Peter and Paul in the Glienicke park. On his own death in 1883, he was buried beside her.
Ancestry
Ancestors of Princess Marie of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (1808–1877) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Footnotes
References
- Harald Eschenburg: Die polnische Prinzessin: Elisa Radziwill:die Jugendliebe Kaiser Wilhelms I, Stuttgart, 1986, ISBN 3-87203-015-9
- Karl Prinz von Isenburg: Stammtafeln zur Geschichte der europäischen Staaten, 2 vols, Marburg, 1953
- Pakula, Hannah (1995). An Uncommon Woman: The Empress Frederick, Daughter of Queen Victoria, Wife of the Crown Prince of Prussia, Mother of Kaiser Wilhelm. New York: Simon and Schuster. ISBN 0-684-84216-5.